Washington Post (November 18)
“The past month hasn’t been good for climate-change skeptics.” More evidence has been produced in support of climate change. While there is still much uncertainty about the specifics, “the debate should no longer be about whether the world is warming or whether there is reason to act. It must be about how to respond.”
Tags: Climate change, Global warming, Response
Wall Street Journal (October 21)
Long considered a climate change skeptic, Richard Muller received funding to disprove the research. Muller’s two-year project analyzed 1.6 billion measurements from 39,000 global temperature monitoring stations. “When we began our study, we felt that skeptics had raised legitimate issues.” Instead, Muller’s research confirmed previous research. He writes, “Global warming is real. Perhaps our results will help cool this portion of the climate debate.”
Tags: Climate change, Environment, Global warming, Muller
Los Angeles Times (August 28)
“Politicians who dismiss the risk of climate change like to talk about the uncertainties of the science.” They’d spend less time talking and more time working to halt climate change if they took their cues from professionals who deal with risk. “The real economic costs of mispricing this risk have caught the attention of a good segment of the business community, from commodity traders to insurers. Reinsurers in particular (companies that insure the insurers against catastrophe) see risks on a global scale.”
Tags: Catastrophe, Climate change, Global warming, Politicians, Risk
BBC (August 20)
Global warming is directly impacting many species. “Animals and plants are shifting their natural home ranges towards the cooler poles three times faster than scientists previously thought.” The study of 2,000 species found that “on average organisms are shifting their home ranges at a rate of 17km per decade away from the equator.” In addition, it appears the quest for suitable temperatures is driving some species upward to higher elevations.
Tags: Climate change, Global warming, Species, Temperature
USA Today (August 10)
Much of the U.S. is experiencing another summer heat wave. It should be a reminder. “Too often, climate change is discussed as something to be worried about far off into the future… Both the latest global data and the USA’s sweltering summer suggest, however, that the future might be now.” The newspaper believes “a prudent society would begin moving aggressively to reduce carbon emissions and to develop cleaner energy sources.”
The Economist (February 17)
There has been little success in slowing climate change or reducing carbon emissions. Sweeping new international agreements are elusive. The Economist believes it’s time to look at smaller measures that can gain quick agreement. For example, the industrial gas HFC-134 could be eliminated under the existing Montreal protocol. Substitutes are already available for this gas which “delivers more than 1,000 times more warming than carbon dioxide, mass for mass.” Banning HFC-134 would make a difference and could be done quickly. Success in smaller agreements may even “help build the trust, ambition and momentum needed to get further on deals to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.”
Tags: Carbon, Climate change, Emissions, Global warming
The Independent (August 31)
2010 “has been the hottest in recorded history…yet the world dithers and looks away.” Since the “deep disappointment” of Copenhagen, the momentum to stop climate change has been lost. The Independent supports an EU agreement to “raise the levels of cuts in CO2 emissions by 2020 from the 20% already agreed to 30%.” By doing so, European leaders may help refocus world attention in preparation for the Cancun climate summit.
Tags: Cancun, Climate change, CO2, Copenhagen, EU
Washington Post (August 2)
The Senate gave up on climate change legislation. There aren’t enough votes. Ironically, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just made separate releases underscoring “the risks humanity runs if it continues to pump carbon into the atmosphere.” The EPA reaffirmed the scientific consensus that global warming is occurring while NOAA found that each decade has gotten warmer during the last 50 years.
Tags: Climate change, EPA, NOAA, Senate
Financial Times (July 8)
The year has been disappointing in terms of taking action against the serious threat of climate change. The Financial Times, however, promotes a twin opportunity. Governments can both repair their budgets and the climate. “As treasuries look for ways to raise more revenues, climate change activists should make the case for green taxes.”
Tags: Climate change, Deficit, Government, Tax
Time (June 14)
“There is no time to lose” on climate change. The first generation to recognize global warming “could also be the last that has a chance of slowing and eventually reversing the process.” Entitled “Leaving a Good Legacy” the commentary declares we must begin combating climate change now.”If we do nothing, we will likely bequeath to them a less habitable — perhaps even uninhabitable — planet, the most negative legacy imaginable.”
Tags: Climate change, Global warming
