OilPrice.com | | Global Warming

OilPrice.com | | Global Warming Global warming news and analysis. We cover both sides of the climate change debate and look at fossil fuels impact on the environment and renewable energies http://oilprice.com/ Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:47:17 GMT Oilprice.com (info@oilprice.com) We are not Thinking Big Enough with our Solutions to Climate Change http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/We-are-not-Thinking-Big-Enough-with-our-Solutions-to-Climate-Change.html Climate change presents us with a pressing challenge. A global consensus accepts that human activity is responsible for climate change and its associated dangers. However, there is disagreement on how best to address this challenge. The essay argues that leading proposals are unsatisfactory, such as the ecological footprint and polluter pays principle. The reasons include that they do not effectively manage climate change and may contribute to further problems. We require a new approach to address climate change. Even if you don’t accept…

]]> (Judith Curry) Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:36:50 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/We-are-not-Thinking-Big-Enough-with-our-Solutions-to-Climate-Change.html Global Warming - Fact or "Fuzzy Science"? http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Global-Warming-Fact-Or-Fuzzy-Science.html Perhaps no environmental issue arouses more fierce partisan debate than global warming. On the one side are environmentalists and many scientists, on the other many governments and businessmen, who decry both the phenomena and the attendant costs in dealing with it. The debate was opened by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol climate treaty and has raged ever since. While the Clinton administration supported it, the Bush administration simply walked away from it. On 7 June 2005 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences posted a statement on its website noting,…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:07:56 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Global-Warming-Fact-Or-Fuzzy-Science.html Interstellar Energy Cloud may be as much to Blame for Climate Change as CO2 Emissions http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Interstellar-Energy-Cloud-May-Be-As-Much-To-Blame-For-Climate-Change-As-CO2-Emissions.html For years climate change has been blamed on global warming, which has in turn been blamed on green-house gases produced from the combustion of fossil fuels. However there is another explication that perhaps can’t be held culpable for all changes affecting the global environment at the moment, but it certainly doesn’t improve the situation. On July 14th 2010 it was officially revealed that information from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellites prove that our solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud of electrical energy. According…

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]]> burgessj@oilprice.com (James Burgess) Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:02:07 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Interstellar-Energy-Cloud-May-Be-As-Much-To-Blame-For-Climate-Change-As-CO2-Emissions.html Startling the Global Community, Canada Withdraws from the Kyoto Convention http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Startling-The-Global-Community-Canada-Withdraws-From-The-Kyoto-Convention.html Canada has announced its intention to withdraw from the Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gas emissions (GGE), sandbagging the other signatories to the convention. The Kyoto protocol, initially adopted in Kyoto, Japan in 1997, was designed to combat global warming with the agreement allowing countries like China and India take voluntary, but non-binding steps to reduce their greenhouse gas carbon emissions. International condemnation was swift. China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a news briefing, "It is regrettable and flies in the face…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Thu, 15 Dec 2011 0:01:11 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Startling-The-Global-Community-Canada-Withdraws-From-The-Kyoto-Convention.html A Look at Why the Durban Climate Talks Failed http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/A-Look-At-Why-The-Durban-Climate-Talks-Failed.html Why did the Durban climate talks fail? Ultimately, the culprit is the near-universal pursuit of economic growth. All the major players want growth: the US, because it’s still pulling out of a recession; China, because it knows 10 percent annual growth can’t go on forever, but is trying to avoid a hard landing; Europe, which is trying to pull out of its sovereign debt spiral. The US and China, in particular, know that fossil fuels have given them growth in the past, and are especially reluctant to give them up now. The Chinese pulled…

]]> postcarbon@oilprice.com (Post Carbon) Tue, 13 Dec 2011 2:21:40 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/A-Look-At-Why-The-Durban-Climate-Talks-Failed.html Insurance Companies Feeling the Effects of Climate Change http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Insurance-Companies-Feeling-The-Effects-Of-Climate-Change.html Environmentalists are not the only ones who worry as projections about climate change keep getting worse and worse. So do insurance companies, which feel the effects financially as the pace of climate-related disasters accelerates. It is telling that, even as some business groups oppose climate-change legislation in Washington, many of the companies with the most to lose from global warming are treating it as a reality – and pricing their products accordingly. Losses from extreme weather related to climate change are no longer chump change.…

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]]> sinclairp@oilprice.com (Peter Sinclair) Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:46:33 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Insurance-Companies-Feeling-The-Effects-Of-Climate-Change.html Global Warming Naysayers Says the Heat is On! http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Global-Warming-Naysayers-Says-The-Heat-Is-On.html The subject of Climate Change and Global Warming has a polarizing effect in the U.S. Like religion, you either believe or don’t believe. Strong sentiments resonate on both sides. It seems impossible to try to sway either camp. One of the biggest excuses used by anthropogenic climate change and global warming skeptics has been the unscrupulous nature of the scientific community. In a poll I conducted a few years ago titled “Climate Change – Fact or Fiction,” about 40% of 478 pages of comments raised concern over Climategate,…

