Amazon deforestation accelerates – Brazilian officials.
29/11/2008 BBC The destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has accelerated for the first
time in four years, Brazilian officials say. Read the rest of this entry »
Clue to break-up of ice shelves
27/11/2008 BBC US researchers have come up with a way to predict the rate at which ice shelves break apart into icebergs. Read the rest of this entry »
One third of Yellow river unfit for use, study shows.
26/11/2008 Guardian One third of the Yellow river, one of the longest in the world, is unusable for any purpose because of pollution, Read the rest of this entry »
Global mandate for action on climate change – opinion poll.
26/11/2008 BBC An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a “global mandate for action on climate change.” Read the rest of this entry »
Monbiot “The planet is now so vandalised that only total energy renewal can save us.”
25/11/.2008 Guardian It may be too late. But without radical action, we will be the generation that saved
the banks and let the biosphere collapse. Read the rest of this entry »
Plans to protect forests could do the opposite, warns FOE
25/11/2008 Guardian International proposals to protect forests as a way of tackling climate change could displace millions of indigenous people and fail to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, Read the rest of this entry »
Unexpected rise in carbon-fuelled ocean acidity threatens shellfish
25/11/2008 Guardian The world’s oceans are becoming acidic more quickly than climate change models
predict, according to scientists
McIntosh, Alastair 2008 Hell and High Water
by Alastair McIntosh 2008 Birlinn ISBN 13: 978 1 84158 622 9 / ISBN 10: 1 84158 622 6 Read the rest of this entry »
Malaria and dengue the sting in climate change
23/11/2008 Observer SYDNEY (Reuters) – Southeast Asia and South Pacific island nations face a growing threat from malaria and dengue fever as climate change spreads mosquitoes that carry the diseases and climate-change refugees start to migrate. Read the rest of this entry »
Himalayan ice cap feeding summer melt water to Asia
Graphic of Himalayan ice cap feeding summer melt water to the major river systems across Asia. Read the rest of this entry »
Ice melt tipping point process.
Graphic of the ice melt tipping point process eg for the North Sea ice which is floating on water. Read the rest of this entry »
Antarctica – Larsen B ice flow collapse.
Graphic of Larsen B ice flow Antarctica – grey area collapsed. Estimated it had been there n10,000 years. Area the size of Rhode Island, where i million people live. Read the rest of this entry »
Temperature – 100 million years ago – global warming/global cooling.
Graphic of estimated global warming effects 100 million years ago. No ice so no summer melt water flow and extreme temperatures – changing into iceball planet covered in ice and back again. (see Deep carbon cycle). Read the rest of this entry »
Deep carbon cycle and its implications.
Graphic of the deep carbon cycle which contains TRILLIONS of tonnes of carbon which global warming has started to release. Read the rest of this entry »
Temperature rise – actual and predicted
Graphic of actaul and predicted temperature rise. Read the rest of this entry »
El Niño ocean warming compared with more usual La Nina.
Graphic of El Niño pattern of ocean warming compared with more usual La Nina. Read the rest of this entry »
Antarctic melting.
Graphic of whole Antarctic with main areas of melting. Read the rest of this entry »
Population – aging comparisons world wide
Graphic of population world wide showing %ages of younger age groups. Read the rest of this entry »
Water shortage – world scale
Graphic of countries mots at risk from serious water shortages. Read the rest of this entry »
Energy -types and projections
Graphic of energy types and projected future use. Read the rest of this entry »
Hansen’s letter ‘Tell Barack Obama the Whole Truth’
Hansen’s open letter to Barak Obama Read the rest of this entry »
Soil erosion to cut harvests in China’s breadbasket by 40%
22/11/2008 Guardian Almost 100 million people in south-west China will lose the land they live on within 35 years if soil erosion continues at its current rate, a nationwide survey has found. Read the rest of this entry »
Hansen’s Q’s & A’s and what can be done.
Questions and Answers (incomplete) Read the rest of this entry »
Hansen’s summary of his 2008 publication.
This is Hansen’s summary (1 page) with conclusions followed by his Questions and Answers (2 pages). Read the rest of this entry »
Can Britain feed itself – Soil Association Report.
17/11/2008 Soil Association published ‘An inconvenient truth about food‘, a report on Britain’s food security. Read the rest of this entry »
Cocaine users are destroying the rainforest – at 4m squared a gram.
