Saturday, November 07, 2009
How to tell your child about global warming
He has natural interest in weather events, and can tell me the geographic differences between tornadoes, cyclones and hurricanes, for example. Knowing he has gleaned all this under his own steam, driven by his own curiosity, I feel it won't be long before the asking interesting questions, so I'm inclined to wait and see where this will go, naturally.
Media talk about global warming makes kids anxious, so some reports say. I don't want my boy to get the notion the world is not a benign place, but it's hard to argue it mostly is, when something so fundamental as the climate that sustains us, is amiss.
As he gains more understanding, so he does not become overwhelmed, I want to couple that with teaching him actions and behaviours that empower him. This is why we recycle, that's why we switch of lights, let's walk to the shops, not drive, etc.
Global Warning Climate Change Energy
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Public's conflicting attitudes to climate action
Almost two thirds (61%) say they personally find the subject of climate change interesting, yet over three quarters (77%)are pessimistic about the likelihood of others responding.
I am fairly sure they are reflective of our attitudes Down Undah, so the poll would be instructive for Australia government policy makers. I wonder whether it is because concern about climate change is a private one. Most are concerned, but the nature of CC seems so out of our control that we internalise. If we don't hear about people talking about climate change or global warming, and how to fight it, then we assume people don't share our concerns.
Looks like there is a big demand that Facebook type social networking sites can facilitate for the climate-change concerned. Another project for GWW to research: I wonder how many such online groups exist?
Technorati Tags: global waming, climate change
Climate denial getting traction
I would have thought that if they honestly believed in their work, then an expression of joy would not be out of order. The source of the elusive joy is an Ipsos Mori poll for Britain's Observer.
Says in Blairsplog,
If Ipsos Mori is right, the deniers are gaining ground. Its polls show the proportion of Britons who are unconcerned has risen from 15% to 23% in the past year.
The Great Global Warming Swindle is fingered, as are "internet blogs arguing all the world’s scientists are party to a Marxist conspiracy bent on destroying western civilisation."
If Ipsos Mori is right. I'm going to check it out.
Technorati Tags: global warming, climate change, denialists
Saturday, June 14, 2008
History of climate change public debate
H/t: Only In It For The Gold
Technorati Tags: global warming, climate change
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Dave Sag's new book, departing soon
Dave Sag has been busy Down-Under, giving presentations to the customers of an enormous IT customer's integration partner (as well as delivering that PowerPoint at The Australian Carbon Trading Expo 2008). I know, because I heard the telemarketers going through their spiels, recruiting their bums off. Blown away when I heard one of the speakers was Dave Sag of Carbon Planet. Dave's doin' well. Said he'd buy me a drink next time he was in Sydney, once.
Technorati Tags: global warming, climate change
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Earth Hour boomerangs back to Sydney
The NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, accused critics of Earth Hour of peddling "utter rubbish" at the launch of the event at Circular Quay this morning.
"The critics and sceptics need to get on board," Mr Iemma told an audience of business supporters of Earth Hour this morning.
"It's utter rubbish to say that symbolism can't lead to change. Yes it's about symbolism but it's a very powerful one - it's about saving the planet."
...
Some of the world's largest cities would take part in the energy-reducing initiative this year and its adoption worldwide was a vital step in creating "real practical change", Mr Iemma said today.
While cynics may think Earth Hour symbolises a stick — to beat them with — it really is a boomerang.
"What started a year ago in Sydney has become a global movement as more and more cities around the globe join the battle against climate change, and it is a battle in which every one of us can make a difference," Mr Iemma said.
"[When] 2.1 million Sydneysiders just on a year ago switched off the lights, the critics and the sceptics said that it was largely a symbolic gesture.
"I don't agree with that. What the critics and the sceptics fail to understand is that symbolism can be very powerful when it comes to change.
"That's what Earth Hour is about: real practical change."
WWF-Australia, which is organising Earth Hour with the support of Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald, said that three-quarters of the top 100 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange had agreed to take part.
