Andy Grove on Our Electric Future - "Energy independence [viz.] is the wrong goal. Here is a plan Americans can stick to." Perhaps some infrastructure spending^1,2 is in order? [etc., &c., cf.]
posted on Jul 15, 2008 - View this thread

In Lester R. Brown's new book Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (2008, full-text)) - an update to Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2006, full-text) - he calls for a war-time mobilization (ch.13) to save global civilization (already showing Early Signs of Decline (ch.6)) from Deteriorating Oil and Food Security (ch.2), Rising Temperatures and Rising Seas (ch.3), Emerging Water Shortages (ch.4), and Natural Systems Under Stress (ch.5)
posted on Jul 2, 2008 - View this thread

New Kiribati "...will future climate change refugees become a new caste of service sector workers inhabiting a sort of Floating Hotel & Duty Free Mall ... ?" Small island states are on the front line.
posted on Jun 19, 2008 - View this thread

Today marks the official 8-language launch of 350.org and the start of global action against climate change. But what does this 350 number even mean? As author Bill McKibben and a chorus of scientific voices suggest, it means everything to the planet. If we want an earth at all, we'll need an Earth at 350.
posted on Jun 18, 2008 - View this thread

Inconvenient Truths: Get Ready to Rethink What It Means to Be Green. Last month, Wired published what it called "10 green heresies" which makes the case for urban living, intensive forest management and, er, air conditioning, among other things.
posted on Jun 13, 2008 - View this thread

Before and after sattellite photos (along with much more information) of the effects of climate change over the past 30 years are available through UNEP's (the United Nations Environment Programme) Atlas of Our Changing Environment (Via)
posted on Jun 11, 2008 - View this thread

Simple, with icons. 50 Ways to Help the Planet.
posted on May 1, 2008 - View this thread

Biofuels worsen global warming, according to two studies published in Science last week. Current US biofuel policies would double carbon emissions over the gasoline alternative. More details: ScienceExpress fulltext pdf of study #1, powerpoint summary of study #1, abstract of study #2, summary of both, policy recommendations pdf (via: 1, 2).
posted on Feb 10, 2008 - View this thread

The dangers of living in a zero-sum world economy - naked capitalism reprints (with added commentary) an FT article by Martin Wolf on why it's vital for (civilised) society to sustain a 'positive-sum' world, otherwise: "A zero-sum economy leads, inevitably, to repression at home and plunder abroad." Wolf's solution? "The condition for success is successful investment in human ingenuity." Of course! Some are calling for more socialism, while others would press on to build more megaprojects. For me, at least part of the solution lies in environmental accounting and natural capitalism :P
posted on Dec 19, 2007 - View this thread

In what it calls "the final wake-up call to the international community," a UN report (press release, website, 21 MB PDF) warns that damage to the environment is reaching a "point of no return" and now threatens "humanity's very survival." Oh, c'mon, tell us what you really think.
posted on Oct 25, 2007 - View this thread

Not ones for subtlety, the Death of Environmentalism guys (previously) are at it again with a Manifesto for a New Environmentalism. Their Apollo Alliance is getting early support from both Clinton and Obama. But it's not the only "new environmentalism" out there. There's this New Environmentalism, while others would include both market-based approaches among the the idols of old environmentalism.
posted on Sep 20, 2007 - View this thread

The Green Leap Forward "Environmentalism is China’s fastest-growing citizen movement. Beijing isn’t cracking down on these new activists—it’s empowering them."
posted on Jul 19, 2007 - View this thread

Unnatural Disaster: Global Warming and Our National Parks (PDF). A new report from the National Parks Conservation Association explores the impact of global warming on America's national parks. [Via Gristmill.]
posted on Jul 17, 2007 - View this thread

Personally, I always thought the whole global warming thing was a little bit overblown. Got to admit this guy makes a very compelling argument without debating any details. (via)
posted on Jun 15, 2007 - View this thread

Connie Meskimen of Hot Springs, Arkansas has a down-to-earth explanation for climate change! What the scientists and the Fifth Column environmentalists bent on wrecking American industry hope that you'll overlook!
posted on Apr 24, 2007 - View this thread

