Just 90 companies are to blame for most climate change, this 'carbon accountant' says | Science | AAAS Last month, geographer Richard Heede received a subpoena from Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Smith, a climate change doubter, became concerned when the attorneys general of several states launched investigations into whether ExxonMobil had committed fraud by sowing doubts about climate change even as its own scientists knew it was taking place. The congressman suspected a conspiracy between the attorneys general and environmental advocates, and he wanted to see all the communications among them. Predictably, his targets included advocacy organizations such as Greenpeace, 350.org, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Heede is less well known than his fellow recipients, but his work is no less threatening to the fossil fuel industry. Heede's research shows that nearly two-thirds of anthropogenic carbon emissions originated in just 90 companies and government-run industries. Annual Emissions
Applying Basic Physics to Climate · Science Speak The scientists who believe in the carbon dioxide theory of global warming do so essentially because of the application of “basic physics” to climate, by a model that is ubiquitous and traditional in climate science. This model is rarely named, but is sometimes referred to as the “forcing-feedback framework or paradigm.” Explicitly called the “forcing-feedback model” (FFM) here, this pen-and-paper model estimates the sensitivity of the global temperature to increasing carbon dioxide. The FFM has serious architectural errors. Fixing the architecture, while keeping the physics, shows that future warming due to increasing carbon dioxide will be a fifth to a tenth of current official estimates. Less than 20% of the global warming since 1973 was due to increasing carbon dioxide. The large computerized climate models (GCMs) are indirectly tailored to compute the same sensitivity to carbon dioxide as the FFM. Increasing carbon dioxide traps more heat. New Science 1: Introduction to the Series.
154 Australian scientists demand climate policy that matches the science 154 Australian experts have signed on open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull demanding urgent action on climate change that matches the dire warnings coming from climate scientists. The letter, organised by Australian National University climatologist Andrew Glikson, calls on the federal government to make “meaningful reductions of Australia’s peak carbon emissions and coal exports, while there is still time”. Signatories include leading climate and environmental scientists such as the Climate Council’s Tim Flannery, Will Steffen, and Lesley Hughes, as well as reef scientists Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Charlie Veron. They point out that July 2016 was the hottest month ever recorded, and followed a nine-month streak of record-breaking months. The world is already witnessing the effects of climate change, the letter argues, including an increase in extreme weather events, melting of the polar ice sheets, and ocean acidification.
We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN | Environment The world’s leading climate scientists have warned there is only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people. The authors of the landmark report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released on Monday say urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to reach the target, which they say is affordable and feasible although it lies at the most ambitious end of the Paris agreement pledge to keep temperatures between 1.5C and 2C. The half-degree difference could also prevent corals from being completely eradicated and ease pressure on the Arctic, according to the 1.5C study, which was launched after approval at a final plenary of all 195 countries in Incheon in South Korea that saw delegates hugging one another, with some in tears. The world is currently 1C warmer than preindustrial levels.
Cigarettes, asbestos, now fossil fuels. How big business impacts public health | Kingsley Faulkner | Opinion The decisions reached at the recent Coag energy council meeting are reminiscent of a long series of failures to understand the impacts of powerful business on the health of the community. The failures extend historically from tobacco, to asbestos to the health scourges of coal, and now to the health and community impacts of the unconventional gas industry. It is too much to believe that governments fail to understand the implications. Just 30 years ago, Australia was awash with tobacco advertising and promotion by tobacco companies and their agents through multiple media outlets and sporting organisations, supported by newspaper editorials opposed to any restrictions. Major political parties readily accepted large donations, and some individual politicians were not immune to personal gifts and favours. Tobacco lobbyists had ready access to legislators to ensure that measures to deal with the health consequences were thwarted. This is nothing short of outrageous.
Final call to save the world from 'climate catastrophe' Media playback is unsupported on your device It's the final call, say scientists, the most extensive warning yet on the risks of rising global temperatures. Their dramatic report on keeping that rise under 1.5 degrees C says the world is now completely off track, heading instead towards 3C. Keeping to the preferred target of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels will mean "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society". It will be hugely expensive - but the window of opportunity remains open. After three years of research and a week of haggling between scientists and government officials at a meeting in South Korea, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a special report on the impact of global warming of 1.5C. Despite the inevitable compromises, there are some key messages that come through loud and clear. "The first is that limiting warming to 1.5C brings a lot of benefits compared with limiting it to two degrees. What's the one big takeaway?
Australia among the climate laggards as G20 action falls far short of goals The world's 20 largest economies need to increase their 2030 climate commitments six-fold to keep within the two-degree warming curb agreed at the Paris summit, and Australia is among the worst laggards, a new global report argues. The Brown to Green study of the decarbonisation plans of the G20 nations by the Climate Transparency group was released on Thursday ahead of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, eastern China, on September 4-5. Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Climate warming began 180 years ago Lindt siege police response in question Skinner: 'I have a soft spot for families' Rogerson, McNamara 'overwhelmed by greed' Airbnb owner returns to find 'junkie den' Rogerson, McNamara trial: What happened in unit 803? City of Sydney election: the elevator pitch Bays Precinct industries warn Baird An international research project has found human-induced climate change is first detectable in the Arctic and tropical oceans around the 1830s, earlier than expected. Big emitter
We have 12 years to turn things around, warns global warming report The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released the much-anticipated finalized version of its special report on global warming following a summit in Incheon, South Korea. Prepared by 91 co-authors hailing from 40 countries, the IPCC's exhaustive, devastating Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 C˚ has been in the works since the Paris climate agreement was first adopted in 2015. The long-term goal of the Paris Accord is to maintain the rise of global temperatures safely below a cataclysmic increase of 2 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by limiting it to a maximum increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The landmark report was designed to provide a framework for how the global community can work together to achieve that outcome and avert climate disaster. First, the good news: Per the report, limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is indeed possible. The U.S. feels the heat So what's next?
Top Scientist Calmly Destroys Anti-Climate Science Politician With Science - BuzzFeed News