26 December, 2008
Climate Code Red - Telling The Truth To Power
By Bill HendersonClimate Code Red was the most important single document published on climate change in 2008. Because climate change is now understood to be of humanity threatening seriousness and a crisis that needs emergency action immediately. Climate Code Red has to be considered as the most important document on any subject published this year
18 December, 2008
Has The Arctic Melt Passed
The Point Of No Return?
By Steve ConnorScientists have found the first unequivocal evidence that the Arctic region is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world at least a decade before it was predicted to happen
20 Ways To Save Mother Earth And
Prevent Environmental Disaster
By Evo MoralesHumankind is capable of saving the Earth if we recover the principles of solidarity, complementarity and harmony with nature in contraposition to the reign of competition, profits and rampant consumption of natural resources
Four Truths About Climate Change We Can't Igonore
By Gwynn DyerAbout 70 interviews, a dozen countries and 18 months later, I have reached four conclusions that I didn't even suspect when I began the process. The first is simply this: The scientists are really scared. Their observations over the past two or three years suggest that everything is happening a lot faster than their climate models predicted
The Most Important Number On Earth
By Bill McKibbenWe have a number-350. The most important number on earth. If the Internet has a cosmic purpose, this could be it-to take that number and spread it everywhere on the planet, so that everyone, even if they knew little else about climate change, understood that it represented a kind of safety, a bulwark against the monsoon turning erratic, the sea rising over their fields, the mosquito spreading up their mountain
03 November, 2008
The Psychology Of Denial
In The Age Of Consumerism
By John JamesA four-year analysis of the world's ecosystems sponsored by the Worldwatch Institute found that over-consumption has pushed 15 out of 24 ecosystems essential to human life "beyond their sustainable limits". Our insatiable desire for more is moving the planet toward a state of collapse that may be "abrupt and potentially irreversible". Since we all know that, can we not go beyond the fear to follow David Attenborough, who said in a recent interview, "How could I look my grandchildren in the eye and say I knew and did nothing?"
31 October, 2008
The Truth About Rising Seas
By John JamesWe know that were all the ice on Greenland to melt, sea levels would rise over 7 meters. The question is how long may this take? The IPCC estimate of hundreds of years is being contradicted by studies of past glaciations. Andrew Glickson and Bradley Opdyke showed that at the end of earlier ice ages the glaciers collapsed suddenly. Suddenly does not mean over a century or two, but within a decade. We all saw the speed at which this can happen in 2002 when 2,600 square kilometres on the Larsen B ice shelf in the Antarctic disintegrated and disappeared in less than five weeks
20 October, 2008
Planet Eaters: Chain Reaction,Black Holes,
Climate Change And Existentialist Philosophy
By Andrew Glikson & Emily SpenceThe Sixth mass extinction is a novelty: For the first time in its history, the biosphere is in crisis through biological forcing by an advanced form of life, namely the activity of a technological carbon-emitting species
10 October, 2008
The Methane Time Bomb
And The Triple Meltdown
By Andrew GliksonRecent reports of enhanced methane (CH4) leaks off the eastern Siberian coast (about 100 times the background level of about 1780 parts per billion CH4) and off Svalbard (Norway) have been overshadowed in the media by the collapse of the global credit bubble. At the root of both is a common thread, deregulation, including open-ended permits to pollute the atmosphere and the oceans, little-regulated financial systems and economic globalization, representing failure by governments to protect the life and welfare of their hapless populations
29 September, 2008
Tom Friedman: Climate Change,
BAU, And Toxic Securities
By Bill HendersonThomas Friedman is a powerful voice pushing previously mis-educated publics past the 'new denial', but unfortunately Friedman remains part of the problem because his hot, flat and crowded view of our world remains profoundly American-centric and the leadership change he advocates remains deck chair shuffling instead of a much needed renunciation of the Church of Business ever increasing control of all of our lives and the Church of Business dominance of government especially which is killing us
24 September, 2008
The Methane Time Bomb
By Steve ConnorThe first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists
18 September, 2008
Civilisation And The Carbon Credit Card
By John JamesOur major hope in salvaging our civilisation from the otherwise inevitable is something like Plan B, and this includes a Carbon Tax on all polluters. Contact the senator, email her office, write her letters. Do what you can to sustain her struggle to tax all carbon polluters equally!
