Bill McKibben Rewrites the Global Climate Challenge
Act now, we’re told, if we want to save the planet from a climate catastrophe. Trouble is, it might be too late. The science is settled, and the damage has already begun. The only question now is whether we will stop playing political games and embrace the few imperfect options we have left.
A Dismal Climate Forecast from NOAA
Editors note: there have been several hundred articles printed on this subject in the last two days, sources such as the New York Times, ABC News Australia, and the Globe and Mail, plus countless blogs. Our elected officials can’t pretend they haven’t heard this news. You can click on the title of this article for the direct link if you want to copy it [...]
Is another record-breaking loss of Arctic sea-ice due this summer?
Arctic freezing may have stalled and the annual melt may begin earlier. The summer ice extent could shrink to a new record low in 2009, even if the National Weather Service’s prediction of weak la Niña conditions through early summer hold true. This will amplify an already existing dangerous feedback loop driven by the loss of reflectivity of the ice surface. In the Arctic, it’s already too hot.
Unlimited growth on a planet with finite resources must end
The economic crisis could be “just the thing” to galvanise governments into making the deep radical changes to set the world’s economies on a more environmentally sustainable track, he added. Mr de Boer, who heads negotiations within the UN climate convention, said developments in Beijing and Washington were signs that governments were using the economic troubles as a window of opportunity for reforming their economies.
Reflections on Triviality and Truth
“When ‘citizens’ became ‘customers’,” John E. Shumaker writes, “political life became an exercise in keeping the customer happy. The marketing-style democracies we have today have never been tested with planetary issues such as global warming and climate change, demanding radical and unsettling solutions. In the race against the clock, politicians appear almost comical as they try not to disturb the trivial pursuits propping up our dangerously obsolete socio-economic system.”
Hope for the Hopeless? James Lovelock Looks Through the Glass, Though Very Darkly
James Lovelock’s latest book predicts a lot of doom and gloom in the coming centuries, but he cautiously says he is “an optimistic pessimist” and thinks humankind will survive the coming Long Emergency. It won’t be a pretty picture, Lovelock predicts, suggesting the a massive die-off of humans due to climate change and global warming will reduce the population from 9 billion people to around one billion or less.
A Tragic Story of Climate Woes Unfolding in Bangladesh
Threatened with encroaching seas, dwindling water supplies and fiercer storms, Bangladesh is already suffering the ill effects of rising global greenhouse gas emissions. Mason Inman reports on how the region is coping with climate change.
Dangerous Climate Change Killing Our Forests
Old growth trees in western parts of the US are probably being killed as a result of regional changes to the climate, a study has suggested. Analysis of undisturbed forests showed that the trees’ mortality rate had doubled since 1955, a team of US Geological Society researchers said.
Ecological and Economic Urgencies of Global Warming Brief Updated
This paper was produced so as to provide our busy government officials with an inclusive resource document. It brings all the major ecological implications of global warming together into one document, and provides an extensive list of related economic considerations. Pertinent reference information is also included following the main brief, for ease of access to further, substantiating information. Although it was was written in an attempt to convey to officials of the Canadian government, we believe this brief will also be a useful resource for policy makers in other countries as well.
