Climate change: melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters
Climate change: melting ice will trigger wave of natural disasters
Scientists at a London conference next week will warn of earthquakes, avalanches and volcanic eruptions as the atmosphere heats up and geology is altered. Even Britain could face being struck by tsunamis
- The Observer, Sunday 6 September 2009
- Article history
Kirkjufell volcano erupting above the town of Vestmannaeyjar, Heimaey Island, Westmann Islands, Iceland. Photograph: Emory Kristof/National Geographic/Getty Images
Scientists are to outline dramatic evidence that global warming threatens the planet in a new and unexpected way – by triggering earthquakes, tsunamis, avalanches and volcanic eruptions.
Reports by international groups of researchers – to be presented at a London conference next week – will show that climate change, caused by rising outputs of carbon dioxide from vehicles, factories and power stations, will not only affect the atmosphere and the sea but will alter the geology of the Earth.
Effects and dangers of methane gases
18th February, 2010
Its short lifespan and greater potency means tackling methane emissions now could have a dramatic effect on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations
It’s the ‘other’ greenhouse gas, regularly left out of the public discourse on climate change - one usually dominated by discussions of carbon dioxide.
Few talk about our ‘methane footprint’; still fewer about the need to achieve a ‘low-methane economy’.
Methane makes up a small (1.77 parts per million/ppm) portion of the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide (380 ppm), but is a significant component of the greenhouse effect.
Methane molecules absorb 20-30 times more infrared energy than carbon dioxide molecules in their respective lifetimes in the atmosphere, and their overall contribution to the greenhouse effect is estimated at 18 per cent compared to 63 per cent for CO2.
Add this potency to the fact that it has a short lifespan in the atmosphere of between 9-12 years (compared to 100 years for CO2), and you can start to see why cutting methane emissions now could make sense.
World’s top firms cause $2.2 Trillion of environmental damage, report estimates;.
World’s top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates
Report for the UN into the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment
• Andrew Simms: Putting a price tag on nature is meaningless
• Pavan Sukhdev: Paying for the value of nature could set scene for true green economy
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 February 2010 18.19 GMT
- Article history
Black clouds over the central business district, Jakarta. The report into the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest public companies has estimated the cost of use, loss and damage of the environment. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
The cost of pollution and other damage to the natural environment caused by the world’s biggest companies would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable, a major unpublished study for the United Nations has found.
The report comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, fisheries and fertile soils.
Reality of Mexico’s green battle
Reality of Mexico’s green battle Felipe Calderón’s fight against climate change should start at home, where pristine natural landscapes are hard to find Tanya Huntington Hyde guardian.co.uk, Saturday 13 February 2010 15.00 GMT Article history Mexican President Felipe Calderón made international headlines recently with his comments regarding climate change at the World Economic Forum Continue Reading →
UN to advise on climate change funding.
UN to advise on climate change funding
AFP
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has set up a high-level advisory panel to mobilise funding to help developing nations battle climate change.
The panel, to be led by Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Ethiopian counterpart Meles Zenawi, aimed “to mobilise the resources for climate change pledged at the recent climate change conference in Copenhagen”, Ban told reporters.
The group, evenly balanced between developed and developing nations, “will develop practical proposals to significantly scale up long-term (public and private) financing for mitigation and adaptation strategies in developing countries,” he added.
The UN boss said the group would specifically seek to marshal new and innovative resources to reach a $US100-billion ($A112.3 billion) target by 2020 to fund “adaptation, mitigation, technology development and transfer, and capacity building in developing countries, with priority for the most vulnerable.”
The panel was set to include heads of state and government, top officials from ministries and central banks as well as experts on public finance, development and related issues.
Crisis of climate change confidence
Crisis of climate-change confidence
MARIAN WILKINSON
February 13, 2010
Sceptics are undermining the credibility of fundamental scientific institutions and their research, writes Marian Wilkinson.
Amid the thousands of stolen emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, posted on websites late last year, a telling exchange among the scientists has been largely overlooked.
It refers to reports that the US and Saudi Arabian governments had played a key role in picking a new candidate to chair the United Nation’s peak scientific body on climate change.
The emails, dating back to April 2002, noted reports of ”intense lobbying” by the US oil industry, specifically Exxon, to try to persuade officials in President George Bush’s White House to block the high-profile British atmospheric chemist, Dr Robert Watson, getting a second term as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).