Climate Change

Meat consumption and climate change. Like it or not, it's not sustainable in numerous ways, in both the developed and the developing world. What can one person do? Begin by reducing meat consumption; the impact is significant. See Meating.

While environmental change may make its appearance among the poor in developing nations first, especially in Africa, it will not remain a distant abstraction. Go to Kenya.

The group 1 Sky is calling for a national day of action this Friday June 19th. The objective is to make the climate bill being debated in the U.S. Congress much stronger.

The reason the 19th of June has been chosen is that committee work is going on right now in the House and the full U.S. House of Representatives is likely to vote on the bill by the end of June. For information on activities throughout the country go to Organize.

A traditional Native culture and way of life that depends on the caribou is at stake. These are human rights which should not be sacrificed for oil development.
(John Echohawk, Native American Rights Fund)

“Looking at a current cross-section of the world, national income per-capita falls 8.5% on average per degree Celsius rise in temperature.”

This striking statement caught my attention when I first read the article but, as the authors point out, it appears to pertain to “only” poor countries and not rich ones.

Jim Hansen, climate scientist, speaks about the meaning of climate change, global warming, climate change deniers, and why the public has difficulty understanding the issue. See Changing Climate.

A detailed, technical overview on the human contribution to climate change by the president of the National Academy of Science.

I received an e-mail recently from U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, in response to a letter I'd sent, regarding our energy policy. It brought home the debate—and battle—that has started over energy and climate change.

Senator McCaskill used the phrases “middle ground” and “spirit of bipartisanship” in discussing a congressional energy policy. Quite obviously compromises and trade-offs will be necessary if any sort of energy and climate legislation are to get passed and signed by the president.

The climate was only 6 degrees colder during last glacial maximum.

Watching John Boehner, Republican House Minority Leader, reminds me of a dysfunctional Data, the android on John Luc Picard's spaceship Enterprise. It's difficult to know if there is absolutely anything resembling “gray matter” between this politician's ears.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos interviewed Boehner on a number of issues including climate change. The problem, as is often the case on most television news shows, is that we usually get little of substance or anything that resembles original thought.

There is now a good chance the Wilkins Ice Shelf could break away from the Antarctic Peninsula. The shelf is approximately the size of the state of Connecticut.

Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have gone up some 3.8 degrees Farenheit in the past 50 years. Scientists continue to study the relationship between rising temperatures and what appears to be an increasing instability in the region.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has some great pictures. Go to ESA.