Category Archives: Climate Change

Naomi Oreskes on “The Collapse of Western Civilization”

A Chronicler of Warnings Denied: Naomi Oreskes Imagines the Future History of Climate Change By Claudia Dreifus, Oct 27, 2014, New York Times “I get from the scientific community a feeling that things are going from bad to worse. I … Continue reading

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The end of insurance: Ports and Hurricanes, Storm Surges, & Rising Sea Levels

  The world is about to be shaken by many storms besides cyclones and hurricanes — declining energy & natural resources and the social unrest generated by ever larger numbers of the 7+ billion people getting poorer and hungrier. Since … Continue reading

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External costs of coal: probably over $500 billion per year in USA

Paul R. Epstein, et al. 2011. Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal in “Ecological Economics Reviews.” Robert Costanza, Karin Limburg & Ida Kubiszewski, Eds. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1219: 73–98. This paper tabulates a wide range of … Continue reading

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James Hansen : Sea level could rise in decades, not centuries or millenia

James Hansen explains how sea level could rise in decades, not centuries or millenia At the bottom is a more recent article that backs Hansen up. Below are excerpts from:  Climate change and trace gases. James Hansen, Makiko Sato, et … Continue reading

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Science: A Drier Future. Global Warming is likely to lead to overall drying of land surfaces.

A Drier Future. Global Warming is likely to lead to overall drying of land surfaces. Sherwood, S & Fu, Q. Science. 14 Feb 2014. Vol 343. pp 737-739 Global temperature increases affect the water cycle over land, but the nature … Continue reading

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PNAS: Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises

Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises. 2013. sponsored by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Intelligence community. This was the best summary of the 223 page National Academy of Sciences publication I could … Continue reading

Posted in CO2 and Methane | 1 Comment

Set the planet on fire: Burn underground coal to gasify it. Worse than Fracking.

Fire in the hole: After fracking comes coal. 13 February 2014 by Fred Pearce. NewScientist. Setting fire to coal underground could answer our energy prayers, or start an environmental disaster on a bigger scale than ever before. Without a way to … Continue reading

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Global Warming increases violence and wars

2 Aug 2013. Seth Borenstein. Global warming may fuel wars. A massive new study finds that aggressive acts like committing violent crimes and waging war become more likely with each added degree of temperature. The study was published online yesterday … Continue reading

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Peak fossil fuels means global warming less than projected

This Science article states we could emit CO2 at the same rate we are now for another 50 years before going over the 2 degrees Celsius level we need to avoid a runaway greenhouse.  Since we are at peak world fossil … Continue reading

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China food security: climate change likely to reduce rice, wheat, and other crop yields

Climate change is also likely to lower wheat production:  Global warming will have a bad effect on heat-sensitive wheat, slashing yields even more than was originally feared.  It could be much harder than we thought to feed everyone in a … Continue reading

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