Here’s good news from the Kiwis: Though existing offshore oil exploration will be grandfathered, the New Zealand government will grant no new permits for this activity. Needless to say, conservation and environmental groups regard this as a huge win in the battle against climate change. (more…)
Question: What city (pictured here) won first prize this year in the Global Destination Sustainability Index (for the third consecutive time)?
Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers. (more…)
My recent piece on waste plastic dealt with the pollution of our oceans. It’s going to take an enormous amount of time, capital resources, and tech R&D to solve this problem.
Here’s a video on a subject that may be even more disturbing: the combustion of waste plastic in countries that don’t have environmental regulations. (more…)
I’m just finishing up a writing assignment for a company in the biodegradable plastics space. The client is in the rare, if not unique position of facing literally zero marketing challenges; prospective customers like Nestles and McDonald’s are beating a path to its door, since, largely due to social media, there is almost universal awareness of the issue of waste plastic in our oceans. (more…)
“Pity” is a well-chosen word here; it’s a shame what has happened to the United States.
People all over the world are trying to understand the “Trump phenomenon.” Here’s an explanation I came across just yesterday that has some appeal; it’s a variant on the “Trump is the result of the problem, not its cause.” (more…)
Here’s a greatly abbreviated version of the science:
• Increased concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere come into contact with surface ocean waters and cause a series of chemical reactions that acidify the water. (more…)
There are several different feedback loops that concern climate scientists. Perhaps the most obvious is the changes to Earth’s albedo, i.e., its capacity to reflect incoming solar radiation back into space. As the arctic ice melts into liquid water the Earth’s surface absorbs more heat and reflects less, causing more ice to melt, etc. (more…)
Andrew Wheeler during his confirmation hearing
Here’s the Sierra Club’s thinking on this, and here’s mine:
Obviously it would be better if we had not elected as U.S. president a wrecking ball to the environment, but we did. (more…)
Here’s an article that shows how volcanic action and uplift exposes CO2 to basalt, thus trapping it internally as
limestone nodules.
I republish it here not to suggest that everyone needs to understand the exact geo-chemistry, but to remind us that climate science is still advancing. (more…)
Over the past couple of decades, there have been quite a few efforts in print and cinema to present a scientific basis for the interconnectedness of all life. What the Bleep Do We Know (see below) and I Am jump immediately to mind. If we still have a civilization here in 100 years, I believe very strongly that the evidence for this will be incontrovertible. (more…)