05 September, 2008
Warming Oceans 'Are The Engine
Driving Stronger Hurricanes'
By Steve ConnorThe destructive intensity of the winds caused by tropical storms and hurricanes has increased significantly in the past 30 years, in line with the theory that cyclones are becoming stronger because of global warming
04 September, 2008
Is History So Boring We Keep On
Repeating The Same Mistakes?
By John JamesI will tell you the story of Easter Island. It is a woeful tale, caused by human actions, and a possible scenario for us. The island is now a wind-swept barren wasteland capable of supporting only a couple of thousand people. Yet only a few centuries ago it had ten or twelve times that number. Ninety percent died. Now, why was that?
03 September, 2008
Major Ice-Shelf Loss In Artic
By BBCThe ice shelves in Canada's High Arctic have lost a colossal area this year, scientists report. The floating tongues of ice attached to Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen almost a quarter of their cover break away. One of them, the 50 sq km (20 sq miles) Markham shelf, has completely broken off to become floating sea-ice
20 August, 2008
The Delusion Revolution: We're on The Road
To Extinction And In Denial
By Robert JensenOur current way of life is unsustainable. We are the first species that will have to self-consciously impose limits on ourselves if we are to survive
08 August, 2008
Doom Or Disaster?
By John JamesNearly every projection for the future of civilisation made in the IPCC reports has been exceeded. Events that were projected to emerge by the end of the century have been moved back to 2070, then to 2040, and even now to ‘within the next few years’. The goal posts are moving towards us at a terrible pace
04 August, 2008
A Voyage Into The Great Arctic Meltdown
By Marian WilkinsonThe vast Arctic sea ice which spreads across the North Pole could disappear during the summer within a decade or two - or even by 2013 - leading scientists are warning
30 July, 2008
Humanity At crossroads:
Attitudes And Climate Change
By Abdul BasitDespite these thought-provoking discussions about the influence of climate change on human existence and the solutions to tackle it, we are nearing, as time passes, the verge of a major disaster and the options for solutions are declining. The increasing natural calamities, the concern about the tipping points due to further carbon emissions and its effects on the habitability on earth have created great concerns
13 July, 2008
Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse 'Imminent'
By Geoffrey LeanScientists are warning that an Antarctic ice shelf the size of Northern Ireland is on the verge of disintegration, even though it is now the middle of the southern hemisphere's winter.The European Space Agency says new satellite pictures show that the Wilkins shelf – the largest to be threatened so far – is "hanging by its last thread". Extending for approximately 5,600 square miles, it has been held in place by a thin ice bridge connecting it to an island, but this is now fracturing
Russian Ice Camp In Rapid Shrink
By David ShukmanThe Russians had set up research station "North Pole 35" on the floe last September when it measured a safe five kilometres long and three kilometres wide, and their original plan was to stay on it until this September. But after enduring the permanent night of the Arctic winter and surviving the threat of polar bears, the scientists now find that their temporary home has shrunk to just 600m by 300m and faces complete break-up as it drifts towards a current known to contain relatively warm waters
11 July, 2008
Questioning EU Policies On
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
By Dr.Peter CustersDebate and public opinion building on climate change should, amongst others, seriously question the existing policies of the European Union. Forceful demands need to be formulated and canvassed for internationally, stating that the EU move beyond the limited targets which its institutions and most Europe-based environmental organisations have so far set
01 July, 2008
The World’s Will To Tackle Climate Change
Is Irresistible
By Rajendra PachauriFar from stymying the environmental cause, the downturn in the world’s economies highlights just how pressing it is
27 June, 2008
No Ice At The North Pole
By Steve ConnorIt seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer
26 June, 2008
Humanity's Melt Down
By Mike DavisOur world, our old world that we have inhabited for the last 12,000 years, has ended, even if no newspaper in North America or Europe has yet printed its scientific obituary
25 June, 2008
Twenty Years Later: Tipping Points
Near On Global Warming
By James HansenDemocracy works, but sometimes churns slowly. Time is short. The 2008 election is critical for the planet. If Americans turn out to pasture the most brontosaurian congressmen, if Washington adapts to address climate change, our children and grandchildren can still hold great expectations
24 June, 2008
Climate Chaos Is Inevitable.
We Can Only Avert Oblivion
By Mark LynasAt best we will limit the extent of global warming, but Kyoto barely helps. Does humanity have the foresight to save itself?
