TalkClimateChange

But we’ll be coming back with something new

The opening sentence of a newspaper article today provides the perfect pretext for a typical TalkClimateChange discussion:
The target of halving global greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century is not enough to avoid the major impacts of climate change, scientists warned yesterday.
We can debate this […]

Much has been written on TalkClimateChange of the challenges associated with the mass adoption of renewable energy.
Yet investors are apparently keen to throw money at renewable projects, despite lingering uncertainty over the plans of many governments to implement carbon credits as a means of incentivising such projects.
Keith Johnson wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal:
Spain’s […]

Continued as part of Daryl’s Urban vs Rural series.
Today I will look at mitigation strategies advanced as lifestyle changes to mitigate energy consumption, and how lifestyle options in urban centres fail to translate well to rural areas.
I’ll continue to use the BC Carbon Tax Plan as a template with choices advanced under the 2008 […]

Time for more climate talks, as the world inches towards an agreement on a replacement Kyoto protocol through a long and drawn out series of largely unproductive talks which contribute little except to boost profits of the international travel industry.
This weekend, talks have been taking place among international leaders in Kobe, Japan. Setting expectations […]

Daryl, our very own Climate Heretic, annoying and lovable that he is at the same time, sent me a note earlier this week claiming that another one of his furiously annoying predictions has come true:

Continued – read Part I here. 
Similar to climate change, World War II was a disaster which could have been prevented through decisive and early action. However, having failed to avoid climate change, we will need to fight it, and like WWII climate change will require the development of new technologies, the mobilization of millions of […]

I’ve been reading  the new study by Sloan and Wolfendale on the theory of cosmic rays and cloud formation in regards to global warming. I’ve also been reading the associated press coverage.
This theory was advanced in the book by Svenmark called "The Chilling Stars" and is a theory that has been repeatedly attacked by […]

World War II can certainly be marked as one the biggest catastrophes ever to befall mankind. Whilst it might not be appropriate to compare this tragedy directly with the potential impacts of climate change in terms of human and financial costs, there is another potential similarly between these two events: They were both predictable and […]

 
We’ve consistently complained about, and argued against bio-fuels on TalkClimateChange. It’s fair to say that we really don’t like them.
However, whilst much of the blame for escalating world food prices that has been heaped upon bio-fuels is fully deserved, I’ve often felt that we’ve tended to overlook other important factors in our criticism. Notably, that […]

My childhood was spent living and working on farms in Northern Canada, followed by living in some of the most populous cities in North America - so I can draw some contrasts between the urban and rural lifestyles.
Mark recently wrote here that over 50% of us world-wide now live in urban areas, and as […]

“Global warming may ’stop’, scientists predict.” - Daily Telegraph
That’s one way of summarising the paper recently published in the scientific journal Nature documenting recent research by the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany.
This paper has attracted a lot of media attention on both sides of the debate, with some parties using it as […]

Continuing with my long line of excuses for not getting posts out regularly on TalkClimateChange, today’s lack of posting has been caused by an almost terminal computer failure.
Can this have been caused by global warming?
Back tomorrow..

But which way?
I’ve been intrigued by the number of different interpretations following Nature’s recent publication predicting a temporary lull in global warming on which Daryl recently commentated.
Right now I am in the midst of putting together a post contrasting the different reactions, and - crucially - the impact this has on the world’s decision […]

Is this the most stupid idea ever?
edie.net writes that farmers in Estonia are to pay green taxes on greenhouse gasses emitted by cows.
I didn’t quite believe it as first either, and so I spent a couple of minutes with Google to confirm that it is indeed true. I also notice that a similar scheme was […]

As most people know, the British Isles is a rainy place..
One of the first things Boris Johnson has done having been newly elected as Mayor of the self-proclaimed greatest city on Earth (Ed: that’s London - just in case) is to drop the former mayor’s objection to Thames Water’s proposed desalination plant in Barking.
"Thames […]