]]> stevensba@oilprice.com (Barry Stevens) Mon, 05 Dec 2011 3:46:14 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Global-Warming-Naysayers-Says-The-Heat-Is-On.html Could Geo-Engineering Solve all our Climate Fears? http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Could-Geo-Engineering-Solve-All-Our-Climate-Fears.html Gio-engineering a.k.a climate engineering is the study of how to manipulate the planets climate to counter act the effect of global warming. This video describes various strategies to achieve this, from dispersing the suns rays with trillions of space based lenses, to creating denser clouds to reflect the suns heat. These suggestions could seriously help reverse global warming, but many people are worried about the impact on the global climate that any form of manipulation might have, and whether it could make the situation worse for many people.…

]]> sinclairp@oilprice.com (Peter Sinclair) Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:50:26 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Could-Geo-Engineering-Solve-All-Our-Climate-Fears.html Is Climate Change Real? Take a Look at the Science Before you Decide http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Is-Climate-Change-Real-Take-A-Look-At-The-Science-Before-You-Decide.html Today, we’re going to make the world less comfortable, in two easy steps that each of you can do at home. Step 1 shows how easy it is to account for the carbon dioxide excess in the atmosphere based on our cumulative use of fossil fuels. Step 2 bypasses intricacies of thermal radiation to put an approximate scale on the amount of heating we would expect the excess CO2 to produce. Serves 7 billion. Climate Change in Context I view climate change as a genuine challenge to the stability of our coexistence with the planet. But it is not my primary…

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]]> murphyt@oilprice.com (Tom Murphy) Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:50:40 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Is-Climate-Change-Real-Take-A-Look-At-The-Science-Before-You-Decide.html Global Warming Debate Finally Over? Five Questions For Richard Muller http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Global-Warming-Debate-Finally-Over-Five-Questions-For-Richard-Muller.html In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, The Case Against Global-Warming Skepticism, California Berkeley physicist Richard A. Muller describes the results from a recent re-examination of climate records and declares the debate is finally, really, truly over. Skepticism, Muller explains, may have been warranted before (how generous of him!), but now that the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Project folks have worked over the temperature data again, there’s no more cause for skepticism about whether or not the globe has warmed. Warming Red Herring…

]]> MasterResource@oilprice.com (MasterResource ) Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:29:03 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Global-Warming-Debate-Finally-Over-Five-Questions-For-Richard-Muller.html Arctic Ice Melting Rapidly - Yet Global Warming is Slowing http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Arctic-Ice-Melting-Rapidly-Yet-Global-Warming-Is-Slowing.html The numbers are in for this year’s summer sea ice extent in the Arctic Ocean. By most measures the ice loss in 2011 came in a close second to the current and still record holder, 2007. But the failure to set a new record for the least amount of summer Arctic sea ice observed during the satellite era (which begins in 1979) has done little to alter the overall picture of what is going on there. Summer sea ice has been in decline in the Arctic Ocean since, conservatively, the mid-20th century, and it has been picking up steam. And sea ice declines…

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]]> MasterResource@oilprice.com (MasterResource ) Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:33:51 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Arctic-Ice-Melting-Rapidly-Yet-Global-Warming-Is-Slowing.html Carbon Dioxide May Destroy All Coral Reefs by the End of the Century http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Carbon-Dioxide-May-Destroy-All-Coral-Reefs-By-The-End-Of-The-Century.html A new book out this week by United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health leader Peter Sale predicts that coral reefs will be wiped off the face of the earth by the end of the century. Sheril Kirshenbaum, author and reserach associate at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy, explains why in this climate progress cross-post. Marine chemist Richard Feely, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, has been collecting water samples in the North Pacific for over 30 years.…

]]> acienceprogress@oilprice.com (Science Progress) Mon, 19 Sep 2011 20:42:31 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Carbon-Dioxide-May-Destroy-All-Coral-Reefs-By-The-End-Of-The-Century.html Switching to Renewable Energy Could SPEED UP Global Warming http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Switching-To-Renewable-Energy-Could-SPEED-UP-Global-Warming.html Study: Coal-Fired Power Plants Emit Pollutants That Keep the Earth CoolLast week a new study reported that replacing coal with natural gas might actually worsen climate change in the short term. The study was done by Tom Wigley, who is a senior research associate at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The title of the study is Coal to gas: The influence of methane leakage and will be published in next month’s Climatic Change Letters. What the study projects is that the amount of methane leaking from gas wells will influence the…