The WWF said that all of the state's major property companies will join in, as well as 70 per cent of the state's one-, two- and three-hat restaurants, the top five banks and 85 per cent of the state's main hotels. The 50 largest local councils in NSW will also take part.
On the Facebook social networking website, 657,658 people have signed up for more than 150 separate Earth Hour events, while, on the Earth Hour website more than 80,000 people had signalled their willingness to take part, with the figures expected to spike as March 29 draws nearer.
...
Cities taking part in this year's Earth Hour include Atlanta, San Francisco and Chicago in the United States, Denmark's four largest cities, London, Dublin, Tel Aviv, Bangkok and Christchurch.
Most Australian capital cities are participating, as well as Newcastle in NSW.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
2007 — when global warming finally cut through
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
World poll tolls death knell for global warming denialists
For example, coming up for quick air during a hard stint working, I mouseover the feed icon, to catch up on GW headlines of news pieces I may have missed over the last three weeks or so.
Seems I missed a sweet moment of poignancy when Howard was hosting his fascist-fence APEC green-bath with Bush, selling us not just a non-solution to global warming, but an irritant.
How else do you describe "aspirational goals"?
Anyway, it seems the UN was finding out the rest of the world has moved on from the recalcitrance of the fossil-fuel friendly Coalition of the Unwilling:
Large majorities in many countries now believe human activity is causing global warming, a BBC World Service poll suggests. More than 22,000 people were surveyed in 21 countries and the results show a great deal of agreement on the issue. An average of 79% of respondents to the BBC survey agreed that "human activity, including industry and transportation, is a significant cause of climate change".
However, US President George W Bush was not present. Instead, he is hosting a meeting of 16 "major emitter" countries in Washington on Thursday and Friday. |
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Australia most global warming aware. No, really!
Twelve countries were asked whether steps should be taken to address climate change and majorities in all but one of them favored action. The largest majority in favor of measures to combat global warming is found in Australia (92%).
China and Israel are the next most likely (83%) to favor such measures. Eighty percent of respondents in the United States—the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases—also support taking such measures. The lowest level of support for taking steps to address the problem is found in India, nonetheless nearly half (49%) favor taking action while just 24 percent oppose it (26% do not answer).
In no country (out of 12 asked) does more than one in four endorse the statement, “Until we are sure that global warming is really a problem, we should not take any steps that would have economic costs.” The countries where the highest percentages favor delaying any action are India (24%), Russia (22%) and Armenia (19%). The countries with the lowest are Argentina (3%), and Thailand (7%).
How is it that we ended up so ahead of the curve for climate change, despite the long-standing counter-efforts of our Kyoto Protocol combatant of a Federal Government?
It's tempting to go for the low-hanging fruit and put it down to an outdoor lifestyle that allows us to connect with nature, or some other self-congratulatory nod to some aspect of Aussiedom. But I think it has more to do with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation inspired drought we endured. It impacted the countryside the worst, but even the comfortable suburbs of all major cities copped it in the daily image stream of cracked earth and farmers kicking the dirt. Soon the seriousness was driven home by domestic water-restrictions as local dam levels dropped alarmingly.
We responded. The masses let it mellow if it were yellow,and the immediate reaction of the wealthy was to ward-off zealous water-inspectors with signs indicating a bore had been sunk for garden irrigation. In time the water-inspectors appeared less Orwellian and somehow fitted in with the spate of suburban gardens that abandoned their thirsty, mother-country heritage to go native. Grey water was redirected over lawns, and Australia showered with a bucket to catch the cumulative waste. While the water drummed down on this latest symbol of a changed world, the plastic bucket, and we stared at the unhelpful dribbling from the water-efficient shower heads, our entire citizenry had daily opportunities to consider how things got to this stage. That's perhaps how ninety two percent of us decided that we are living through global warming induced climate change. A newly enlightened media, and Al Gore's phenomenally successful An Inconvenient Truth only confirmed our suspicions.
