Category: Ecology

Meanwhile, & despite the Virus, Global Warming Needs Action Too!

Press Release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research 23/03/2020 Coal exit benefits outweigh its costs Coal combustion is not only the single most important source of CO2, accounting for more than a third of global emissions, but also a major contributor to detrimental effects on public health and biodiversity. Yet, globally phasing out coal remains one of the hardest political nuts to crack. New computer simulations by … Read more Meanwhile, & despite the Virus, Global Warming Needs Action Too!

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The Endgame: Climate Change as Weapon

Thinking on these images from Mozambique, Zimbabwe & elsewhere I suddenly realize that what I had only dimly perceived or hadn’t wanted to believe was most likely true: the climate change deniers in power (or even those out of power or refusing to think on this for personal convenience) don’t do this simply out of a combination of obtuseness, stupidity, religiously motivated anti-science idiocy, and personal greed leading them … Read more The Endgame: Climate Change as Weapon

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Extreme Weather Likely To Become More Frequent

Press Release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research 01/11/2018 Extreme weather will likely become more frequent due to stalling of giant waves in the atmosphere •    Computer simulations predict a strong increase of events in which the undulations of the jet stream in the atmosphere stop moving along. •    This can favor more frequent extreme weather events on the ground. •    Strong Arctic warming reduces the temperature … Read more Extreme Weather Likely To Become More Frequent

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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?

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“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:

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Formation of coal almost turned our planet into a snowball

Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research 10/10/2017 While burning coal today causes Earth to overheat, about 300 million years ago the formation of that same coal brought our planet close to global glaciation. For the first time, scientists show the massive effect in a study published in the renowned Proceedings of the US Academy of Sciences. When trees in vast forests died during a time … Read more Formation of coal almost turned our planet into a snowball

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PIK on Colder Winters & a Warmer Arctic

Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: Winter cold extremes linked to high-altitude polar vortex weakening When the strong winds that circle the Arctic slacken, cold polar air can escape and cause extreme winter chills in parts of the Northern hemisphere. A new study finds that these weak states have become more persistent over the past four decades and can be linked to cold winters in … Read more PIK on Colder Winters & a Warmer Arctic

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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

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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

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