Want to increase your energy efficiency and use more renewable energy? Want to install solar panels on your roof, buy a hybrid car, put in new storm windows, or make any number of other green improvements to your home or business? Want to save money doing it? DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Just click on your state and take it from there.
posted on Feb 23, 2007 - View this thread

Cheatneutral. "When you cheat on your partner you add to the heartbreak, pain and jealousy in the atmosphere. Cheatneutral offsets your cheating by funding someone else to be faithful and NOT cheat. This neutralises the pain and unhappy emotion and leaves you with a clear conscience." [Via Gristmill.]
posted on Feb 13, 2007 - View this thread

Climate change a 'questionable truth'. Margaret Wente looks beyond the hysteria surrounding the climate change debate. Hysteria her own newspaper has been contributing to.
posted on Jan 31, 2007 - View this thread

Instead of reducing emissions, maybe we can block out the sun. This is a proposal offered by the United States in response to a draft of a UN report on climate change, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. According to the linked article, the U.S. has resisted a treaty that would involve binding targets for emissions reductions, and is instead pushing for the exploration of techniques for blocking out the sun, including (according to the Sydney Morning Herald article) "putting a giant screen into orbit, thousands of tiny, shiny balloons, or microscopic sulfate droplets pumped into the high atmosphere to mimic the cooling effects of a volcanic eruption." This is via Yale Law professor Jack Balkin, who speculates that there is Biblical precedent for this proposal.
posted on Jan 29, 2007 - View this thread

It may feel hip to go carbon neutral, but are carbon offsets real? Now you can find out by reading Clean Air Cool Planet's Consumer's Guide to Carbon Offsets which asseses 30 providers of carbon neutrality and sets out criteria for understanding which are doing the best to help you save the planet. The consumer's guide reads more like an enviro geeks master's thesis, but it quickly becomes clear that the core of the matter is additionality, i.e. to what extent will this investment create emission reductions in addition to those that would have occured in its absence. If this is all too much for you and just want to cut to chase and save the world, you should just take the pledge at Treasure Our Planet. It's pretty simple stuff.
posted on Dec 18, 2006 - View this thread

Climate change denial gets a sort of semi-mainstream platform in the UK. The author, Christopher Monckton, seems to be a colourful figure. Now that all the major political parties accept that it's time to do something about climate change, is this a last ditch effort by 1980s right wing relics to stave off the inevitable? Or are we going to be hearing a lot more of this kind of stuff, post-Stern Review (previous)?
posted on Nov 5, 2006 - View this thread

Ice bubbles collected from core samples in Antarctica reveal the biggest rise in CO2 in 800,000 years.
posted on Sep 5, 2006 - View this thread

Anyone interested in climate change or is still wondering about it's potential effects and possible solutions should check out this must-read Special Issue of Scientific American. Here is a freebie article they have posted online called A Climate Repair Manual.
posted on Aug 28, 2006 - View this thread

Maybe there's something to this plankton-as-panacea idea? "Gummy bear"-like sea creatures absorb great amounts of carbon before dying and sinking to the bottom of the sea. Previously on mefi: Sustainable oil and Oil from plankton.
posted on Jul 23, 2006 - View this thread

CO2: We Call it Life. Actual ads being run by the "Competitive Enterprise Institute," heavily funded by oil companies such as Exxon-Mobil, to counter the growing concerns about global warming and carbon dioxide emissions.
posted on May 18, 2006 - View this thread

A NOAA report says Earth's surface and atmosphere are both warming, and that earlier work that found otherwise contains flaws. In other news, global warming has started to weaken an important wind circulation pattern over the Pacific Ocean, a study suggests. The change could alter climate and the marine food chain in that area; polar bears and walrus pups sad.
posted on May 3, 2006 - View this thread

The Campaign Gore Can't Lose. Al Gore makes the case for global warming. (Trailer) Even the hard-bitten conservatives at the National Review are impressed. Can Al Gore lead the way to a new environmental majority?
posted on Apr 19, 2006 - View this thread

Atlantic currents show signs of weakening, according to a new study from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. I just hope these findings don't provoke the nightmare scenario of a sequel.
posted on Nov 30, 2005 - View this thread

