WILLIAM T. VOLLMAN: WHAT IF THE LEFTWING HOAXERS ARE RIGHT?

VIA VIKING ON CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL AND THE RESURGENCE OF CARBON-FUELED IDEOLOGY April 11, 2018  By William T. Vollmann In the time when I lived, it was still possible to meet Americans who disbelieved in global warming, although the ones I knew became shyer and rarer in about 2013. In 2016, they helped elect Donald Trump president, upon which their various carbon ideologies naturally came roaring back. “We sure need a … Read more WILLIAM T. VOLLMAN: WHAT IF THE LEFTWING HOAXERS ARE RIGHT?

“Climate-Neutral Living in Berlin” kick-off:

Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research 11/30/2017 : Reducing personal CO2 footprints in a living lab 100 households, 365 days: Starting this December, private households in the German capital will be testing what climate action means in everyday life in the project “Climate-Neutral Living in Berlin” (Klimaneutral Leben in Berlin – KliB). From families with children to partnerships, flat-sharing communities or singles – for one … Read more “Climate-Neutral Living in Berlin” kick-off:

Turning the Climate Tide by 2020

Press Release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research 28/06/2017 The world needs high-speed climate action for an immediate bending-down of the global greenhouse-gas emissions curve, leading experts caution. Aggressive reduction of fossil-fuel usage is the key to averting devastating heat extremes and unmanageable sea level rise, the authors argue in a comment published in the renowned scientific journal Nature this week. In the run-up to the G20 … Read more Turning the Climate Tide by 2020

A “Carbon Law” offers pathway to halve emissions every decade

Press release by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research On the eve of this year’s Earth hour (25 March), researchers propose a solution in the journal Science (24 March) for the global economy to rapidly reduce carbon emissions. The authors argue a carbon roadmap, driven by a simple rule of thumb or “carbon law” of … Read more A “Carbon Law” offers pathway to halve emissions every decade

Climate Talks: 2° Target

Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research  11/15/2013 Success of climate talks vital for 2°C target  Achieving a global climate agreement soon could be crucial for the objective to keep global mean temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. The challenges of meeting the long-term target will otherwise increase drastically both in terms of the required emissions reductions and economic impacts. This is shown by the first … Read more Climate Talks: 2° Target

Quantifying Climate Impacts

Joint press release by the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)  02/07/2012 Quantifying climate impacts: new comprehensive model comparison launched Climate change has impacts on forests, fields, rivers – and thereby on humans that breathe, eat and drink. To assess these impacts more accurately, a comprehensive comparison of computer-based simulations from all over the world will start this week. For … Read more Quantifying Climate Impacts

Methane in the Arctic

via yesterday’s Independent newspaper: Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane – a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide – have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region. The scale and volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the Russian research … Read more Methane in the Arctic

Vertical Stacked Forests?

For details of this venture happening in Milan, Italy, go here. Read more: Bosco Verticale in Milan Will Be the World’s First Vertical Forest Bosco Verticale – Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World “The Bosco Verticale is a system that optimizes, recuperates, and produces energy. Covered in plant life, the building aids in balancing the microclimate and in filtering the dust particles contained in the urban environment (Milan is one of the … Read more Vertical Stacked Forests?

ABC of Global Warming

Teaching a course in Poetry & Ecology this fall. Friend John Maas forwarded this link here — looks like very basic but useful (because of where it comes from, ideologically) text to start off a group of undergraduates, before moving to the more interesting stuff. This piece is clear middle-brow, pro-capitalist, “contrarian” as neo-liberal fare, even if, as bluntly stated in the postscript, the author has not yet found … Read more ABC of Global Warming

Gulf Oil isn't All that's Leaking…

Here are three reports, just in case we are forgetting other potential (& growing) catastrophic possibilities in our environment while focusing on BP’s crimes against the planet in the Gulf: 1) Methane release ‘looks stronger’ By Michael Fitzpatrick Science reporter, BBC News Scientists have uncovered what appears to be a further dramatic increase in the leakage of methane gas that is seeping from the Arctic seabed. Methane is about … Read more Gulf Oil isn't All that's Leaking…