11 June, 2008
Permafrost Threatened By Rapid Retreat Of
Arctic Sea Ice, NCAR Study Finds
By NCARThe rate of climate warming over northern Alaska, Canada, and Russia could more than triple during periods of rapid sea ice loss, according to a new study led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The findings raise concerns about the thawing of permafrost, or permanently frozen soil, and the potential consequences for sensitive ecosystems, human infrastructure, and the release of additional greenhouse gases
29 May, 2008
Case Against Climate Change
Discredited By Study
By Steve ConnorA difference in the way British and American ships measured the temperature of the ocean during the 1940s may explain why the world appeared to undergo a period of sudden cooling immediately after the Second World War
15 May, 2008
A Last Chance For Civilization
By Bill McKibbenAll of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth. There's a number -- a new number -- that makes this point most powerfully. It may now be the most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
30 April, 2008
Another American War–Look Out Earth
By Jim MilesWithout a greater awareness of all the relationships between global warming as a symptom, and environmental over-consumption and over population as the underlying cause, an American “war on global warming” is sure to be another fiasco
29 April, 2008
Climate Change Could Force One Billion
From Their Homes By 2050
By Nigel MorrisAs many as one billion people could lose their homes by 2050 because of the devastating impact of global warming, scientists and political leaders will be warned today. They will hear that the steady rise in temperatures across the planet could trigger mass migration on unprecedented levels
18 April, 2008
Hansen's Climate Change And
The Mobilization Solution
By Bill HendersonMobilization nationally and globally. And practically such mobilization governance innovation must begin and be led by the US, the world's foremost economic and political power. This essay will explore this possible solution: this radical but compelling vision of all of our futures, our immediate futures. Mobilization first and foremost to get us below 350 ppm before the polar ice melts completely
15 April, 2008
Jim Hansen, The Big Ice Melt
And The Mainstream Media
By Bill HendersonThousands of mainstream media articles and commentaries on TV, in newspapers and magazines, inform about climate change Scenario A, but there has been minimal, almost nonexistent mainstream coverage of Scenario B even though its main proponents - James Hansen and his NASA climate science team - have released several papers explaining this nonlinear vision of climate change focusing upon the unpredicted rapid melting of the polar ice caps
04 April, 2008
Wanted - Homes For Small Island People
By Marwaan Macan-MarkarA rapidly warming planet may soon create a new class of refugees -- those fleeing climate change in their homelands
28 March, 2008
Lights Out, Action! It’s Earth Hour
By Stephen de TarczynskiOrganisers of Earth Hour 2008 estimate that in excess of 30 million people worldwide will take action on Saturday to raise awareness of how small changes can make big differences when it comes to climate change
26 March, 2008
Antarctic Shelf 'Hangs By Thread'
By Helen BriggsA chunk of ice the size of the Isle of Man has started to break away from Antarctica in what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate. Satellite images suggest that part of the ice shelf is disintegrating, and will soon crumble away
21 March, 2008
Climate Change Deepening World Water Crisis
By Thalif DeenWhen U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last January, his primary focus was not on the impending global economic recession but on the world’s growing water crisis
Climate Change Requires Herculean Effort
By Karen MccallHaving just returned from an alternative energy/climate change symposium presented by the Wallace Stegner Center for Land Resources and the Environment at the University of Utah, I find myself reeling with the most current information concerning the precipitous decline of climate stability and the magnitude of effort required to prevent the planet from being knocked any further off kilter by human perturbation of the Earth's climate
19 March, 2008
Arctic Losing Long-Term Ice Cover
By Richard BlackThe Arctic is losing its old, thick ice faster than in previous years, according to satellite data. The loss has continued since the end of the Arctic summer, despite cold weather across the northern hemisphere. The warm 2007 summer saw the smallest area of ice ever recorded in the region, and scientists say 2008 could follow a similar pattern
18 March, 2008
A Glacial Vanishing Act
By Stephen LeahyGlaciers, the world's freshwater towers, continue their record-breaking meltdown, a new U.N. report shows. The average rate of thinning and melting more than doubled between 2004 and 2006, reports the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), a centre based at the University of Zurich in Switzerland
28 February, 2008
The Global Water Crisis And The Coming
Battle For The Right To Water
By Maude BarlowThe three water crises – dwindling freshwater supplies, inequitable access to water and the corporate control of water – pose the greatest threat of our time to the planet and to our survival. Together with impending climate change from fossil fuel emissions, the water crises impose some life-or-death decisions on us all. Unless we collectively change our behavior, we are heading toward a world of deepening conflict and potential wars over the dwindling supplies of freshwater