Giving this theory weight is that we did save a lot of domestic water. In Sydney I remember being down 25 percent on the previous year's consumption atone stage. The year-to-year worsening of the bush fire seasons also helped — another dramatic, big ticket item for the evening news that is easily linked to global warming.
In summary, I believe that a reason for our high awareness, is because our continent is highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. And it's only going to get worse. So close to the election there is no way John Howard's latest ploys to delay emissions targes are going to fly— in this climate.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Live Earth to reach two billion world over
"It will be the first great note in a worldwide song demanding change that will be heard on every continent in every time zone," Zoi says of the concerts.
"Post Live Earth, the Alliance for Climate Protection is undertaking a three- to five-year campaign to educate people from all walks of life that the climate crisis is both critically urgent and something we can solve."
One such action is the Live Earth's outreach program, called Friends of Live Earth. Some 6000 people have applied for kits to run their own events simultaneously with the concerts.
A key part of Live Earth will be to get people around the world to sign a seven-part pledge that commits them to lobby their governments.
This is much more than a feel-good exercise: the event organisers plan to capture a massive database of people who can be mobilised in future campaigns - and be asked to donate.
On the night there will also be six calls to action, says Zoi. One is to install four energy saving light bulbs in their home. If the event is as big as organisers hope, they will be able to quantify the impact and use it in future publicity.
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Monday, June 18, 2007
No Ball! Climate denialist retracts lawsuit
From Kevin Grandia of Desmogblog:
Thought you might be interested in this. It is a follow up to a story from about a year ago in which a retired professor, Tim Ball, filed suit against a professor of environment at the University of Lethbridge over a letter to the editor that appeared in the Calgary Herald. Since then, Dr. Ball has continued to be used as a source of climate science by popular media, including the UK Channel 4 documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle" and CNN Glenn Beck's "Climate of Fear" special.
Here's the link to the story: http://www.desmogblog.com/ball-bails-on-johnson-lawsuit
Ball Bails on Johnson Lawsuit14 Jun 07
The self-styled Canadian climate change expert, Dr. Tim Ball, has abandoned his libel suit against University of Lethbridge Professor of Environmental Science Dan Johnson. Ball dropped the suit without conditions, but also without acknowledging that Johnson's original comments were accurate and were reported in good faith.
"This is great news," Dr. Johnson said today, "but it still leaves a cloud over my name that I would like removed. Even though I can now demand that Ball pay what the court calls 'taxed costs,' that won't begin to cover the actual legal bills, to make up for lost time or to repair the damage that Ball has done to my reputation."
Ball, a spokesperson for two industry front groups fighting against climate change regulation, sued Johnson and the Calgary Herald over a letter the paper ran on April 23, 2006. In an earlier Opinion Page article in which Ball attacked the qualifications of renowned climate change author Tim Flannery, the Herald described Ball as "the first climatology PhD in Canada and … a professor of climatology at the University of Winnipeg for 28 years."
Johnson wrote a Letter to the Editor challenging those details. He noted that when Ball received his PhD (in Geography) in 1983, "Canada already had PhDs in climatology and it is important to recognize them and their research." Johnson also pointed out that Ball had been a professor for a much shorter time (Ball later admitted eight years), during which Ball did "not show any evidence of research regarding climate and atmosphere."
Ball filed suit, asking for damages of $325,000 plus costs.
But Calgary Herald satisfied itself as to the accuracy of Dan Johnson's letter, and rose in defence. In a Statement of Defence filed with the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, the Herald dismissed Ball's "credibility and credentials as an expert on the issue of global warming," saying: "The Plantiff (Dr. Ball) is viewed as a paid promoter of the agenda of the oil and gas industry rather than as a practicing scientist."
In the face of this rebuff, and of the earlier Statement of Defence filed by Dan Johnson, Ball discontinued his lawsuit.
