Can this have been caused by global warming?

Back tomorrow..

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Some thoughts before TalkClimateChange takes a brief 10 day sabbatical.

The Blogosphere thrives on debate - the very nature of the medium encourages discussion and the presentation of alternative view points. This is the reason that TalkClimateChange exists, and the reason why Daryl, Matt and myself organise our viewpoints into Red, Green and Blue categories, often in direct confrontation with each other.

The results are always interesting, and whilst we have often disagreed with much, we’ve agreed on many points too. We’re also grateful for the many insightful comments and arguments received, both here on the blog and in the forum.

It’s always interesting to receive feedback on this approach, and I’ve recently had a number of interesting comments which are worthy of review:

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To continue to provide you with a lively debate, we’ve become part of something bigger. - As of today, the TalkClimateChange forums have been integrated into the new forums at Green Options. TalkClimateChange members can continue to discuss climate topics in the existing TalkClimateChange forums, as well as enjoy the discussion on wider issues, such as environmental politics (from the Red Green & Blue blog) and green technologies (from Gas 2.0 and Clean Technica).

Pop in and have a look at our new-look forums and make your opinion heard.

On Saturday I recorded a podcast together with Ben Kenney at thewatt.com, where we discussed various energy and climate issues together with Rod Adams and Robb Worthington.

If you want to experience TalkClimateChange actually talking instead of writing for a change - the digital equivalent of an unplugged blogger without the benefit of a word processor and the ability to carefully hone each sentence - then head over to The Watt and listen.

This post was originally published on TalkClimateChange.

Much has happened in the world since the beginning of the TalkClimateChange blog in 2007. .

From tears in Bali, to the signing of the US Energy Bill, to dramatic reforms to EU energy policy, a Nobel Prize for Al Gore and the IPCC and the growing backlash against biofuels - the topic of climate change continues to shape much of our world’s future.

To ensure that TalkClimateChange continues to spark debate on these important issues, I’m pleased to introduce two additional contributing authors who bring new and important perspectives to the climate discussion:

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In response to a recent post, Kaishu raises the issue of general public opinion;

Get off the net for a bit and you’ll realise that almost everyone agrees there’s a problem, and we’re the cause of it, they just don’t really know what to do about it.

I think your time spent on the internet, where idiots have a voice instead of being silenced as they are in general society, has warped your views of public opinion.

If you talk to people offline you find a general recognition that human activities are affecting the climate badly, and that our resources won’t last forever, and things have to change. Almost everyone agrees there’s a problem, where the differences are in what our response to it should be. Most just don’t have a clue; the level of disenfrachisement and apathy in public affairs is very high in the West.

When I first started TalkClimateChange, I expected to have a bit of a one sided debate. I was a little concerned about where the ‘talk’ bit might come from, since my limited reading on the subject indicated that pretty much everyone in the world agreed there was a problem, except for George Bush and a few crack-pot ultra right wing loonies.
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But today I’m more interested in finding out about you. I know that there are several hundred of you each day and that you hit this blog several thousand times a week - thanks for that! But who are you really?

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Time for something slightly different then.

I’d like to offer our respects to Sir John Harvey-Jones who died this week at the age of 83. Industrialist, TV business trouble-shooter, management guru and once described as Margaret Thatcher’s ‘least favourite industrialist’, Sir John was a refreshing personality and shining example of leadership.

The need to confront change is the only way to survive was the Harvey-Jones mantra, which guided much of his success. We would do well to remember that as the world struggles with the climate change issue.

We should not be afraid to change our ways and accept that as our population grows and demand for resources soars we should consider new ways of managing our lives, businesses and planet.

Similarly, we should not become over obsessed with protecting our environmental status-quo. Our planet has always been changing, and will continue to change – we should look to exploit and adapt to these changes rather than mourning the past.

An American banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

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I’ve just spent the morning making arrangements for my wedding later this year. As I do this, I realise that there are some lessons in the experience for the climate change debate, which can perhaps be forged in to some kind of discussion framework to find a final climate change solution??

The wedding itself, I realise, will be a catastrophe from an environmental standpoint - considering the emissions of people travelling from afar, the contribution of large amounts of food to world hunger, noxious fumes required to produce volumes of junk in the form of gifts, and population expansion through possible subsequent procreation - and I am partly expecting a crowd of green protestors to form outside.

But more important are a couple of factors which have made the whole thing possible in the first place. (more…)

2007 was a big year in Climate Change, which saw the US u-turn on climate policy (on the surface at least), the emergence of the EU and the UK as world climate leaders, continued climate record breaking as temperatures soared and the North West passage was opened up, the worldwide release of An Inconvenient Truth, the award of the Nobel Prize to Al Gore and the IPCC, the Bali Summit meeting, and last but not least, the further emergence of some very serious and hard to ignore questions from climate sceptics and the growing body of evidence suggesting that climate change might not be man-made after all.

What did I learn from 2007, and what do we need for 2008? (more…)

Thanks for your support during 2007 as we launched the forum and blog, and thanks in advance for your continued support through 2008. 

Blogging at TalkClimateChange is getting of to a slow start following my Christmas break, mostly due to a nasty bout of flu that I picked up on the last day in a small chalet in the French Alps.

The normal flow of posting should hopefully resume later today. In the meantime, as I consider some goals for TalkClimateChange in the New Year I’d like to solicit your feedback and thoughts as to what you would like to see on TalkClimateChange in 2008?

Thanks for any suggestions, I do like to listen.

Mark.

Still catching up on the news right now having been completely disconnected for a week, so stay tuned for more posts in the next day or so.

 Mark.

We will not be offsetting our emissions, although we are not traveling too far..

Wishing you all a very merry holiday season,

TalkClimateChange.