climate matters30
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India’s Climate Envoy: In Global Climate Treaties, Equity is Imperative
In a lively talk at the Indian Consulate in New York last Thursday, Indian climate envoy Shyam Saran called for technology and resource transfer from developed to developing countries, saying that because they are responsible for the bulk of historic carbon emissions, developed countries should bear the brunt of climate adaptation and mitigation costs. A…
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Nuclear Dark Ages? Or Nuclear Renaissance?
“I know that vibration wasn’t normal” Jack Lemmon famously uttered these words in the 70s blockbuster The China Syndrome in reference to unusual activity taking place at his nuclear reactor. Lemmon, a shift supervisor at the plant, uncovers alarming evidence that the plant is fundamentally unsound and demands that it be shut down. His concerns…
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El Niño Conditions Imminent
According to Tony Barnston at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, El Niño conditions are now evolving in the tropical Pacific. El Niño is the name given to sustained sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies greater than 0.5°C across the central tropical Pacific Ocean; it is the warm phase of the El Niño Southern…
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New report: Reducing climate risks with index insurance
We know climate has always presented a challenge to farmers, herders, fishermen and others whose livelihoods are closely linked to their environment–particularly in developing countries. A type of insurance called index insurance shows some promise as a climate-risk management tool, according to the latest Climate and Society publication from Columbia’s International Research Institute for Climate…
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White House Report: Climate Change Impacts in the US
Last Tuesday (6/16), White House issued a report about how climate change will affect the United States in the next century. The 13 U.S. agencies–including NASA, the Department of State and the Department of Energy–collaborated for this report. Using the most up-to-date scientific data, The Global Climate Change Impacts in The United States report says that unprecedented changes…
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Deutsche Bank Launches Carbon Counter
Deutsche Bank launched the first real-time carbon counter Thursday morning, taking advantage of the unusually rainy weather to underscore the importance of communicating climate change awareness. Located across 33rd street from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, the Carbon Counter displays the running total of long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Deutsche Bank Asset Management…
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East African Drought Linked to Climate Change?
When African finance and environmental ministers met last month to discuss climate-related challenges to the Millennium Development Goals, East African rains were on the agenda. Millions of Kenyans currently face food shortages as a result of successive failed rains, and periodic droughts cost the region 5-8% of GDP. A look at the climatology reveals that…
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A new report says climate change could spur unprecedented migration
Could climate change cause the greatest human migration in history? A new report says that millions of people around the globe have already been forced to relocate due to climate-related impacts, and it explains why hundreds of millions more may be displaced in the next few decades. The report, written by researchers at the Center…
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Some Thoughts on the Summer Institute
The Summer Institute, mentioned here, drew to a close last week and while attending a session on final presentations by the participants, I was struck by how participants, depending on their backgrounds, benefited differently from the course and took away unique learnings. For instance, one participant, Daddi Jima Wayessa, Head of Malaria and other Vector-borne…