USA

Hot: living through the next fifty years on earth

by Bryan Walker March 22, 2011

American journalist Mark Hertsgaard understands what lies ahead for humanity as climate change unfolds, some of it already unavoidable though hopefully manageable, but with outright chaos lurking if we fail to rein in emissions. He harbours no illusions. The fact that his little daughter will be part of the generation living through the coming turmoil [...]

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Here comes the flood

by Bryan Walker February 16, 2011

News today of interesting new research on the effect of rising sea levels on 180 US coastal cities by the century’s end. University of Arizona scientists will be publishing a paper this week in Climatic Change Letters which sees an average 9 per cent of the land within those cities threatened by 2100. The Gulf [...]

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Thundersnow is go! (for weather geeks)

by Gareth February 4, 2011

It’s been snowing in America. It snowed quite a lot in Chicago. They even had thundersnow, which is rare enough to have excited Weather Channel presenter Jim Cantore quite a lot. I’ve never experienced thundersnow. I’m almost jealous. Almost. The ripe peaches at Limestone Hills are some compensation… More on American snow at Jeff Masters’ [...]

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Heart of the city

by Bryan Walker January 27, 2011

We tend to become riveted on the efforts of national governments to address greenhouse gas reductions, so far with dismal results. But as a valuable new study reminds us, city administrations can play a significant role in mitigation and with more immediate effect. Cities and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Moving Forward is to be published in [...]

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Peruvian glacier melt challenges US security

by Bryan Walker January 19, 2011

The melting glaciers of Peru have figured in previous Hot Topic posts such as the review of Mark Carey’s book In the Shadow of Melting Glacier and the report from Guardian journalist John Vidal’s Oxfam-sponsored Andean tour. I was therefore interested to come across an article on what the loss of the Peruvian glaciers implies [...]

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The 2010 Climate B.S. of the Year Award

by Gareth December 31, 2010

This a guest post by the Climate BS Awards committee. Welcome to the 2010 Climate B.S.* of the Year Award. 2010 saw widespread and growing evidence of rapidly warming global climate and strengthening scientific understanding of how humans are contributing to climate change. Yet on the policy front, little happened to stem the growing emissions [...]

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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 [...]

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“She took me half the way there…”

by Bryan Walker December 6, 2010

Bill McKibben has come up with a striking metaphor for the US stance in climate change negotiations. In a Huffington Post article he describes it as a tease – “it shows some leg, but it never ends up in your arms.” Twice before US negotiators have persuaded the world into a watered-down agreement – the [...]

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Coates in Cancún: we have no more time

by Gareth December 6, 2010

Oxfam NZ’s Barry Coates continues his series of on the spot reports from Cancún: in this episode, he looks at the way international negotiations work… Negotiations have picked up pace in Cancún. But it is impossible not to feel frustrated with how long it has taken to get to this point. The problem is not [...]

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Coates in Cancun: tequila time on hold

by Gareth December 3, 2010

Oxfam NZ’s Barry Coates with climate activists from Japan. The climate change talks have gotten really busy over the past two days. No midday siesta. No runs along the beach. Definitely no tequila. Only earnest conversations with government officials rushing from meeting to meeting. And lots of confusion. This is partly because of the complexity [...]

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