Category Archives: climate

Severe weather in 2010: food price inflation in 2011

As I've said before, it's just not fair that Paul Krugman is not only the best lefty writing about the economy, he's also the lefty best able to write about the consequences of global warming. 

From today's column, a taste…more below the virtual fold. 

While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning.

Hansen sees rapid sea level rise this century

Back in l981, as a relatively young man, a physicist named James Hansen led a team that reported in Science on Climate Impact of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. The paper predicted that the warming signal would emerge clearly from the noise of natural variability by the end of the century. In the 21st century, saidContinue reading “Hansen sees rapid sea level rise this century”

The fate of the mountains under climate change: a ray of hope for the Sierra?

In his inimitably far-sighted way, John Muir considered the fate of the Sierra Nevada in an era of climate change, long before global warming even began to take hold. In August 1875, in his journal, he wrote:  I often wonder what man will do with the mountains…Will human destructions like those of Nature — fireContinue reading “The fate of the mountains under climate change: a ray of hope for the Sierra?”

How to reduce greenhouse gas levels

Research brings forward two possibilities from the past:  Kill a lot of people:  Over the course of the century and a half run of the Mongol Empire, about 22 percent of the world's total land area had been conquered and an estimated 40 million people were slaughtered by the horse-driven, bow-wielding hordes. Depopulation over suchContinue reading “How to reduce greenhouse gas levels”

What will Obama say about climate in tonight’s speech?

What will, if anything, President Obama say about climate in the State of the Union address? John Kerry, the de facto leader on the issue in the Senate, told The Hill that he expects President Obama to embrace "major initiatives" on climate in tonight's State of the Union address.   Carol Browner, former director ofContinue reading “What will Obama say about climate in tonight’s speech?”

Could the Australian floods be caused by climate change?

Are the devastating and deadly recent floods in Australia caused by climate change? No. Australia has always been "a land of drought and flooding rains," as a foundational poem about the nation, My Country, by Dorothy McKellar, described it over a hundred years ago.  But could a tendency towards drought and flood be worsened by climate change?Continue reading “Could the Australian floods be caused by climate change?”

Thin ice in the Arctic means cold winters back East?

Put perhaps as simply as possible, that's the speculation among some experts about the cold snowy winters experienced this year in many Northern hemisphere climates, such as New York. Here's the most concise, detailed explanation I've found so far, from Climate Central: Recent scientific studies have shown that the dramatic warming that has been occurringContinue reading “Thin ice in the Arctic means cold winters back East?”

Ocean acidification and coral reefs

A concluding remark from a talk this morning by Ken Caldeira on ocean acidification:  My personal opinion is that without emissions mitigation coral reefs on this planet will not be sustainable by mid-century.  For the gloomer, a look at the science from the NRDC. Jeez. This may be harder to face than global warming. 

Obama admin: We’re “not giving up” on climate action

From a press conference today at the AGU, with the prez's chief science advisor: Bud Ward: It seems that over the last two years the momentum on climate change has been lost. The Obama administration came in with climate as one of the adminstration's top priority, and the President is a great communicator. Two years agoContinue reading “Obama admin: We’re “not giving up” on climate action”