Despite Russia’s claims, the Winter Games at Sochi are unlikely to be green
Russia
RIP, Megatons for Megawatts
The seminal U.S.-Russian program saved the world from 20,000 nuclear weapons comes to an end as relations between Moscow and Washington dim
EcocentricOceans
Free Boris: Over 100 Beluga Whales Trapped in Russian Ice
Bad news for whales out of the Russian Far East: over 100 belugas are reportedly trapped in water between ice floes in the Chukotka region, cut off from the sea. Fishermen in the area—one of the poorest in Russia, bordering the …
EcocentricOil
Is Siberia Becoming China’s One-Stop Energy Shop?
“In summer, intolerable closeness; in winter, unendurable cold.”
So Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote of his years of hard labor in 19th century Siberia, after a jittery Tsar Nicholas I banished the famed writer to the lonely Far East. For centuries, the massive swath of land east of Moscow and north of China has been a place of political …
EcocentricUncategorized
Is the Scramble Over the North Pole Back On?
For all its remoteness, the North Pole generates a lot of controversy. In 1909, the American admiral Robert Peary reported that he successfully reached the geographic North Pole, a feat of navigation that is now widely disputed. Nearly a century later, another expedition to the remote top of the globe caused a stir when Russian …
EcocentricUncategorized
Could Less Arctic Ice Offer a Pirate-Free Route for Ships?
I went to an interesting talk today in Hong Kong where Felix Tschudi, the chairman of the Tschudi Shipping Company in Norway, raised an interesting proposition: What if the shipping industry’s pirate problem could be solved by our warming planet?
In 2010, Tschudi starting working on a plan to start shipping iron ore from …
EcocentricEcocentric
The Russian Heat Wave Wasn’t Exactly Due to Climate Change—But That’s Not the Point
Climate modeling is the inverse of weather prediction. The further away from the present a weather event is going to occur, the harder it usually is for meterologists to predict—as anyone who has ever tried to rely on a 10-day extended forecast should know. But in climate change, modelers can have meaningful confidence in how increased …
EcocentricWildlife
Wildlife: Russia’s Putin Organizes to Save the Tiger
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is no one’s idea of an environmentalist. Putting aside his more general authoritarian tendencies, TIME’s 2007 Person of the Year has squeezed the space for civil society to operate, including in Russia’s nascent environmental movement. He’s favored the exploitation of Russia’s bountiful …
EcocentricWeather
Extreme Heat Sends Chills Through the World
“2010 is becoming the year of the heatwave, with record temperatures set in 17 countries,” The Guardian newspaper reported today.
For those following the deadly heatwave that has hit eastern Europe in the last 6 weeks, it should comes as no surprise that record highs have been recorded in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. But also Iraq, …
EcocentricFood
Climate Change: How Extreme Heat May Affect Your Food
Hot enough for you? If you live in one of the more than 15 states that were suffering under a heat advisory or excessive heat warning on Tuesday, I’m going to guess the answer is yes, God, please make it all stop. The oppressively high temperatures that gripped much of the U.S. during June—the hottest month on record worldwide, …