Business leaders issued “The Copenhagen Call” at the close of the World Business Summit on Climate Change. In their introduction they state: We call upon our political leaders to agree an ambitious and effective global climate treaty at COP15 in Copenhagen. Sustainable economic progress requires stabilizing and then reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Success at COP15 …
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Category:5 Environment
The blind people and the elephant … I mean weather.
If you tried to judge whether the 2008-2009 winter in the Northern Hemisphere was colder or milder than usual based on the conditions where you lived, it would be something like the ancient Indian story of the blind men and the elephant. If you couldn’t see the whole elephant, and you could only touch its …
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Can we go “cold turkey” on fossil fuels?
Scientists now warn that we must effectively halt fossil fuel use if we are to avoid global climate warming of 2 degrees C by 2050. That’s probably a realistic estimate. But we are unlikely to do it. In fact we probably won’t even try. (See previous post.) But we could take a big step in …
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A sober perspective of the ecological crisis
In Bound to Burn, an article copied here, Peter Huber lays out a realistic perspective of the challenge of redirecting our energy consumption patterns. It is very sobering. He outlines the seemingly intractable and growing demand for carbon based fuels, comparing them with an insignificant impact of alternative fuels, concluding that carbon sequestration is the …
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Economic meltdown? Don’t forget the ecological meltdown …
GM rice to poison the world?
In a few days the EU will decide whether or not to allow GM rice to be imported to the the EU. Most countries have shied away from allowing risky experimentation with the world’s most important staple crop and at present, no GE rice is grown commercially anywhere in the world. But Bayer, the German …
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Economic crisis? The ecological crisis is looming.
Growing world population will cause a “perfect storm” of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned. Global crisis ‘to strike by 2030’
Batteries as good as petrol.
Researchers have come up with a battery design that appears to have the charactistics required for rapid charging, thus allowing fast refuelling at refuelling stations. There may remain issues of weight and recycling but in the balance they are looking like a good energy replacement for petrol in the transport industry. Clean too. (Though humanity …
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CO2 acidification of oceans threatens mass extinction of sea life
Carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are acidifying the oceans and threaten a mass extinction of sea life, warns Dr Carol Turley from Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Though it is impossible to know how marine life will cope, she fears many species will not survive. Since the Industrial Revolution, CO2 emissions have already turned the sea …
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Planet melt down is exceeding estimates.
The IPCC’s estimates of sea-level rising are now expected to be significantly exceeded according to scientists at a climate change summit. The IPCC took a conservative perspective and used old data. Today, with new data and refined models the rise in sea-level is expected to be large and soon – about 3x the IPCC estimates. …
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