James Hansen’s alarming talk on the climate crisis, and how we can solve it
James Hansen, the eminent NASA climatologist, is sounding the alarm on climate change. Watch his latest TED talk for a succinct synopsis of the state of climate change, ongoing climate impacts, and what we can expect in the near future (hint: it doesn’t look good). As Hansen makes clear, if humanity does not address the growing threat to our global civilization very soon, the climate system will spiral out of control and condemn future generations... Read More
China’s greenhouse gas emissions will exceed U.S. emissions by 50% in 2015
China’s greenhouse gas emissions are continuing to grow at an alarming rate. In 2010, emissions were 20% higher than the United States’ but by 2015, emissions could top 50% higher, according to Ye Qi, the director of the Climate Policy Initiative and professor of environmental policy at Tsinghua University. Despite China aggressively reducing energy intensity and building renewable energy capacity, total energy use has grown dramatically. ”There... Read More
The Fukushima Nuclear Crisis and Risk Perceptions
The earthquake and ensuing tsunami that occurred in Japan last month was a horrific event. The ongoing atomic crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power station is also alarming, but I think a good bit of perspective on actual vs. perceived risk is in order before rushing energy decisions that could affect the fate of the planet. We are facing unprecedented, multiple challenges at once. The first challenge is finding ways in which to dramatically slow... Read More
Book Review: A World Without Ice
Three million years ago, during the mid-Pliocene epoch, sea levels were 100 feet higher than they are today. During this period, there was no ice in the Northern Hemisphere, no sea ice in the Arctic Ocean nor in Greenland. And global temperatures at that time? Only about four to six degrees warmer than today. Such figures gave me pause, as I was about 2/3 of the way through A World Without Ice by Henry Pollack a professor of geophysics at the University... Read More
Prop 23: US Climate Change Fight Hinges on California Voters
(Photo: Flickr user fd) Whether or not you live in California, you might have heard about the battle going down over Proposition 23 on next Tuesday’s ballot. On one side of the climate show-down, two Texas-based oil companies (Valero and Tesoro), who wrote and funded Prop 23, joined by a host of other out-of-state corporate polluters including the energy conglomerate and Tea Party financiers the Koch brothers. On the No-side, an ever-growing list... Read More
NRDC Documentary About Ocean Acidification
Check out this short and effective documentary about ocean acidification, an issue that we are just really beginning to grasp the gravity of. The video is the work of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and highlights what has been called the “other carbon problem”. Read More
The Bloom Box: The Holy Grail of Energy?
The other night on “60 Minutes”, Leslie Stahl profiled Bloom Energy, a silicon valley energy firm that is today unveiled the Bloom Box. In the 60 Minutes segment, the Bloom Box (AKA Bloom’s Energy Server) was touted as a “holy grail” of energy – a clean, cheap, and distributed energy source that you could set in your backyard. The Bloom Box So what is it? The Bloom Box is a 100 kW fuel cell that uses natural gas,... Read More
Bill Gates at TED 2010: Innovating to Zero
I just watched Bill Gates’ talk at TED 2010 online: Innovating to Zero. It is an interesting talk, though I have some critiques which I will discuss below. Gates has devoted his energies since leaving Microsoft to his foundation which focuses mainly on health and development issues, such as developing a malaria vaccine, combating HIV/AIDS, and improving agriculture. During this year’s presentation, his main argument went as follows: 1.... Read More
Weekly gRound-Up: 2/13/10
China Reveals Extensive Pollution Survey China recently released a comprehensive new pollution survey, which took two years and 570,000 staff to complete, and puts China ahead of other developing countries in having a detailed map of who is polluting and where. Government officials speculated that the detailed census suggests that pollution may peak sooner rather than later. Read the story here. Asian Carp Threatens Lake Michigan Introduced in the... Read More
Paving the Way for Bicycle Transportation in Cities
The bicycle is increasingly being seen as a viable urban transportation alternative in cities worldwide. Bike commuting has clear health, traffic congestion, and environmental benefits, and should be encouraged to help make cities more livable and sustainable. I love urban biking. The idea of cruising the streets in traffic is my idea of a good time. Recognizing that this practice might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I overwhelmingly support... Read More
Climate Solutions: The Story of Cap-and-Trade
Interested in understanding more about what climate solutions are out there? Need a quick primer on Cap-and-Trade? This short video from Clean Energy Works offers an overview of some of the major goals and objectives associated with the legislation. Passing energy and climate legislation is essential if there is going to be any sort of comprehensive international agreement to address global warming and climate change. Story of Cap-and-Trade from... Read More
Tuvalu and Goliath
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Copenhagen is now 5 days old. As expected, the gathering of 193 country delegates and a combined 16,500 international negotiators, NGO representatives, activists, and journalists at the Bella Center is showcasing some of the most difficult political and economic challenges facing the global community today. Given the importance of curbing climate change from unabatedly... Read More
The Copenhagen Diagnosis
Hot off the press is a new global climate change synthesis report by some of the world’s leading scientists. The Copenhagen Diagnosis: Updating the World on the Latest Climate Science is a review of the hundreds of scientific papers published since the 2007 IPCC fourth assessment report (AR4), and presents a sobering update on the state of the global climate. What this report convincingly shows, is that AR4 was perhaps too conservative in its... Read More