19/11/2008 Guardian Four square metres of rainforest are destroyed for every gram of cocaine
snorted in the UK, a conference of senior police officers as told yesterday.
Under-ice flood speeds up glacier (temporarily).
17/11/2008 BBC Great floods beneath the Antarctic ice sheet can now be linked directly to the speed at which that ice moves towards the ocean, scientists say. Read the rest of this entry »
Keeling curve.
The Keeling Curve graphic. Read the rest of this entry »
07 How long has climate change science been developing?
Longer than most people know. More than a century. If you believe in electricity and airplanes and surgery and computers, you believe in the same science that is shouting a warning to us about climate change. Read the rest of this entry »
How and when is the existing unsustainable human society likely to end
How and when is the existing unsustainable human society likely to end if we do not make sufficient changes to make if sustainable? Read the rest of this entry »
James Hansen’s latest publication IS THE MOST IMPORTANT YET
15/11/2008 James Hansen, eminent climate scientist, has published a aunthoriative scientific analysis and stated the conclusions in uncompromising terms. SUMMARY and refs here. Read the rest of this entry »
Climate change ‘to halt ice age’
14/11/2008 BBC A new model of the Earth’s climate suggests that human-made carbon dioxide
emissions may prevent the onset of the next ice age.
Mouth of Murray-Darling turns toxic
15/11/2008 New Scientist The health of Australia’s Murray-Darling river system, already shockingly poor, has just taken a turn for the worse. Read the rest of this entry »
08 Is present human activity on this planet sustainable?
Is the present totality of human activity on this planet – including accelerating trends -sustainable ie could it continue as it is indefinitely? NO. Read the rest of this entry »
Will human society change so that its future is sustainable
The fundamental question is whether human society will change so that it becomes sustainable. Read the rest of this entry »
Living a low carbon life is difficult – Shell article.
07/11/2008 Shell Website With energy prices high, some communities are trying to cut down on energy use – benefiting the environment. But changing the way we live is not easy, as people in the Scottish town of Biggar have found. Read the rest of this entry »
Bolivia holds half lithium reserves used for laptops/ electric car batteries
9/11/2008 BBC High in the Andes, in a remote corner of Bolivia, lies more than half the world’s reserves of a mineral that could radically reduce our reliance on dwindling fossil fuels. Read the rest of this entry »
Low-carbon economy is not a luxury -Viewpoint Elliot Morley
21/10/2008 BBC The low-carbon economy is an integral part of economic recovery, not a luxurious
extra, says Elliot Morley, president of GLOBE International.
Monsoon link to fall of Chinese dynasties
6/11/2008 BBC The demise of some of China’s ruling dynasties may have been linked to changes in the strength of monsoon rains, a new study suggests. Read the rest of this entry »
Growing slums ‘face water crisis’ – Charity Wateraid report
6/11/2008 BBC BBC Rapid urbanisation in developing nations threatens to trigger a water and sanitation crisis in quickly expanding slums, a report has warned. Read the rest of this entry »
Java mud eruption ’caused by drilling’ – 30,000 affected
4/11/2008 BBC The eruption of the Lusi mud volcano in Indonesia was caused by drilling for oil
and gas, a meeting of 74 leading geologists has concluded. Read the rest of this entry »
The fundamental question is sustainability
The fundamental question determining the future of humanity is whether human society will change so that it becomes sustainable before it is too late. So it is vital to understand what sustainable means. Read the rest of this entry »
What questions follow if sustainability is the fundamental necessity?
Open this post for a summary list of QUESTIONS implied by SUSTAINABILITY. Read the rest of this entry »
Extra-salty sea due to climate change.
30/10/2008 New Scientists Increasing saltiness in parts of the Atlantic Ocean is down to us. Read the rest of this entry »
Global-warming methane spiked in 2007
30/10/2008 New Scientist Levels of climate-warming methane – a greenhouse gas 25 times as potent as
carbon dioxide – rose abruptly in Earth’s atmosphere last year, and we don’t know why.
Chemical from trees ‘counters climate change’
30/10/2008 BBC Trees could be more important to the climate than previously realised, according to a study that reveals forests help to block out the sun. Read the rest of this entry »