National Geographic: Experts compare modern heat waves to the past and show what’s really going on with Carbon Dioxide. Related Some 15% of Pacific islands wiped out by 1m sea level rise – IPCC Carbon dioxide benchmark hits new heights, worries scientists Citigroup says the ‘Age of Renewables’ has begun
Virtually all of the scientific papers published in 2013 accept climate change By Lindsay Abrams (Salon): As geochemist James Lawrence Powell continues to prove, the only people still debating whether or not climate change is “real,” and caused by human activity, are the ones who aren’t doing the actual research. In an update to his ongoing project…
Nature Editorial (Nature Climate Change doi:10.1038/nclimate2193): Even if some sceptics consider climate science akin to witchcraft and politicians pursue ineffective policies, private enterprise is beginning to take climate change seriously. Climate protection requires no magic solutions, but it does require boldness and resolve from policy makers. Instead, what we have is the kind of political timidity that…
Mann’s interview starts at 15 minutes in. Mike Mann discusses his new piece in Scientific American, which outlines critical thresholds in climate warming in the not-too-far-off future, based on the sensitivity of Earth climate. Scientific American: Most scientists concur that two degrees C of warming above the temperature during preindustrial time would harm all sectors of…
By Rolly Montpellier (Boomer Warrior): The science is settled. Our planet is heating up, and carbon pollution from Dirty Energy is to blame. The fossil fuel industry burns oil, coal and gas, sending heat-trapping emissions into the air. Ninety million tons of carbon pollution enters the atmosphere every day. That means a hotter world for all of us. It’s…
Uploaded on Oct 5, 2010: ted.com As the world faces recession, climate change, inequity and more, Tim Jackson delivers a piercing challenge to established economic principles, explaining how we might stop feeding the crises and start investing in our future. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the…
What are the true cost of living in the Anthropocene? Wikipedia: The Anthropocene is an informal geologic chronological term that serves to mark the evidence and extent of human activities that have had a significant global impact on the Earth‘s ecosystems. The term was coined recently by ecologist Eugene F. Stoermer and has been widely popularized by the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist, Paul Crutzen, who regards the…
A new study paper out in nature (Nature Climate Change / 2014 / doi:10.1038/nclimate2159), explores why the rise of sea-level has slowed in the last decade. Unsurprisingly the slow-down coincidences with the observed climate hiatus (IPCC AR5, Ocean heat content uptake). Because heat is distributed differently, depending on the state of ENSO (between El Nino or La Nina). Abstract: Present-day sea-level…
This article explores the hypothesis that key human adaptations evolved in response to environmental instability. This idea was developed during research conducted by the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program. Natural selection was not always a matter of ‘survival of the fittest’ but also survival of those most adaptable to changing surroundings. By the Smithonian Background Paleoanthropologists – scientists who…