Tag Archives: global warming

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”

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”

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?”

Into the Fossil Intensive future: When could we reach 4C?

It's possible the world will not manage to mitigate emissions of greenhouse gases, and instead stomp on the fossil fuels and speed up global warming. That's what it looks like right now, with the black diamonds below representing observed emissions, and tracking towards the upper end of estimates: Today the world's oldest continuously operating scientific body, theContinue reading “Into the Fossil Intensive future: When could we reach 4C?”

“We will not leave our problems for our children unresolved”: Marco Rubio

Senator-elect Marco Rubio gave a fascinating speech Tuesday night in Florida. It's been widely broadcast, major portions even on All Things Considered, but hasn't been available in print on the Web (not that I have found, anyhow). So here, as a public service, let me present the two-edged sword of Republican idealism and denial.  Americans believeContinue reading ““We will not leave our problems for our children unresolved”: Marco Rubio”

Global warming: Americans don’t like to think about it

Why have I been spending so much time on culture and not climate lately? Because not only is the news discouraging, it seems American's can't handle the truth. Take a look at this recent on-line poll from Scientific American. Yes, on-line polls are driven by the self-selecting and so untrustworthy. But as a snapshot ofContinue reading “Global warming: Americans don’t like to think about it”

The biggest and fastest thing nature has ever done

Reporting on the behavior of ice sheets is difficult, even for science journalists, because the terrain is so difficult, and so much is still unknown about Antarctica. But a couple of weeks ago in Rolling Stone, Ben Wallace-Wells published the single best story about this subject I have ever seen. It's long, but great. Here'sContinue reading “The biggest and fastest thing nature has ever done”

The politics of climate change denial, worldwide

From George Monbiot: Australian politics provides yet more evidence that climate science divides people along political lines. [Tony] Abbott is no longer an outright denier, though he still insists, in the teeth of the facts, that the world has cooled since 1997(5). Some members of his party go further: Senator Nick Minchin, for example, maintainsContinue reading “The politics of climate change denial, worldwide”