Last weekend, Hillary Clinton traveled to Norway for two days as part of her ongoing trip to Scandinavia, the Caucuses, and Turkey. In Norway, she first went to Oslo, where she had dinner with Norwegian Foreign Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. He said to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, “I’ve spoken with her many times, but we […]
What could prove to be a critical component in the effort to successfully confront the climate crisis was launched today by Hillary Clinton at the State Department in Washington. Secretary Clinton announced the formation of the “Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants.” What are these short-lived climate pollutants? Methane, black carbon […]
We’ve been on vacation – and happily quite busy – thus have I been away from blogging. A little bit relative to the trip itself and some thoughts regarding sustainability, renewables, etc. perhaps in a couple of days. For now, here’s this on some of the recent talks under the auspices of the Framework Convention. […]
There was an excellent op-ed this weekend in the NY Times that reminds us that we’re in a race. As the climate system continues to show unmistakable signs of a warming world – signs that are accelerating – we need to bring greater focus to how to get ahead of the curve and do what […]
There is a very good story in the NYT about an initiative being launched today to finance clean-burning cookstoves for the developing world. I have written about the pernicious health impacts of burning biomass in open fires and the burden of black carbon deposition that so badly exacerbates global warming. The NY Times reports “Nearly […]
That, of course, is the title of James Baldwin’s famous two-essay collection. Baldwin took it from the old spiritual, “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep.” “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, No more water, the fire next time!” Well, I don’t like to get all biblical, but I bet a lot of folks in Russia and […]
I wrote about The Melting Himalayas over a year ago. Notwithstanding the relatively absurd brouhaha in January caused by the discovery of a one-paragraph error in the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, research on glacier loss in the Himalayas has been continuing apace. The minor peccadillo in the report was […]
I want to return to a theme expressed here a number of times: Carbon dioxide is not the only greenhouse gas with which we need to concern ourselves. The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) reiterated this important message yesterday in this press release announcing their “Fast-Action Climate Mitigation Campaign.” What’s the pitch? “The […]
I’ve been reading Al Gore’s new book, with a view to using it for both my MS and continuing ed classes this spring at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. It’s looking pretty good to me as there are excellent up-to-date perspectives on all sorts of important topics, particularly the promise of renewables, energy efficiency, green […]
KISS – the engineer’s way of designing things that work. Solving the climate change crisis with nuclear fission plants to power the separation of oil from the billions of tons of tar in which it’s embedded – and destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of forest to get at the tar – is not a […]
In Black Carbon in Waxman-Markey here from a few weeks ago, I noted that “The summary of Waxman-Markey says that black carbon ‘…is a major contributor to warming in the Arctic. EPA is directed in the draft to use its existing authority under the Clean Air Act to reduce emissions of black carbon domestically and […]
What could be a more quintessentially human activity? Our food tastes better and is usually much safer to eat when it’s cooked. (There is something to be said, don’t get me wrong, for the raw foods approach too. I’ve been a vegetarian for … what year is this? … a long time and I do […]
Here is a big boost for low-tech, low-cost, potentially very high-impact solutions to “dangerous anthropogenic interference” (DAI) with the climate system: a solar-powered cooker that costs less than $5 to build. I wrote about the FT’s Climate Change Challenge last month here. The FT and its partners, Forum for the Future and HP, are providing […]
Black Carbon in Waxman-Markey – As we’ve seen here, particulates from uncombusted materials – coal, diesel, and biomass – have a much bigger impact on the climate than previously recognized, not to mention the devastating direct health impacts. (See under Soot here and at Black Carbon and Solar Cookers.) It is entirely worth noting that […]
I touched on an important subject here earlier in the month when I mentioned a new study purporting that the spread of black carbon , or soot , from industrial and transportation sources, and from developing world cooking practices, is having a significantly more potent impact on climate change than previously thought. This release from […]