Climate279
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China, Japan, U.S. Star at U.N. Climate Change Summit
The U.N. Summit on Climate Change is underway today in NYC with nearly 100 heads of state in attendance to address carbon emissions and climate change. Several leaders — including the president of the Maldives and the prime minister of Japan — offered impassioned pleas to take action and make strong commitments to reducing carbon…
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Climate News Roundup – Week of 9/12
Schwarzenegger Boosts Clean Energy Plan, Reuters Governor Schwarzenegger issues executive order S-21-09, directing the California Air Resources Board to adopt regulations that would increase California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to 33% of its power from renewable resources by 2020. Although the 33% standard was first established last year, S-21-09 aims to streamline the regulatory process and…
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Sea Change
Bärbel Hönisch, an expert on ocean acidification at Columbia, will speak after a screening of the film “A Sea Change” this Thursday.
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Webcast With Jeffrey Sachs
Tomorrow, Sept. 14 at 10am (EST), Jeff Sachs is participating in a webcast on “Globalization in the Era of Environmental Crisis.” The discussion is part of the Raul Prebisch lecture series and organized by the UN Commission on Trade and Development. Should be very interesting considering the current financial crisis and as a run-up to…
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Warming Climate May Devastate Major U.S. Crops
Study Suggests Tipping Points for Corn, Soybeans, Cotton
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What does this El Niño mean for public health?
The IRI has just published a short bulletin to provide an update on this year’s El Niño and what it could mean for the health in different regions of the world. The document gives decision makers key recommendations on how to monitor communities at risk and take steps to reduce their vulnerability. Visit this page…
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Top misconceptions about El Niño and La Niña
Forecasts by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society and other institutions show that a weak El Niño has developed in the equatorial Pacific, and is likely to continue evolving with warmer-than-normal conditions persisting there until early 2010. What exactly is this important climate phenomenon and why should society care about it? Who will…
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Abrupt Climate Change in a Warming World
Early last month, I attended a meeting on Abrupt Climate Change in a Warming World. Climate Matters @ Columbia has discussed abrupt climate change before, referring to the hydrologic cycle, and with regards to melting sea ice or permafrost. Shifts in the earth climate are a known fact: crocodile-like reptiles lived in Greenland 55 million…
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The latest on permafrost
Permafrost is ground that remains at or below freezing for two or more consecutive years (for great information on permafrost see the National Snow and Ice Data Center). Climate researchers worry that permafrost will thaw as temperatures rise due to climate change, releasing carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. Two recent studies indicate that this concern…