The Climate of Man. The New Yorker has made Elizabeth Kolbert's three-part series on climate change (previously mentioned here) available online. Part I: How the earth is changing, Part II: The curse of Akkad, and Part III: What can be done? Say goodbye to the Holocene, and hello to the Anthropocene. [Via WorldChanging.]
posted on Jun 3, 2005 - View this thread

Global dimming. It's official. Particulate pollution in the air has decreased the amount of sunlight reaching the earth. How much? A fraction of a percent? Try 10% globally over the past 50 years. Worse yet, global dimming is thought to be counteracting CO2 and its greenhouse effect, lessening the worldwide temperature increase called global warming. Why's that bad? Because, in the coming decades, particulate pollution is expected to level off, while CO2 emissions are expected to rise strongly, multiplying the effects of global warming as we know it. "That means a temperature rise of 10 degrees Celsius by 2100 could be on the cards, giving the UK a climate like that of North Africa, and rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable." Holy fucking shit! [via kottke]
posted on Jan 14, 2005 - View this thread

The Rapanui (of Easter Island), the Mayans, and the Norse colonists of Greenland all share one similarity: each culture was brought down by preventable, human-cause environmental catastrophe. Sure, Michael Crichton says it's all bunk, but Jared Diamond (the author of the infinitely discussable, Pulitzer prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel) recently came out with a new book that suggests that maybe we ought to be worried after all. Hear him discuss it on NPR's morning edition.
posted on Jan 10, 2005 - View this thread

Republican environmental politics as usual? While the president's policies seem to be standard for his party, Bill Moyers thinks there's more than meets the eye. On receiving Harvard medical school's Global Environment Citizen Award, Moyers posits that destruction of the environment isn't just good for big business, it's a self fulfilling prophecy of the apocalypse. Not just any old apocalypse, it's The Rapture, complete with plagues for the non-believers and immmediate ascension to the right hand of God Himself for the righteous.

Two days after Moyer's speech, Science magazine looks at the scientific consensus on global warming. If you're having a hard time explaining all this to your kids, don't worry, your tax dollars are hard at work.
posted on Dec 8, 2004 - View this thread

The earths 12 "tipping points" where small increases in average temperature due to global warming could produce "sudden and dramatic environmental damage." The canary in a coal mine to keep an eye on. More papers by the Tyndall Center. (via).
posted on Oct 14, 2004 - View this thread

Global warming hits UK birds. The year without young. Have we hit the bottleneck?
posted on Jul 30, 2004 - View this thread

James Lovelock, the creator of the Gaia theory, says that only a massive expansion of nuclear power as the world's main energy source can alleviate the effects of global warming. [Via WorldChanging.]
posted on May 26, 2004 - View this thread

Time to pull out the giant salt shaker - Evidence supporting Abrupt Climate Change theory builds (from a new study published in Nature Magazine, April 22 2004) : "Rate of Ocean Circulation Directly Linked to Abrupt Climate Change - A new study strengthens evidence that the oceans and climate are linked in an intricate dance, and that rapid climate change may be related to how vigorously ocean currents transport heat from low to high latitudes....(From the ever superb NASA Earth Observatory)
posted on Apr 24, 2004 - View this thread

The Bush administration's conservation policy: 'protecting the nation's environment', or you know, 'not'? [more inside]
posted on Dec 17, 2003 - View this thread

A new study of climatic history says that the Earth is warmer now than it has been at any time in the past 2,000 years (contradicting another study discussed previously.) The Kazakhs probably agree. If correct, we may be joining the list of societies which made fatally disastrous decisions. Decisions like these [flash.]
posted on Sep 4, 2003 - View this thread

mother earth fights back "Global warming, which most climate experts blame mainly on large-scale burning of oil and other fossil fuels, is interfering with efforts in Alaska to discover yet more oil." via dangerousmeta and " It’s so hot windshields are shattering or falling out, dogs are burning their paws on the pavement, and candles are melting indoors." - are the naysayers ready to get on board? and start acting like good global citizens?
posted on Jul 30, 2003 - View this thread

Spinning the Environment
One section of the memorandum, "Winning the Global Warming Debate," asserts that many voters believe there is a lack of consensus about global warming among scientists. "Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly," it says. "Therefore you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue." Among the ways to "challenge the science," the memorandum says, is to "be even more active in recruiting experts who are sympathetic to your view and much more active in making them part of your message" because "people are more willing to trust scientists than politicians."

