The atmosphere is to the earth as a layer of varnish is to a desktop globe. It is thin, fragile and essential for preserving the items on the surface.150 years of burning fossil fuel have overloaded the atmosphere to the point where the earth is ill. It now has a fever. Read the detailed article, Soothing Gaia’s Fever for an evocative account of that analogy. The items listed here detail progress on coordinating 6.5 billion people in the most critical project undertaken by humanity.Â
One morning each week, a scientist takes a stroll on the barren upper slopes of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano, a basketball-sized glass sphere in hand. At some point, the researcher faces the wind, takes a deep breath, holds it and strides forward while twisting open a stopcock. With a whoosh lasting no more than a Continue Reading →
Dr James Hansen. Photograph: AP Photos/The Daily Iowan/Melanie Patterson
One of the world’s leading climate scientists warns today that the EU and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.
In a startling reappraisal of the threat, James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, calls for a sharp reduction in C02 limits.
Hansen says the EU target of 550 parts per million of C02 – the most stringent in the world – should be slashed to 350ppm. He argues the cut is needed if “humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed”. A final version of the paper Hansen co-authored with eight other climate scientists, is posted today on the arXiv.org website. Instead of using theoretical models to estimate the sensitivity of the climate, his team turned to evidence from the Earth’s history, which they say gives a much more accurate picture.
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — The U.S. government insists it’s deeply engaged in talks started this week on the world’s next climate pact, but other negotiators are already looking ahead to the next administration — and wondering what to expect.
Nations have less than two years to piece together a deal that scientists say is needed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and stop the planet’s temperatures from rising so high they trigger an environmental disaster.
The high-stakes negotiations that began Monday in Thailand, however, are complicated by the coming presidential election in the United States.
Crucial details — such as how much Washington is willing to cut its emissions — can’t be fully discussed until a new president takes office next year, slowing action on a final deal, some negotiators say. And it’s far from certain what a new administration’s negotiating stance will be.
The International Monetary Fund said in a report released today that sharply reducing the world’s carbon emissions will cost relatively little economically if a carbon-pricing scheme is adopted soon that includes all the major-emitting countries. The report didn’t endorse one specific pricing mechanism, but said that either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system could Continue Reading →
From The Age A GLOBAL agreement binding all significant countries, rich and poor, offers the best hope for tackling climate change, and could halve the cost of countries trying to tackle it alone, the International Monetary Fund advises. In its latest World Economic Outlook, to be released today, the IMF calls on national leaders to Continue Reading →
By Michael Szabo
LONDON (Reuters) – European Union industry emissions were roughly flat in 2007, preliminary EU executive Commission data showed on Wednesday, with low gas prices and a mild winter slowing growth.
As expected, emissions were less than industry’s quotas of permits to emit the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) under an EU climate change scheme meant to drive emissions cuts through permit shortages.
Brussels has addressed that flaw and a resulting carbon price collapse by cutting permit quotas in the second phase of its emissions trading scheme from 2008.
The carbon market is supposed to put a price on carbon emissions, and therefore energy use, and so force businesses and individuals to trim their contribution to climate change for example by being more energy efficient.