Archive by date | May 2008

Meeting heads off Arctic oil disputes

Meeting heads off Arctic oil disputes

The predicted effects of climate change can be counted on to shake up international relations, even far from the impoverished, politically wobbly regions where the most obvious conflicts loom. A case in point is the tranquil Arctic seabed, believed to hold a substantial fraction* of the world’s undeveloped oil reserves – which, as the summer sea ice extent decreases year by year, is suddenly set to become accessible for extraction.  Read more

Scientists call on G8 for stricter targets

Scientists call on G8 for stricter targets

Cutting global greenhouse emissions by half of 1990 levels by 2050 will not be sufficient to prevent major damage from climate change, say scientists in a Commentary published today on Nature Reports Climate Change. Earlier this week, environment ministers from the world’s leading industrialised countries, the Group of Eight, called for a deal to slash global greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by mid-century. This would still commit the world to substantial harm, even if it is “widely considered to be the most stringent politically achievable target”, says Martin Parry, who co-chaired the impacts assessment group for the Intergovernmental Panel of  … Read more

Post-World War II cooling a mirage

Post-World War II cooling a mirage

The 20th century warming trend is not a linear affair. The iconic climate curve, a combination of observed land and ocean temperatures, has quite a few ups and downs, most of which climate scientists can easily associate with natural phenomena such as large volcanic eruptions or El Nino events.  Read more

Google Earth warms

Google Earth warms

The British Antarctic Survey and the UK’s Met Office have released a pair of new layers for Google Earth that depict the effects of climate change across a 3D map of the globe. In one fell swoop, this about doubles the amount of climate content that’s easily accessible from the Google Earth Gallery and Showcase pages.  Read more

Blowing in the wind

A new study, published online Sunday by Nature Geoscience, presents solid evidence that temperatures in the Earth’s lower atmosphere are increasing in line with temperature changes on the ground.  Read more

Oil heirs mutiny at Exxon

Oil heirs mutiny at Exxon

With much of the corporate world competing to be ahead of the decarbonization curve, it’s not uncommon to see investors actually begging governments for more regulations, as a prominent group in the US did this week. More remarkable is witnessing oil goliath Exxon Mobil torn by a climate-driven shareholder revolt and its backlash.  Read more

Population: elephant in the greenhouse?

“climate.2008.44-i1” In debates over how to mitigate the effects of climate change, is the burgeoning human population an elephant in the room? A projected 9 billion people will have to share a warming planet by 2050, yet as Kerri Smith writes in Nature Reports Climate Change this week, the climatic effects of their rising numbers and shifting demographics has received surprisingly little study.  Read more