]]> pir@oilprice.com (Robert Rapier) Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:42:56 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Switching-To-Renewable-Energy-Could-SPEED-UP-Global-Warming.html Battling Climate Change by Restoring Land Contaminated by Chernobyl http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Battling-Climate-Change-By-Restoring-Land-Contaminated-By-Chernobyl.html An NGO is developing an emissions reduction project in Belarus that will restore peatland contaminated by fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident. APB Birdlife Belarus is tapping the carbon markets to find at least €2.6 million ($3.6 million) for a project that will re-wet peatland that was drained as part of a Soviet-era programme to boost agricultural production. The 10,000-hectare tract of land in the south-east of the country borders the Ukraine and is near the site of the nuclear reactor which exploded in 1986, scattering radioactive…

]]> cundy@oilprice.com (Christopher Cundy) Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:27:45 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Battling-Climate-Change-By-Restoring-Land-Contaminated-By-Chernobyl.html Sea Levels are Not Rapidly Rising - Nature Disagrees with IPCC http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Sea-Levels-Are-Not-Rapidly-Rising-Nature-Disagrees-With-IPCC.html “The short-term rate of global sea level rise has decreased by about 25% since the release of the AR4—and a new paper shows that some 15% of the observed rise comes not from global warming, but instead from global dewatering…. [R]ather than raising its projections of sea level rise, perhaps the IPCC ought to consider lowering them once again.” The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is under pressure to revisit its projections of the expected amount of sea level rise by the year 2100. Many rather influential…

]]> MasterResource@oilprice.com (MasterResource ) Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:57:22 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Sea-Levels-Are-Not-Rapidly-Rising-Nature-Disagrees-With-IPCC.html Climate Change Policy and Data Manipulation http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Climate-Change-Policy-And-Data-Manipulation.html The whole issue of climate change and government policy in response to global warming remains an issue of immense importance to the metals industry. As major consumers of energy and significant emitters of CO2 (and other so called greenhouse gasses) metals manufacturers serve as both part of the problem and part of the solution. Of course not everyone shares the view that global warming has come as a result of anything man (or industry) has done. Bob Lutz, legendary automotive executive and often outspoken critic of the climate change lobby once…

]]> Burnss@oilprice.com (Stuart Burns) Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:48:43 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Climate-Change-Policy-And-Data-Manipulation.html Emissions Targets in Doubt as CO2 Levels Reach Highest in History http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Emissions-Targets-In-Doubt-As-CO2-Levels-Reach-Highest-In-History.html The International Energy Agency reported that global carbon dioxide emissions reached its highest record in history last year, casting doubts whether various governments can meet the target emission level set. The I.E.A. noted that the emissions rate soared to five percent marked of 30.6 gigatons, surpassing the previous carbon dioxide emissions record in 2008 which was at 29.3 gigatons. The group also highlighted that 44 percent of the estimated carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 came from coal, 36 percent from oil, and 20 percent from natural gas.…

]]> ecoseed@oilprice.com (EcoSeed ) Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:02:42 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Emissions-Targets-In-Doubt-As-CO2-Levels-Reach-Highest-In-History.html The Mirage of Western Countries Lowered Greenhouse Gas Emissions http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/The-Mirage-Of-Western-Countries-Lowered-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions.html In many developed nations, increased energy efficiency has effectively lowered emissions of carbon dioxide. However, the cuts in advanced economies are merely an illusion, as manufacturing and dirty industries have moved offshore to the developing world such as China and India. These countries produce goods cheaply which Western consumers like. But that cheap price is a reflection of not only lower wages for workers, but also lax pollution controls and environmental standards. Developed countries have been reducing their carbon emissions for some…

]]> gabeli@oilprice.com (David Gabel) Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:05:54 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/The-Mirage-Of-Western-Countries-Lowered-Greenhouse-Gas-Emissions.html Food Yields and Climate Change http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Food-Yields-And-Climate-Change.html Even in rich countries, the shadow of food insecurity has returned, threatening to bring to an end a golden era of plenty. It had been quite a success story, with agricultural activity focused almost exclusively on ensuring the provision of cheap and abundant supplies of food and fibre. Only in the last ten years or so have the full environmental costs of this cornucopian plenty been brought to light. For countries with spending power, the reassuring sight of supermarkets brimming with cheap, fresh produce from around the world, irrespective of…

]]> futuresgr@oilprice.com (Green Futures) Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:59:04 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Food-Yields-And-Climate-Change.html Inaction on climate change is risky business http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Inaction-On-Climate-Change-Is-Risky-Business.html Like a family that has no homeowner’s insurance, no fire detectors, a gas leak in the basement and a bad case of denial, the global community remains unprepared for irreversible and potentially catastrophic changes to the Earth’ climate. What’s needed – quickly – is an international risk management effort, a process that’s more familiar in military and national security circles than it is in environmental and scientific circles. That process is described in “Degrees of Risk: Defining a Risk Management Framework…

]]> beckerw@oilprice.com (William Becker) Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:15:49 GMT http://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Inaction-On-Climate-Change-Is-Risky-Business.html