So much for science based decisions regarding the fouling of our nest. Sounds Green = Is Green in the bizarro world of spin.
posted on Mar 4, 2003 - View this thread

Blair unveils global warming plan, says U.S. must do more "We will continue to make the case to the U.S. and to others that climate change is a serious threat that we must address together as an international community," he said. "We in Britain have shown that it is possible to break the relationship between economic growth and ever-rising pollution." With the Bush administration relying so heavily on British support of its war plans, does Blair have some real leverage here to push for more progressive Bush policies on other issues?
posted on Feb 25, 2003 - View this thread

The sky is a color of television, tuned to a dead channel, and there's a hole in the sky above Chile. The widening gash in the ozone layer is now over Punta Arenas, Chile, the southern most city in the world.
posted on Dec 29, 2002 - View this thread

Cheer up, things could be worse. War hysteria and Republican triumphalism got you down? Contemplate the array of potential extinction-level events that Nature has seen fit to confront us with, no matter what we monkeys choose to do. What do you think? Are we approaching another evolutionary bottleneck?
posted on Nov 10, 2002 - View this thread

Reality check from Swiss Re and UNEP "The increasing frequency of severe climatic events...has the potential to stress insurers, reinsurers and banks to the point of impaired viability or even insolvency." "Climate Change and the Financial Services Industry", a UNEP report supported by 295 banks and insurance and investment companies around the world. The report concludes that, worldwide, loses from Climate related disasters are doubling every decade . NOAA generally concurs. Dr. Bob Gagosian, Director of Woods Hole, has even worse news. Should we take the scientific mainstream seriously? Or is it all "Junk Science"according to the industry funded Steve Milloy or the CEI, or even a New Age Pagan Conspiracy? Play on little humans......play on.....
posted on Oct 9, 2002 - View this thread

As the Alberta government ratchets up its campaign against the Kyoto Protocol (and the Canadian government's support thereof), two environmental groups release a report that argues that Canadians could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent and save $30 billion a year in the process by 2030 (PDFs of the report summary and full report). And, if reducing emissions starts at home, you can apparently cut your own energy bills and emissions in half simply by stopping leaks and drafts in your house.
posted on Oct 6, 2002 - View this thread

Think the upcoming Ice Age theory has died? It's been mentioned once or twice in discussion threads, but I spent some time in the library recently reading this very interesting article from Discover magazine. I was discussing it with a meteorolgist friend of mine, and supposedly the mini-ice age theory is very alive and has a lot of support. Should we start buying more electric blankets?
posted on Sep 25, 2002 - View this thread

The World Summit on Sustainable Development, aka "Earth Summit II," will start soon in Johannesburg, ten years after the Rio Earth Summit. Have things improved at all in the last ten years? While there are some reasons to be optimistic, the data isn't cheerful. Our climate is growing unstable; tens of millions are dying or likely to die, and hundreds of millions more likely to be made refugees, because of environmental pollution and degraded ecosystems; and half the plants and animals on the planet seem headed for extinction over the next century. In short, things are grim. What steps, big or small, are you taking to do your part for the environment?
posted on Aug 17, 2002 - View this thread

Shocking photos which show just how much glaciers have melted in the last century. Now that the North Pole is a swimming pool, the Ross Ice Shelf has, as the Onion put it, embarked on a world tour, and the worst flooding in 800 years is hitting Eastern Europe, aren't we maybe a little bit worried about climate change... just a little, maybe? What freak weather phenomenon is creeping you out these days?
posted on Aug 14, 2002 - View this thread

are'nt we? i'm no fan of many of the green parties tactical decisions (not tossing the green party votes to the greenest presidential candidate in history for example...) - a very effective ad, never the less - particularly cogent as temperatures reach a sweltering 90 + degrees in northern minnesota today... quicktime required via newstoday
posted on Jun 29, 2002 - View this thread

Entire EU signs on to Kyoto Enviro Pact All 15 European Union nations ratified the Kyoto Protocol against global warming yesterday and goaded Washington, which has turned its back on the treaty, to do its part. The pact would have required the United States, which accounted for 36 percent of the industrialized world's greenhouse gas emissions in 1990, to trim emissions by 7 percent from 1990 levels.
posted on Jun 1, 2002 - View this thread

