Archive by date | July 2007

This week in Nature

Posted by Olive Heffernan on behalf of Alex Witze This week’s issue of Nature has several news stories related to climate change. First up, we’ve got a look at the bill introduced recently in the US Congress by Senators Jeff Bingaman (New Mexico) and Arlen Specter (Pennsylvania). It’s the latest in a rush of climate bills that have been coming before Congress in recent months, spurred by the Democratic takeover in January. The Bingaman/Specter plan isn’t as stringent as other bills that would slash emissions more drastically, but has the backing – at least so far – of groups that  … Read more

Global Warming and Forecasts of Climate Change

Posted by Olive Heffernan on behalf of Kevin Trenberth Given that human induced climate change is with us, a looming challenge is to predict just what the climate will be. To date, there are no such predictions although the projections given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are often treated as such. The distinction is important. A paper presented at the International Forecasting Symposium in New York City in late June 2007 by J. Scott Armstrong and K. C. Green is highly critical of IPCC procedures and “forecasts” for not being based on “evidence based” procedures as outlined  … Read more

Sun not a cause of global warming

Posted by Olive Heffernan on behalf of Quirin Schiermeier The sun, despite claims to the contrary, is not a factor in recent climate change. Nature had a news article last week about a paper – and the reactions to it – by Mike Lockwood and Claus Froehlich. Their comprehensive (and conclusive) (re)-analysis of solar trends concludes that the sum of natural changes in solar activity since 1985 would have cooled our climate, were it not for the strong warming effect of increased greenhouse gas concentrations. The findings, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, went online yesterday and have  … Read more

Building cities resilience to climate change

Posted by Olive Heffernan on behalf on Paty Romero Lankao For the first time in human history, in this year half of the world’s population lives in urban regions. This proportion is expected to go up to more than 60 percent by 2030. In an effort to understand the urban vulnerabilities to climate change, and to highlight innovative solutions to increase cities resilience, the Rockefeller Foundation, along with the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD), of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, is sponsoring a week-long discussion (July 8-13) on “Building for climate change resilience” within of month-long series of  … Read more