A Few Things Ill Considered

A layman's take on the science of Global Warming featuring a guide on How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic.

Thursday, November 30, 2006

send this to... Digg it! | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Reddit | Furl | Spurl

My Recent Absence

Gentle Readers,

I apologize for not keeping up with blogging, both posts and responding to comments, as well as participation elsewhere.

My partner of the last 17 years died at 4:00AM, November 26, 2006. It was a long time coming but the end was thankfully pain free and at home.

I don't think I will be doing anything here for a few more days.

[update: thanks to all for the comments]

Labels: ,

posted by coby @ 11/30/2006 10:38:00 PM   17 comments

Sunday, November 19, 2006

send this to... Digg it! | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Reddit | Furl | Spurl

Another week of GW news - Nairobi

(Courtesy of H.E.Taylor, here is the Nairobi GW news roundup
skip to bottom

The Nairobi conference is the big story of the week:

--regards--

-het

PS. You can access the previous postings of this series here.

--

"We can stay with business as usual and be the generation that presides over a global bubble economy that keeps expanding until it bursts, or we can be the generation that stabilizes population, eradicates poverty, and stabilizes climate. Historians will record the choice, but it is ours to make."

-Lester Brown: Plan B - Rescuing a Planet

Labels:

posted by coby @ 11/19/2006 03:05:00 PM   4 comments

send this to... Digg it! | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Reddit | Furl | Spurl

Another week of GW news - November 19, 2006

(Courtesy of H.E.Taylor, here is this week's GW news roundup


skip to bottom

The Nairobi conference is covered in a seperate posting. See "Another week of GW news - Nairobi"

The Stern Review is still causing ripples:

At the APEC conference:

As for recent GHG statistics:

This strikes me as a significant unknown:

An El Nino is currently underway:

Not to mention the ozone hole:

Remember the hurricane wars?:

There has been some pre-AR4 chatter:

Meanwhile glaciers are melting:

And the Arctic:

The AMS released a draft statement on Climate Change:

The impacts of GW are becoming clearer:

Then there are the tropical rainforests:

Speaking of floods & droughts:

The troubling matter of falling food production is not going away:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

And on the carbon sequestration front:

Meanwhile in the journals:

Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

Here is a counterintuitive feedback:

The Pielke fanclub is in fine fettle:

Meanwhile on the emissions trading front:

Lists, we have lists:

In the international arena:

How do you suppose the WTO would take to these tariffs?

And on the American political front:

While in the hope springs eternal department:

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

While on the UK political front:

Elsewhere in Britain:

It seems British children have a grim perspective:

Meanwhile in Europe:

Meanwhile in Australia:

And Al Gore is in Australia again to train his climate messengers:

And in Canada, the oil sands are one hot political potato:

While shrub won his richly deserved reward:

Otherwise in Canada:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

And the difficult question of aviation & GHG production is in the air:

The movement toward ecologically based economics is glacial:

Apocalypso anyone?:

As for how the media handles the science of climatology:

One WaPo columnist came in for particular calumny:

Here is something for your library:

And for your film & video enjoyment:

Meanwhile in the 'Sue the Bastards!' contingent:

Developing a new energy infrastructure is the fundamental challenge of the current generation:

And then there is the matter of efficiency:

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

A contretemps between Monbiot and Monckton triggered much comment:

Coby Beck is continuing to post his excellent "How to Talk to a Global Warming Sceptic" series on GristMill:

Then there was the usual news and commentary:

And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:

--regards--

-het

PS. You can access the previous postings of this series here.

--

"Destroying species is like tearing pages out of an unread book, written in a language humans hardly know how to read, about the place where they live." -Holmes Rolston III

Global Warming: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/globalwarming.html

GW News: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwnews.html

GW News Archive: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwna.html

H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/

Labels:

posted by coby @ 11/19/2006 02:49:00 PM   0 comments

Monday, November 13, 2006

send this to... Digg it! | Technorati | Del.icio.us | Reddit | Furl | Spurl

Another week of GW news - November 12, 2006

(Courtesy of H.E.Taylor, here is this week's GW news roundup
skip to bottom

Two big stories headline this week: Nairobi and the Greenland/Antarctic linkage:

Click here to read more...

The UNFCCC COP/MOP 2 and COP 12 meetings are underway Nairobi:

There is still some chatter about the Stern report:

Another worrisome report from the UK, this time from the IPPR:

Recent GHG statistics are not encouraging:

And you can throw in a dash of abrupt climate change:

That El Nino is going to stick around:

Meanwhile in the hurricane wars:

Glaciers are melting:

Meanwhile in near earth orbit:

More GW impacts are being seen:

And then there are the tropical rainforests:

The prospect of rising sea levels has some preparing (or not):

The troubling issue of falling food production is not going away:

Falling water levels in the Australian Murray-Darling river system is triggering hard decisions:

And speaking of floods & droughts:

Elsewhere on the mitigation front:

And on the carbon sequestration front:

Large scale geo-engineering keeps popping up:

A Scot has come up with an interesting device [Edinburgh Duck]:

Meanwhile in the journals:

Before we get into politics, there was some science done:

Give them Ethics and next they'll want peace and prosperity!:

Kofi Annan has written an editorial on GW:

Here is somebody else with a Plan:

And why isn't anything happening?:

Meanwhile on the Kyoto front:

Meanwhile on the Kyoto-2 front:

And on the emissions trading front:

Australia has suddenly come out in favour of carbon trading. Can an election be far behind?:

This story got little US coverage:

On the American political front, the big news after the midterm election is the Democratic congress:

While in other US political news:

The Gore-apalooza is still bopping along:

While on the UK political front:

Meanwhile in Europe:

The big news in Australia was the summit on the Murray-Darling rivers drying up:

Otherwise in Australia:

And in Kiwiland:

In Canada, minority neocon PM Harper continues his inaction:

While in the tricky issue of Canadian federal/provincial politics:

Not to mention the international Law of the Sea:

And in other Canadian news:

The idea of a carbon tax is still bouncing around:

Regarding the difficult question of aviation & GHG production:

Apocalypso anyone?:

Yes we have no wacky weather, except:

It will be intersting to watch if the change in attitude percolates through his media empire:

Here is something for your library:

And for your film & video enjoyment:

Wrestling over a new energy infrastructure continues unabated:

And then there is the matter of efficiency:

The reaction of business to climate change will be critical:

The carbon lobby are up to the usual:

Coby Beck is continuing to post his excellent "How to Talk to a Global Warming Sceptic" series on GristMill:

Then there was the usual news and commentary:

And here are a couple of sites you may find interesting and/or useful:

--regards--

-het

PS. You can access the previous postings of this series here.

--

"We are living in the midst of an ecological catastrophe every bit as tragic as that of the slaughter of the buffalo and the passenger pigeon. Wherever one looks there are governmental policies that are equally blind, economic rationales equally compelling. All memory is convulsed in an upheaval of violence. There is a fire burning over the Earth, taking with it plants and animals, cultures, languages, ancient skills and visionary wisdom. Quelling this flame and reinventing the poetry of diversity is the most important challenge of our time."

-Wade Davis in The Cloud Leopard

Global Warming: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/globalwarming.html

GW News: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwnews.html

GW News Archive: http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/enviro/gwna.html

H.E. Taylor http://www.autobahn.mb.ca/~het/

END

Labels:

posted by coby @ 11/13/2006 05:58:00 PM   9 comments