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While I appreciate the positive aspect of carbon trading – that it draws attention to the problem of overconsumption of energy, in particular fossil fuels – it is a distraction from focussing on the real problem of changing the way we do things. A new report of carbon trading articulates the increasing risks of focussing …
Continue reading The problem with carbon trading
The world faces a “catastrophe” of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if world leaders fail to agree a deal on climate change. Negotiators have 50 days to save the world from global warming and break the “impasse”. There is no plan B. This is the message of Gordon Brown at the Major Economies Forum in …
Continue reading No Plan “B”
See the video: BBC: Maldives cabinet makes a splash
Incoming Prime Minister Hatoyama has said that Japan will adopt a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25% at the Copenhagen talks in December. This is the bottom end of the range proposed by the UN (15%-40% cuts), but far more than considered by Japan and other rich emitters so far. Japan is the …
Continue reading Japan to lead climate change fight?
Evidence from ice cores, tree rings and lake sediments shows that arctic temperatures are now higher than at any time in the last 2,000 years. The arctic cooled slowly over the past 2,000 years as Earth’s orbit changed, but in the past 100 years greenhouse gas emissions have fuelled fast temperature rises. 23 sites sampled …
Continue reading Arctic warmest for 2,000 years, and getting warmer fast.
Even people who know things are bad for them, like too many sweets, find it hard to change their behaviour. It is easier to change if the result of changing behaviour is immediate, tangible and measureable – that’s evidenced by the labour market – somebody will do anything at a price. But it is more …
Continue reading Why don’t we change our behaviour?
So the G8 agreed to limit global warming to 2°C by 2050. OK maybe a step in the right direction. But no agreement to cuts by 2020. And no agreed action. The G8 agreed its members would “work towards” 80% cuts in emissions by 2050, but again no commitment, no economic penalties for failing to …
Continue reading G8 saves face with procrastination and prevarication.
An international group of academics is urging world leaders to abandon their current policies on climate change. The authors of How to Get Climate Policy Back on Course say the strategy based on overall emissions cuts has failed and will continue to fail. The current system of attempting to cap carbon emissions then allow trading …
Continue reading Time to start decarbonising, and stop recarbonising.
Climate change: The evidence in pictures. A very quick overview of the evidence and consequences of human overconsumption of planetary resources. By the way, there is still a choice.
