Global warming and the future of New Zealand
Is a fully sustainable global energy system possible by 2050? It’s hard to imagine a more important question if we entertain hopes of avoiding the worst effects of climate change. It is the question addressed by a new and substantial report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the sustainable energy research and consultancy company Ecofys.
The answer to the question is a careful yes, with a caveat. The Ecofys team writes:
Continue reading “Here comes the sun: 100% renewables by 2050”
The recommendations of Bill McKibben and Ross Gelbspan, among others, attracted me to Sajed Kamal’s book The Renewable Revolution, and its subtitle was an additional enticement: How we can Fight Climate Change, Prevent Energy Wars, Revitalise the Economy and Transition to a Sustainable Future. The book is on a smaller scale than its subtitle might suggest. Kamal has long been involved in sustainable development and renewable energy as a teacher, project consultant and speaker. He is eloquent on the Sun as the energy source that connects all life, and it is solar energy that he sees as able to meet all humanity’s energy needs many times over, directly through light and heat and indirectly through wind, water movement and photosynthesis.
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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’ blog. Hat tip to Barry Brook, who tweeted this Daily Mail assemblage of blizzard pictures.
[Update Feb 5: Jeff Masters provides this memorable description today: The most extraordinary hourly observation I’ve ever seen in a U.S. winter storm came at 9:51pm on February 1 at Chicago’s Midway Field: A heavy thunderstorm with lightning, heavy snow, small hail or ice pellets, freezing fog, blowing snow, visibility 300 feet, a wind gust of 56 mph, and a temperature of 21°F. Welcome to the Midwest! My kind of town…]
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A very wide ranging Climate Show this week, with Dr Philip Boyd of NIWA and Otago University explaining why fertilising the oceans to soak up more carbon is not likely to be our “get out of jail free” card, John Cook of Skeptical Science introducing the new Monckton Myths section of the site, plus interesting new papers on Atlantic warming adding to the Arctic’s problems, an accurate prediction of last year’s Pakistan flooding, and the coolest 1970s Datsun on the planet.
Watch The Climate Show on our Youtube channel, subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, or listen direct/download here:
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Show notes below the fold.
Continue reading “The Climate Show #6: Monckton and the iron in the ocean”
The Laird had been sat on his personal promontory for hours, staring out over the loch, an occasional tear rolling gently down his cheek. Scrotum had been quick to take him a generous snifter of the Queensland pineapple rum he’d enjoyed so much in the outback a year ago, but even the heady waft of tropical alcohol and memories of days in the Austral sun could not dispel Monckton’s black dog. The wrinkled retainer had seen the dog take him before, but this was no mere short-haired dachshund, it was the full weimaraner. Scrotum repaired to the library and opened Monckton’s laptop. A strange Roman script filled the screen…
Scrotum clicked the words and was transported to the other side of the world — as so many of his ancestors had been. There, laid out in an easy to access and understand way was a comprehensive debunking of all of Monckton’s favourite arguments. Scrotum smiled, and reached for his iPod. Time for a little Martha & The Vandellas…
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