Since his retirement from the University of Winnipeg in 1995, Tim Ball has worked as an industry-supported climate-change campaigner, sowing doubt about the science of global warming. He first associated himself with a Calgary-based group called the Friends of Science, which the Globe and Mail reported in August of 2006 was funded primarily by the oil and gas industry. Ball then moved to the chairmanship of a new group called the Natural Resources Stewardship Project, which the Toronto Star reported in January 2007, is a creation of the Toronto-based energy-industry lobby firm the High Park Group.
"I never intended any specific damage to Tim Ball's reputation," Dan Johnson said today. "But climate change is a critical global issue and I thought it was important to set the record straight. If people want to argue the science, I'm all for that, but Tim Ball was claiming expertise and specific credentials that he does not have. That needed to be corrected."
Johnson said he is now considering whether to accept basic costs or to seek special costs, adding, "I also deserve an apology. I think the nation deserves an apology."
Johnson said he would like to thank and acknowledge James Hoggan and the team of DeSmogBlog.com for offering considerable assistance in putting together his defence.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Indians most worried about global warming
The survey was conducted by Seattle-based research group Global Market Insite. It polled opinions from 14000 people in 14 countries to gather solid data on how people feel about climate change.
Indians are far more concerned about global warming than any other nationality, despite the emerging economy being accused of resisting the need to tackle climate change, a global survey has said. Indians cared most about carbon emissions, with 55 per cent describing themselves as "very concerned" about the issue while just 32 per cent of Britons felt the same way, the survey conducted by Seattle-based research group Global Market Insite found. People in India and China are more willing than citizens of industrialized nations to place restrictions on carbon emissions, the survey published in the latest issue of New Scientist said. Australian environmentalist Jon Dee, who headed the survey team, says the findings fly in the face of calls for developing countries to wake up to the threat of climate change. Almost 90 per cent of those surveyed thought governments should do more to tackle the issue. |
Friday, June 08, 2007
Climate change: In graphics
It is "very likely" that human activity is the cause for climate change, scientists from over 130 countries have concluded. The graphics below illustrate their predictions on just how much global temperatures may rise over the next century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that temperatures are most likely to rise by 1.8C-4C by 2100. But the possible range is much greater; 1.1C-6.4C. The maps above show how a range of three different scenarios will affect different parts of the planet.
Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas, its rise since the industrial revolution is clear. Burning coal, using oil and deforestation |
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Upbeat IPCC report points to an energy revolution.
■ A cost of $US20-50 a tonne of atmospheric carbon would have a big impact on cutting harmful emissions. "It could lead to a power generation sector with low greenhouse gas emission by 2050."
■ This would allow renewable energy to have a 30 to 35 per cent share of total electricity supply by 2030.
■ Nuclear power would provide only an additional 2 per cent of the world's electricity supply by 2030 because it is too expensive, and "safety, weapons proliferation and waste remain as constraints".
■ Clean coal technology has the potential to make an important contribution by 2030.
■ Improving efficiency of energy supply and use would play a key role in reducing emissions by up to 30 billion tonnes a year by 2030.
THE cost of saving the planet from catastrophic climate change will not be a major burden on the world economy, shaving only a small amount from global growth if governments act now, says a report by the United Nations expert panel on climate change. A former CSIRO climate chief, Dr Graeme Pearman, of Monash University, said the impact on a healthy economy would be small. "The cost of letting climate change happen is a lot more than the cost of mitigation." Stabilising greenhouse gas emissions at a level that can limit the temperature rise to 2 to 3 degrees would reduce annual gross domestic product growth rates by only 0.12 per cent, the report said. Global emissions would need to be slashed between 50 and 85 per cent by 2050 from levels in 2000. |
Monday, April 23, 2007
This Earth Day in America
- a third of Americans now say that global warming is the world's single largest environmental problem, double the number of a year ago.
- seven in 10 Americans want more federal action on global warming, and half said that believe the government should do much more than it is now.
- fifty two percent said the issue is "extremely" or "very" important personally, double the percentage recorded a decade ago.