21 February, 2008
The Recession's Human And Environmental Impacts
By Emily SpenceThe coalescence of a recession, mounting population, peak oil, mass extinction, urgent water shortages, climate change and other disastrous environmental impacts challenge us to take immediate action. Our doing so need not be disastrous if we collectively begin to make the essential changes on the scale needed. If we do not, the results could likely be catastrophic on a scope barely imagined by any of us. With firm resolve, let us all begin to undertake the critical modifications at once
Climate Code Red - The New Denial
And The Failure Of Democracy
By Bill HendersonA new report based upon state of the art science argues convincingly that climate change is a much more serious and immediate problem than previously perceived by even informed publics - climate change is an emergency that requires urgent mitigation measures not presently possible in our political and economic systems. No major media outlet acknowledges let alone critiques or comments upon or otherwise covers the report
12 February, 2008
Global Warming Contrarians Exposed -
Must See Free Video
By Denny BurbeckAn extremely informative, in-depth account of four of the major global warming "confusionists" is available free-online
11 February, 2008
Huge Polar Ice Loss Demands Global
Declaration Of Climate Emergency
By Dr Gideon PolyaThe World urgently needs a Declaration of Climate Emergency to meet the huge threat from accelerating and catastrophic polar ice melting. Climate scientists have recently discovered that the rate of polar ice loss is accelerating unexpectedly and that the current atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) has reached a tipping point for complete loss of Arctic sea ice in as little as 5 years
Climate Code Red And The Crucial 08 Election
By Bill HendersonClimate Code Red is a pdf that takes about an hour to read. More important than Stern, more up to date than last years IPCC reports, it should be front page news globally, but of course it isn't because, heretically, it is brutally honest about the scale of mitigation necessary and the need to escape BAU. What can we do? This is an emergenc
08 February, 2008
Biofuels Make Climate Change Worse
By Steve ConnorScientists have produced damning evidence to suggest that biofuels could be one of the biggest environmental con-tricks because they actually make global warming worse by adding to the man-made emissions of carbon dioxide that they are supposed to curb. Two separate studies published in the journal Science show that a range of biofuel crops now being grown to produce "green" alternatives to oil-based fossil fuels release far more carbon dioxide into the air than can be absorbed by the growing plants
21 January, 2008
Global Warming - Stop Arguing - Take Action Now
By Ron CampbellAs mankind faces the most dramatic natural disaster in history we are squabbling instead of taking action. We need to stop arguing, come up with a plan and take action NOW
18 January, 2008
Tourism At The End Of The World
By Stephen LeahyHurry! Hurry! See the polar bears, penguins, Arctic glaciers, small pacific islands before they disappear forever due to global warming.Tourism companies are now using climate change as a marketing tool
14 January, 2008
Economic Collapse And Global Ecology
By Dr. Glen BarryGiven widespread failure to pursue policies sufficient to reverse deterioration of the biosphere and avoid ecological collapse, the best we can hope for may be that the growth-based economic system crashes sooner rather than later
Loss Of Antarctic Ice Has Soared
By 75 Per Cent In Just 10 Years
By Steve ConnorParts of the ice sheets covering Antarctica are melting faster than predicted, with the net loss of ice probably accelerating in recent years because of global warming, a study has found
Enemies From Within: Big Enviro Groups
Holding Back Anti-Warming Movement
By Megan TadyThe heat is on environmental groups and politicians to churn out proposals for stabilizing the planet’s rising temperatures, but some environmentalists say existing plans to cool climate change are timid. Their criticism reveals a rift between two approaches: preserving the American way of life at the expense of quicker solutions, or changing the structure of U.S. society to counter an unprecedented threat
10 January, 2008
The Antarctic Ice Sheet Is Growing?
By Denny BurbeckThe Antarctic ice sheet is growing in height in the central region, but making just that one point is very misleading and quite dishonest
07 January, 2008
Disappearing World: The Village Falling Into The Sea
By Mark HughesSkipsea is disappearing fast. It sits on the fastest-eroding coastline in Europe and every year the sea swallows another chunk of land. Mark Hughes visits the people living on the edge
05 January, 2008
Time To Stop The Greenwashing
By Glen BarryGlobal ecological sustainability depends upon identifying and acting upon ambitious, sufficient eco-policies now; and rejecting misleading, exploitative and inadequate reformist pandering
02 January, 2008
The 08 Challenge
By Bill HendersonIf you understand that climate change is an emergency then the challenge in 08 becomes winning a mandate for almost impossible systemic change in a United States still in ideological thrall to failing markets
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