Category Archives: Global warming

Oceans Becoming More Acidic (and Why That’s a Big Deal)

We’ve mentioned before that higher atmospheric CO2 levels make the oceans more acidic. And that in turn is very nasty for shellfish, coral reefs, and the foundation of the ocean food supply, plankton. As this article in Science Daily reports, the consequences may be even more serious than those of global warming: The world’s oceans […]

Clive Crook on America’s Sham Carbon Emission Legislation

Faithful readers, I hope you will bear with me over the next couple of days. I am having weird problems with my mice, and needless to say, the lack of a properly functioning mouse is a big obstacle to efficient computer use. The result will likely be fewer posts and/or fewer links in posts. I […]

Arctic Walruses Displaced by Polar Ice Retreat

More disheartening news on the global warming front: Arctic walruses have moved from their customary ice sheet habitat to the rocky Alaskan Northwest coast, raising fears that their new foraging grounds won’t provide sufficient food. From the Associated Press viaPnysOrg: Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska’s northwest coast in what conservationists are calling a […]

British Scientists Push Idea of Ocean Burial of CO2

Today, the BBC and the Telegraph, among others, discussed the proposal of James Lovelock of Oxford and Chris Rapley, former head of the British Antarctic Survey, to reduce CO2 levels by pumping it into the deep ocean. Note that this is a type of carbon sequestration. Lovelock and Rapley believe this action is necessary because […]

Wal-Mart as Carbon Enforcer?

The Financial Times, in “Wal-Mart seeks emissions data,” reports that the Bentonville behemoth is out to make it suppliers greener: Wal-Mart is to ask its suppliers to measure and report their greenhouse gas emissions, in the biggest move to disclose emissions from businesses. Few companies disclose their emissions, making it difficult to judge which are […]

Climate Change Flooding Risk Underestimated

The BBC, citing a study in Nature, informs us that climate change models have underestimated the risk of flooding. High atmospheric carbon dioxide levels mean plants suck less water out of the soil. Wetter soil means faster soil saturation in heavy rains, hence more serious flooding. From the BBC: Researchers say efforts to calculate flooding […]

Global Warming Fallout: Nuclear Reactor Shutdown

An Associated Press story, courtesy the Houston Chronicle’s website, tells us that an Alabama nuclear reactor had to be shut down because the river whose water was used as coolant was too hot: The Tennessee Valley Authority shut down one of three units at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant Thursday because water drawn from a […]

Geothermal to the Rescue?

A good piece from the Associated Press via Yahoo on the potential of geothermal energy as a fossil fuel replacement. Geothermal energy has the advantage of being clean and abundant. In fact, it’s already used in some homes in northern Europe, where a geothermal well beneath a house contains water that has been heated by […]

Study Finds Human Activity Producing More Atlantic Hurricaines

It turns out that those who blame the recent increase in the number of Atlantic hurricanes on global warming aren’t nuts. A study just published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society analyzed storms over the last century. It found that the increase since 1980 was due to climate change, and attributed 50% to […]

Ozone a Bigger Culprit in Climate Change Than Previously Thought

An article in Nature magazine, as reported by the BBC, has found that ozone is a more significant greenhouse gas than previously recognized. Ozone interferes with plant photosynthesis, which reduces their effectiveness as a carbon sink. The study estimated that it reduced plant productivity by 14% to 22%, which is a large enough level to […]

Wall Street Journal on Australia’s Drought

The Journal has a not-too-bad page one story on Australia’s drought and the government efforts to address it, but it’s wrong enough so as to merit comment. I lived in Australia for a couple of years not too long ago and have met Malcolm Turnbull, who is now the environmental minister for Australia. The story […]

Don’t Plant Trees

A good post by Joseph Romm at Gristmill explains why planting trees isn’t as good a CO2 reduction measure as it is commonly believed. However, I take issue with his title: “The first rule of carbon offsets: No trees.” Actually, the first rule of carbon offsets is do something else, anything else, first. While in […]

UN: 50 Million Could Be Displaced by "Desertification" in 10 Years

The BBC website has this grim story on how climate change and unsustainable farming practices is projected to produce an increase in deserts, leading to mass migration. Sub-Saharan Africa and central Asia are worse affected, but parts of Australia and the American West are also drying out. From the BBC: Tens of millions of people […]

Top Climate Scientists Issue Dire Warning

Six highly respected climate scientists have published a paper, “Climate change and trade gasses,” in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (hat tip Gristmill) that says things are worse than is being reported. The paper takes issue with some of the assumptions of the IPCC report, arguing that it ignores that ice sheets melt […]