Once you get past those who insist climate change is the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people and engage with global warming critics who actually have use of their rational faculties, the main point of debate tends to be the cost of trying to reduce carbon emissions. The conservative writer Jim Manzi over at the New …
The Unknown Wonders of Rare Plants
I find it hard to think of a more depressing finding than this one: writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a team of international researchers predict that thousands of rare flowering plant species are likely to become extinct before humans discover them.
And that’s just from the current pressure from habitat loss …
The Oil Spill and the Perils of Losing Trust
Last week the Coast Guard sent out an announcement to the media: from now on there would be a 20-meter safety zone established around all protective shoreline boom, booming operations and general oil spill response operations taking place in southeast Louisiana. Any ship that comes with 20-meters of the boom could be liable for up to …
“Climategate” Researchers Cleared—But Don’t Expect the Controversy to End
In what I really hope is the final word on “climategate”—the controversy over thousands of emails stolen from the archives of climate researchers at Britain’s East Anglia University and published on the Internet last year—an independent British inquiry into the matter largely cleared the scientists involved. Muir Russell, a senior …
The Clean Air Act Gets Cleanerish
We’re all feeling the heat today on the East Coast. Some of us are even writing about it. But this week will also be marred by unusually bad air quality in the Eastern U.S.—several cities hit Code Orange or Code Red for air quality, due to dangerously high levels of ozone and other pollutants. (Check out the nationwide levels here.) In …
Report Card on Renewables: Europe’s Getting A’s
There are some new numbers worth pondering as the east coast sizzles through day three of a heat wave and the Time offices operate at brown-out levels so that the air conditioning doesn’t crash the building-wide power grid. Whether or not the current scorcher has anything to do with climate change, there’s no doubt that we’re in for a …
Turning Up the Heat on Climate Change
By time I was up and walking to work around 8 AM this morning in New York, the temperature was already 84 degrees and it’s forecast to hit a record-setting 102 degrees by 3 PM. The streets are a griddle, the offices are oppressive—more than usual—and I don’t even want to talk about the subways. Meteorologists are predicting that the …
Dutch agency affirms IPCC findings
A Dutch inquiry into the seminal 2007 report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found “no errors that would undermine the main conclusions” about predictions of the negative effects of climate change.
But the report by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency added that the “foundation for some …
Global Paper Company — and Clients —Under Fire for Deforestation
In its ongoing campaign to draw attention to Indonesia’s deforestation woes, Greenpeace has released a new report singling out Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), one of the world’s largest paper companies owned by Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas, for sourcing trees from rainforest and peatland that are home to endangered species like the …
“Climategate” report due Wednesday
A review into the chain of emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) that caused an international scandal when they were leaked last year is due out on Wednesday.
The Independent Climate Change Email Review, headed by Sir Muir Russell, a former civil servant, will examine emails between top climate …