Climate266
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Climate News Roundup — Week of 6/28 – 7/4
If You Can’t Stand the Heat, New Research Suggests Moving Out of the City, The New York Times While the urban heat island effect – the recorded phenomenon of urban areas retaining more heat than rural ones – is well-known, new research from the UK suggests that urban areas will be more sensitive to climate…
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Does temperature control atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations?
A record of temperature and atmospheric CO2 from Antarctic ice cores shows the tight relationship between the two over the past 800,000 years (see figure). It is frequently asserted that changes in Earth’s temperature or, more specifically, the temperature of the ocean, caused atmospheric CO2 concentrations to vary over that time period. The underlying principle…
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The Policy Buffet (Part 2): Understanding the American Power Act
This is the second post in a series that covers the Senate’s current energy and climate proposals. The introductory post can be found here. Among the various climate and energy proposals floating through the Senate, the American Power Act (APA) has received the lion’s share of attention. The bill, co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass) and…
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Grounding Climate Negotiations in Solution-Oriented Research
With the generous support of the Planet Heritage Foundation and the Skoll Global Threats Fund, the Earth Institute is initiating the Global Network for Climate Solutions and evaluating its ability to influence future international climate negotiations by grounding them in shared research that is focused on concrete solutions and action. The effort aims to facilitate…
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Climate News Roundup — Week of 6/21
State of VA Attorney General continues climate science probe, The Charlottesville Daily Progress Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is fighting UVa’s request to end the fraud case issued against climate scientist Michael Mann. Mann, currently teaching at Penn State University, one of the scientists involved in the “climategate” controversy that erupted last winter, was an…
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Why Women Matter
Megatons of carbon dioxide, radiative forcing, technology deployment, cap-and-trade systems: this is the common vocabulary of climate change. Concepts of equality, justice and ethics are relative latecomers to this highly specialized and technical world. Where they have emerged, terms like ‘climate justice’ usually refer to the interests of developing nations as a whole, reflecting the deep…
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Finished, as the Glaciers Fall Apart
We have finished our mission at Puncak Jaya and removed the ice cores, along with all camps and people from the field. Currently, we are in the coastal city of Timika for a few days, drying out our field equipment and tents. These are the first glaciers we have ever drilled where it rains almost every day–and…
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Applied Climate Research: A Conversation with Stefan Sobolowski (Part 2)
In part 1 of this interview, I talked with Columbia Water Center hydroclimatologist Stefan Sobolowski about the effects of continental snowcover on climate, and the implications of his research on climate change. In part 2, we talk about the problem of uncertainty in climate prediction models, extreme weather events, the regional variation of climate change…
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Answer to What Ended Last Ice Age May Be Blowing in the Wind
A Chain of Past Natural Events May Hold Lessons for the Future
By studying thousands of buildings and analyzing their electricity use, Columbia Climate School Dean Alexis Abramson has been able to uncover ways to significantly cut energy consumption and emissions. Watch the Video: “Engineering a Cooler Future Through Smarter Buildings“