NOW is the time for ALL parties to take Action for a Low Carbon and Equitable Future
The St James’s Palace Memorandum calls for a global deal on climate change that matches the scale and urgency of the human, ecological and economic crises facing the world today. It urges governments at all levels, as well as the scientific community, to join with business and civil society to seize hold of this historic opportunity to transform our carbon-intensive economies into sustainable and equitable systems. We must recognize the fierce urgency of now.
Inspirational Whimsy: The Great Flower Pot in the Sky
Here we are, after all this time of evolution in danger of “losing it,” of allowing the disruptive forces of runaway climate change to devastate our species and most of the living organisms that share our “pot.”
Let’s not let this happen. We’re becoming beautiful, and with all our faults, we’re worth saving. Let’s fight, let’s shout, let’s shake things to ensure our survival.
To celebrate, or to mourn, Earth Day
Our scientists have done a great service in defining the treacherous path that awaits. Now artists and artisans must heed that call, and bring their talent and creativity to bear. We need to breathe life into this message, so that our brothers and sisters, our politicians, our teachers, our manufacturers and regulators will hear the cry, and create justice for those who follow. Artists must get informed, and act boldly. We need our writers, poets, designers, sculptors, inventors, and musicians to use their creativity to bring action to a world that sorely needs it.
We Must Reframe the Climate Change Challenge
Scientists like Dr. Kevin Anderson have lost patience with carefully constructed messages about dangerous climate change being lost in the political noise. We are now prepared to stand up and say enough is enough.
Worst case climate change scenario trajectories are being realized
Recent observations confirm that, given high rates of observed emissions, the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories (or even worse) are being realised. For many key parameters, the climate system is already moving beyond the patterns of natural variability within which our society and economy have developed and thrived. These parameters include global mean surface temperature, sea-level rise, ocean and ice sheet dynamics, ocean acidification, and extreme climatic events. There is a significant risk that many of the trends will accelerate, leading to an increasing risk of abrupt or irreversible climatic shifts.
Sad news: Johnny Rook has flown away
One of JohnnyRook’s last posts: Before I die, I want to have some sense that this beautiful planet that has provided the context for my life, will have some chance of enduring. I want to die with hope, believing that my teenage son and his children and your children and their children will live in a world that is reasonably hospitable to human beings.
I don’t know how that can happen if people will not face the reality of what is taking place in the world. So, I continue to sound the alarm, even though I know that most of what I write is discounted as alarmist or simply ignored as too uncomfortable to deal with.
James Hansen: “The Sword of Damocles”
On a per capita basis, the three countries most responsible for fossil fuel carbon dioxide in the air today are the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, in that order. They must not pretend to be ignorant of consequences of continuing coal emission, or take refuge in a “carbon cap” or some “target” for future emission reductions
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.
Where’s the Worst Possible Place for Hot Weather?
While the permafrost warming may well be the biggest story to come out of the annual global temperature reports, needless to say the media have ignored that story as far as I can tell. They have also ignored the now clear evidence that the 2000s are easily the hottest decade in recorded history and instead focused has been almost exclusively on where 2008 ranks among recent years temperature-wise.
The Arctic is in “Hot” Water
Scientists have found the first unequivocal evidence that the Arctic region is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world at least a decade before it was predicted to happen.
Climate-change researchers have found that air temperatures in the region are higher than would be normally expected during the autumn because the increased melting of the summer Arctic sea ice is accumulating heat in the ocean. The phenomenon, known as Arctic amplification, was not expected to be seen for at least another 10 or 15 years and the findings will further raise concerns that the Arctic has already passed the climatic tipping-point towards ice-free summers, beyond which it may not recover.
