Tag: USA

Big wind could wean China off coal

At least some Americans and Chinese are getting together to work on climate change. A team of researchers from Harvard University and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have been conducting a serious investigation into China’s wind power potential. Their work was the cover story for the Sep 11 issue of Science (sub required) and is reported in  the Harvard Gazette.  MIT’s Technology Review also carries a useful report.  

 “The world is struggling with the question of how do you make the switch from carbon-rich fuels to something carbon-free,” said lead author Michael McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies. “The real question for the globe is: What alternatives does China have?”

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Stern words in Beijing

Nicholas Stern has been in the news again lately.  He spoke to students at the People’s University in Beijing on Friday with characteristic directness. He pointed out that although China is still a long way behind countries like the US and Australia in per capita emissions there are places in China where the picture is different. Thirteen Chinese provinces, regions and cities have higher per capita emissions than France. Six also overtake Britain.

“There are many parts of China where emissions intensity and emissions per capita are looking much like some of the richer countries in Europe.”

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A deep sigh of relief…

Jane-LubchencoElizabeth Kolbert recently interviewed Jane Lubchenco  (pictured), appointed by President Obama as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Kolbert comments that when Lubchenco was appointed the reaction among climate scientists was an almost audible sigh of relief. During the Bush administration the work of NOAA staff was frequently ignored or even suppressed, and Lubchenco’s appointment was seen as a sign of the new administration’s resolve to finally take NOAA’s work seriously.

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“The irresponsibility and immorality of climate change denial”

Krugman.jpg When does opposition to action on climate change cross the line between legitimate political debate and enter the realms of irresponsible, immoral and dangerous inaction? Paul Krugman, professor of economics at Princeton, Nobel prize winner and New York Times columnist is in no doubt: most of those who voted against the Waxman-Markey emissions reduction bill in Washington earlier this week breached all the principles of good governance.

…most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases. And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research.

Krugman mentions MIT’s revised projections, and the Copenhagen synthesis report analysed in recent posts by Bryan Walker conveys the same message. But it was the quality of the debate in Congress that really upset him…

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“Widespread climate-related impacts are occurring now and are expected to increase”

US Impact report I think I was around eleven years old when I last thought it would be good to be an American.  But I admit to a small twinge of envy as I read the report released yesterday by the Administration:  Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.  This is a scientific report, backed by the government, telling the general public what is now known of global warming and what it will mean for the US. The sort of thing one would have thought is a core function of democratic government. Meanwhile in New Zealand a select committee is required to solemnly consider submissions from climate science deniers, a PM wants us to be ready in case the science deteriorates and the sceptics are right, and a leading climate scientist is sacked for what sound like trivial offences against management policy.

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