An agonizing depiction of the Bush administration's environmental policies from this week's New Yorker. It's one thing for the Natural Resources Defense Council (which dedicates a web page to tracking the president's environmental record) to call Bush's "the most anti-environmental presidential administration ever"; but even the generally pro-Bush Economist has called his policy on global warming a sham. Aaargh! (Can anyone offer anything more constructive than that? Please?)
posted on May 14, 2002 - View this thread

Spring feel like it is here a little early this year? does anyone care?
posted on Feb 18, 2002 - View this thread

Bush Announces Clear Skies & Global Climate Change Initiatives. An olive branch to Venice, Bangla Desh, and other low lying countries? A Commander-in-Chief tanks up on biodiesel, throws the rudder hard over for a Willamson turn, and attempts to get all those folks left of Atilla the Hun back on the boat? We'll let him speak for himself. (BTW, if you're concerned about the "axis of evil", check out your tax $ at work today at the State Dept.)
posted on Feb 14, 2002 - View this thread

When NASA scientists watch Michael Bay films, comedy ensues. 'The technology is not at all far-fetched,' said Dr Greg Laughlin, of the Nasa Ames Research Center in California. 'It involves the same techniques that people now suggest could be used to deflect asteroids or comets heading towards Earth. We don't need raw power to move Earth, we just require delicacy of planning and manoeuvring.' Oh yeah, nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan. I'm not being a Luddite here...I realize the scientists involved aren't going to be doing this any time soon, if ever. It still spooks me, though.
posted on Jun 11, 2001 - View this thread

Bush to unveil global warming plan. Because our world isn't warm enough.
posted on Jun 11, 2001 - View this thread

If you are concerned about global warming, you must watch this film
Some Mefi context
posted on May 3, 2001 - View this thread

Obviously, the answer to global warming is to cut down all the trees. Or maybe we should just paint them all white?
posted on Apr 24, 2001 - View this thread

Bush Tries to Change Advisor's Mind on pollution policy. That does not work. President Bush does what he wants. EPA leaks Witman's Private Memo.
posted on Mar 27, 2001 - View this thread

California on verge of gutting goals for electric cars, Ed Begley Jr and the rest of California hangs collective heads in shame.
posted on Jan 25, 2001 - View this thread

Climate talks end in failure. How shocking.
posted on Nov 25, 2000 - View this thread

Most of the world rejects the USAmerican attempt to end-around-run the Kyoto protocols. Surely we'll get our way (I use the pronouns reluctantly in this case). Who can stop us? Besides, who cares? Not President-elect (de facto) Bush. Add the guiltless bloodshed in Israel/Palestine to this and my last post and it's hard to be thankful at the global level.
posted on Nov 22, 2000 - View this thread

OK, with all of the whining, crying and teeth gnashing over the electoral process interfering with our oh so happy worker bee lives, I've decided to link to something much more important:

High stakes at The Hague

Clinton's climate change warning

'Massive' pollution cuts needed

Since climate change disaster is preparing to bite us all in the ass and no one seems likely to do anything about it, than it doesn't really matter who gets elected president, now does it?

Kudos to the american press for ignoring this story. . .
posted on Nov 12, 2000 - View this thread

U.S. mean temperature (January-September) warmest on record. That's in 105 years. Something to be alarmed about? Maybe, maybe not, but call me concerned, folks. Given the fact that we don't seem to have winter around here anymore, I guess our grandkids will be asking us, "Hey, tell us about the time it was cold!".

Pardon me for posting links in rapid succession; the NCDC website is obscenely slow, if you can get to it at all.
posted on Oct 20, 2000 - View this thread

Artic Ice Cap is now perfect for slushballs and snowmen
Once the North Pole was covered in that kind of hard, dry, icy snow that you couldn't pack. Now sping is here! Robin red-breast and the Easter Bunny can't be far behind. Let's pelt each other with snowballs and build a fort before it all melts away, and the long summer of human-made Armageddon melts us all. What a world, what a world. Not that we haven't seen it coming.
posted on Aug 19, 2000 - View this thread