350

Hansen’s letter on lignite

by Bryan Walker April 7, 2012

At the suggestion of Slovenian colleagues, James Hansen has written to the President and members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia urging them to deny a state guarantee for a proposed European Investment Bank loan to fund a new lignite-fired power plant in their country. He points out that they are considering [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

A fighting chance?

by Bryan Walker October 8, 2011

Bill McKibben has a striking article this week in Yale e360 in which he explains why the protest against the pipeline to carry tar sands oil from Alberta to the US may be the start of “something big and desperate”. The desperate part is easy to understand. Three converging factors contribute to it, political, meteorological [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

The God Species

by Bryan Walker August 14, 2011

It’s an arresting title, The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans. For author Mark Lynas the Holocene, the 10,000 year post-ice age era during which human civilisation evolved and flourished, has given way in industrial times to the Anthropocene, an age in which the human population has undergone extraordinary growth, [...]

39 comments Read the full article →

Hansen’s parting shot: show leadership, John Key

by Gareth May 26, 2011

Before he left New Zealand, Jim Hansen wrote an open letter to prime minister John Key on behalf of the youth of New Zealand, and specifically 350.org. It’s well worth reading in full, because it encapsulates the case for taking action here, and now. I would be most interested in seeing a meaningful response from [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

The Climate Show #8: Kevin Trenberth and our shaky future

by Gareth March 3, 2011

The Climate Show returns with a packed show, featuring one of the world’s best known climate scientists, NZ-born, Colorado-based Dr Kevin Trenberth — star of the Climategate “where’s the missing heat” emails. He’s been in New Zealand to visit family (experiencing the Christchurch quake in the process) and to attend a conference, and his comments [...]

28 comments Read the full article →

The odds are much worse than 50-50

by Gareth February 1, 2011

Nick Smith, NZ’s climate change minister, told the Bluegreens forum in Akaroa last weekend that the government was considering gazetting their “50 by 50″ target for carbon emissions — a 50 percent cut in emissions by 2050. That target has been National Party policy since before the last election, so the only real news is [...]

89 comments Read the full article →

Hansen: shelter from the storm

by Bryan Walker December 28, 2010

James Hansen has long been a leading climate scientist and he is also an excellent communicator of the science to the public. What he had to say about the scientific picture in his recent interview with Bill McKibben, a different aspect of which I highlighted in yesterday’s post, is of interest for its clarity and [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Children of the future

by Bryan Walker December 27, 2010

You are suggesting that we file suit against the government? That’s the question Bill McKibben puts to James Hansen in the course of a recent interview. “Precisely,” replies Hansen. “Begging Congress to be responsible does not work. Exhorting the president to be Churchillian does not work. “On the contrary, Congress has passed laws and the [...]

19 comments Read the full article →

World leaders pretend

by Bryan Walker November 15, 2010

Apparently the American Geophysical Union’s readiness to speak out on climate change which I reported in a recent post was not as the LA Times portrayed it.  Joseph Romm has written of his disappointment that the AGU is constrained by a determination to veer away from anything that could be construed as advocacy. They state [...]

20 comments Read the full article →

Days of future passed

by Bryan Walker October 6, 2010

The idea that a rise in global temperature of no more than two degrees above pre-industrial levels is a safe target for the world to aim for is widely accepted in political forums where the measures needed to stay within that range are considered. Not universally accepted though. The small island states and many others [...]

20 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries