Climate change
Se il cambiamento climatico cancella le Bahamas
«Quando parliamo di cambiamento climatico, stiamo parlando di sopravvivenza». Lo ha detto senza fronzoli Perry Christie, primo ministro delle Bahamas e presidente della Comunità dei Caraibi (CARICOM), nel corso di un vertice con il presidente francese François Hollande tenutosi sabato in Martinica. Il meeting ha radunato più di 40 capi di stato, governi e organizzazioni dei Caraibi per discutere l’impatto del climate change sulle nazioni della regione. (altro…)
Calling Obama’s Bluff on Climate Change
From immigration to Internet regulation, there is scarcely an issue on which President Obama has not pushed the limits of executive power to achieve his ideological goals. The Republican Congress has been able only to react to these usurpations, often floundering, as seen in the recent debacle over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Is there a way the GOP Congress can get ahead of Mr. Obama? (altro…)
Researchers Link Syrian Conflict to a Drought Made Worse by Climate Change
Drawing one of the strongest links yet between global warming and human conflict, researchers said Monday that an extreme drought in Syria between 2006 and 2009 was most likely due to climate change, and that the drought was a factor in the violent uprising that began there in 2011. The drought was the worst in the country in modern times, and in a study published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists laid the blame for it on a century-long trend toward warmer and drier conditions in the Eastern Mediterranean, rather than on natural climate variability. (altro…)
Things just got very hot for climate deniers’ favorite scientist
Wei-Hock Soon is always in hot demand. Among climate change skeptics, few commodities are rarer. Soon isn’t just a scientist. He’s a scientist who doubts climate change is man-made. Soon doesn’t work for just any university — he works for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. If you doubt man-made climate change, Soon isn’t just your man. He’s your high priest. (altro…)
Equità intergenerazionale e giustizia climatica nel nuovo testo in vista della COP di Parigi
Mentre ci avviciniamo alla Conferenza delle Parti sui cambiamenti climatici di Parigi, a Ginevra si è appena conclusa la conferenza Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, o ADP: è il gruppo di lavoro costituito a Durban, nel 2011, con il mandato di “sviluppare un protocollo, un altro strumento legale o un risultato condiviso con forza legale attraverso la convenzione UNFCCC e applicabile a tutte le Parti”. L’ADP dovrà completare il suo lavoro entro il 2015, e quindi entro la Conferenza delle Parti numero ventuno di Parigi; mentre il nuovo trattato entrerà in azione dal 2020. (altro…)
France says UN climate talks crucial for world security
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius launched a round of global climate talks in Geneva on Sunday and warned that world security, as well as the environment, depended on their success.The week-long meeting is the first in a series that is meant to culminate in a globally binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Paris in December, with a target of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 2C above pre-industrial times. (altro…)
Climate Change Is Making the Land in Iceland Rise
Study is the first to demonstrate the link between climate change and rising land
Land in Iceland is rising at a pace of as much as 1.4 inches per year in certain areas as a result of climate change, according to a new study. The melting of the country’s glaciers reduces pressure on the land below and allows the surface to rise, researchers say. “Our research makes the connection between recent accelerated uplift and the accelerated melting of the Icelandic ice caps,” study co-author Kathleen Compton, a University of Arizona researcher, said in a statement. (altro…)
White House Targets Methane to Slow Climate Change
The White House announced Wednesday morning a new plan to cut methane emissions in the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45% in the next ten years. The reductions will come in part from fixing leaky equipment and the intentional “flaring” of gas at oil and gas production sites, said Dan Utech, the president’s special assistant for energy and climate change, in a conference call with reporters. By stopping such waste, the White House said it will save enough natural gas in 2025 to heat more than 2 million homes for a year. The reductions will also be good for industry and the economy, Utech added, since businesses will be able to sell that saved gas on the market. (altro…)
Economics supports immediate action on global warming
Lately there seems to have been a shift away from climate science denial, toward arguments downplaying the costs of human-caused climate change. Specifically, some economists publishing reports for Bjorn Lomborg’s Copenhagen Consensus Center have argued that we should focus our efforts more on adapting to climate impacts and on other issues, rather than on cutting carbon pollution and slowing global warming. According to the Climate Action Tracker, current international climate policies will result in a global surface warming of about 4°C. (altro…)
Playing Dumb on Climate Change
Scientist have often been accused of exaggerating the threat of climate change, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that they ought to be more emphatic about the risk. The year just concluded is about to be declared the hottest one on record, and across the globe climate change is happening faster than scientists predicted. Science is conservative, and new claims of knowledge are greeted with high degrees of skepticism. (altro…)