Archive by date | December 2007

Rocky start to Bali relationship

Rocky start to Bali relationship

Bali, Indonesia- The road to building a Bali roadmap was looking increasingly rocky today, as the vastly differing expectations of what will emerge from the two weeks meeting of the 13th conference of parties (COP) to the UNFCCC became increasingly apparent. One of the biggest bones of contention, of course, is whether the roadmap will include an agreement on the need for binding emissions targets from 2012, which signals the end of the second period of commitment of the Kyoto Protocol. At the opening plenary talk on Monday, Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC Executive Secretary said that “A marriage contract is  … Read more

Climate hoaxes and divorced Canadian drunks

Climate hoaxes and divorced Canadian drunks

While the world’s climate experts meet in Bali, the rest of the world is getting on with the serious business of elaborate hoaxes and stating the obvious. First up: activists from the Rising Tide movement successfully impersonated a major business group and pretended they were going to cut carbon emissions by 90%.  Read more

Second Life climate talks on Second Nature – no air travel required

Second Life climate talks on Second Nature - no air travel required

Starting today, Second Nature — the Second Life space for all things Nature — hosts a series of climate change talks to coincide with the UN conference in Bali. Avatars can attend with a carbon-clean conscience. From the press release: Three speakers are already confirmed, with more sessions expected to be announced in the coming days on Nature Network, NPG’s social networking website (https://network.nature.com/blogs/user/joannascott). The confirmed programme includes: Tues 4th Dec, 6pm GMT, 10am PST, SLT Tara LaForce, Lecturer at Imperial College London, on her research into carbon capture and storage Tues 11th Dec, 6pm GMT, 10am PST, SLT Dr  … Read more

Tropics expanding fast

Tropics expanding fast

Signs of a very different 21st-century climate are already showing up, and not just in the melting arctic. A new review in Nature Geoscience highlights reports that the boundaries of the tropics, defined by temperature, rainfall, wind, and ozone patterns, have shifted poleward by at least 2 degrees latitude in the last 25 years. According to climate models, that’s as far as the tropical belt was supposed to creep by the end of this century. Five different methods used to measure the tropics all show more or less breakneck rates of expansion — one gives as much as 4.8 degrees in 25 years.  Read more

Nature News special on Bali

Nature News special on Bali

If you’re looking for some background on the UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Nature News has a nice roundup (subscription required). They’ve put together their coverage of the IPCC reports released over the past year, plus related stories stretching back to 1990 and some recent commentaries. Any news stories they report from the meeting will go up on the same page. The Nature Reports Climate Change archive also has lots on the IPCC and the Bali conference.  Read more