Climate Climate & Energy
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Participate in the National Teach-In on Global Warming Solutions, Feb. 5
A guest post by Eban Goodstein, Professor of Economics at Lewis & Clark College and project director of the National Teach-in on Global Warming Solutions. —– One thing you can do to stop global warming right now is tell a teacher — a friend, your kid’s teacher, a cousin, or a colleague — about The […]
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Not as threatening as missing bees, but another odd symptom
Even when they are not immediate threats, weird symptoms like this are troubling: WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) — Botanists say they’re puzzled about why oak trees from Virginia to Kansas and north to Nova Scotia failed to produce acorns this year. “It’s a zero year. There’s zero production. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” […]
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Electronics, biomimicry, and design advances improve a mature technology
Solar energy sucks up a lot of research attention, partly because solar energy systems still have so much room for improvement. Wind turbines, on the other hand, have been around for over 1,000 years, and although the modern versions are vastly larger and more efficient than their ancient counterparts, the basic concept hasn’t changed much. […]
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The food price blame game
Tactic No. 1: Create a straw man. Nobody in their right mind can claim that corn ethanol has no impact on corn prices, or that corn prices have no impact on food prices. You can only debate the extent of the corn’s impact. Here’s a conclusion from a study released this year [PDF] that supports […]
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First commercial ship sails through Northwest Passage
CBC News reports: The Canadian Coast Guard has confirmed that in a major first, a commercial ship travelled through the Northwest Passage this fall to deliver supplies to communities in western Nunavut. The MV Camilla Desgagnés, owned by Desgagnés Transarctik Inc., transported cargo from Montreal to the hamlets of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven and […]
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Fossil CO2 impacts will outlast Stonehenge and nuclear waste
Every few years, people need to be reminded that carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion lasts a long, long, long time. How long? A 2005 study by Geophysicist David Archer, “Fate of fossil fuel CO2 in geologic time,” ($ub. req’d.) concluded that a large fraction of the CO2 emitted by humans […]
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Hansen and Danny Bloom inspire vicious hate speech on web
I interviewed author Mark Bowen a year ago about James Hansen, the great climatologist, with whom Bowen wrote the book Censoring Science. The discussion turned to the intensity of reaction against Hansen from those who refuse to accept the reality of global warming. Bowen mentioned that Hansen has gotten some death threats, though he considered […]
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Busy, destructive Atlantic hurricane season blows over
The Atlantic hurricane season officially ended Sunday, marking the close of the second-most-costly season since 2005, and the fourth-busiest season overall since 1944. This year was “the only year on record in which a major hurricane existed in every month from July through November in the north Atlantic,” according to the National Climatic Data Center.
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On eve of U.N. climate conference, official warns against dirty energy
On the eve of the next round of United Nations climate-treaty talks in Poznan, Poland, U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer warned the world’s nations against a “cheap and dirty” fix for the economy that could set back climate progress. “We must now focus on the opportunities for green growth that can put the global […]
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Is an economic downturn the perfect time for cap-and-trade?
The NYT has a piece about how the economic downturn may "limit moves on clean energy." This piece, like most of its ilk (they’re catnip to the media), is about 80 percent vaporware, built on quotes from people or countries that were resisting "moves on clean energy" before the downturn anyway. But it’s an excuse […]