How is this playing out in the lead-up to the presidential elections?
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Thursday, April 19, 2007
Wall Street Journal reading Global Warming Watch
The bad news is that it is not going to go away soon.
WSJ reading DeSmogBlog is heartening news though - they are the Canadian PR folk who expose 'tricks of the trade' of the fossil-fuel funded global warming denial industry. They do such a great and useful job that I am always happy to plug them lately.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
IPCC's clarion call
"Unmitigated climate change would, in the long term, be likely to exceed the capacity of natural, managed and human systems to adapt."
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is due out tomorrow, and that is some of the wording just agreed upon between scientists and governments after last-minute objections from the US, China and Saudi Arabia over wording and graphics sparked an all night dispute.
I've been listening to the BBC coverage of the release. AGW's happening. And it's alarming. There is no other word. There is good observational data, now, to prove that the climate-models are accurately forecasting. Game over for sceptics, and game over non-renewable energy sources. Or it's game over for life as we know it. That's what they are telling us.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Was Earth Hour a candle in the wind?
MORE than half of Sydneysiders - as many as 2.2 million - switched off their lights to celebrate Earth Hour on Saturday night, a poll has found.
No one saw this avalanche of support coming - only 65,000 households had pledged to support the event.
However, a few have raised valid questions about the merits of the exercise in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, despite that this was always an ancillary objective. The most obvious one is that the emissions that were generated by the vehicle traffic that came to see Sydney dowsed, and to picnic along the foreshore bathed in flickering shadows, would have detracted from the total emissions reductions.
Another interesting point was raised by Sylvie Else, a contributor to Jennifer Marohasy's politics and environment blog, who suggests that those that turned to candles (I am guilty as charged) were generating more CO2 than they would have otherwise. She bases her assumptions on the guess that Energy Australia uses gas to supplement coal during peak hour usage: :::[Jennifer Marohasy: Earth Hour and candles: A note from Sylvie]
Leaving aside whether CO2 emissions are really a problem, if these people thought they were reducing CO2 emissions by their actions, then I rather think they were deluding themselves. Earth Hour was held during a time of peak electrical load, so any electricity generation displaced would be peak load, probably running on natural gas. Such generation produces about 500 grams of CO2 for every kilowatt-hour.
So turning a 100 watt light bulb off for an hour saves 50 grams of CO2, or 13 grams of carbon. A candle is mostly carbon by weight, and candle wax is only moderately less dense than water at room temperature. This means that burning just 5 cm of a typical 2 cm diameter candle will produce more CO2 than running the 100 watt light bulb for an hour. If the light that was turned off is fluorescent, then even less candle can be burned if there's to be a net reduction in CO2.
She is theoretically right - wax is a hydrocarbon chain - when you burn it, carbon dioxide is formed. So I undertook further research and posted back to her:
Sylvia,
It's not as clear cut as you would imagine; The greenhouse friendliness of your candles depends on what wax they are made of.
Paraffin wax is derived from crude oil, and as we know that is carbon that has long ago been taken out the atmosphere and sequestered deep underground by nature. It also does not burn very cleanly, pumping soot particles into the air and causing discomfort for asthmatics.
However candles made from wax derived from beeswax or bayberry wax and other renewable sources are environmentally friendlier. As are candle wax made from other plant oils, such as soya oil, by a process called hydrogenation. Because the carbon in these oils was originally in the atmosphere before being taken up by the plant from which the oil is made, the effect on the environment is small.
But 'candle-miles' also need to be taken into account.
If everyone used soya oil candles as a light source instead of electricity, this would cut the need to burn fossil fuels to generate the electricity, therefore reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere from fossil-fuelled power stations. But if the environmental impact of producing and transporting the candles is taken into account, then electricity (especially if it is generated from renewable sources) is a more environmentally friendly option.
If you want to act more effectively and not just be symbolic, source locally produced candles derived from renewable wax such as beeswax.
