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What are the potential impacts of climate change for the UK?
Posted by Guardian: Duncan Clark on October 8th, 2013
Guardian: Temperatures in the UK have risen by about one degree since the 1970s and, given the levels of greenhouse gas already in the atmosphere, further warming is inevitable over the next three decades or so. The amount of warming will depend on future emissions but even if emissions are cut quickly and sharply to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, there will be some unavoidable impacts that the UK will have to adapt to. The government's latest climate change risk assessment identifies flood risk,...
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The rise and rise of American carbon
Posted by Guardian: Duncan Clark on August 5th, 2013
Guardian: You've probably heard that US carbon emissions have been falling. According to President Obama and energy commentators the world over, fracked shale gas has displaced dirty coal, in much the same way that fossil fuels undercut whale oil a century earlier. Out with environmentally unfriendly old technologies and in with cleaner and more efficient new ones. Everyone wins – including the climate, thanks to the fact that gas produces only around half as much CO2 as coal does for each unit of power or...
United Kingdom: Will climate change lead to more droughts?
Posted by Guardian: Duncan Clark on October 18th, 2012
Guardian: Although climate change is expected to lead to slightly more rainfall at the global level, the timing and distribution of that rain is likely to change, increasing the chance of drought in some regions. The details are very difficult to predict, however. This is partly because regional climate impacts are strongly dependent on large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns like the jet stream, which are hard to model in climate simulations. There is some indication from climate modelling that the Mediterranean,...
United Kingdom: What is the ‘polluter pays’ principle?
Posted by Guardian: Duncan Clark on July 2nd, 2012
Guardian: The 'polluters pays' principle is the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment. For instance, a factory that produces a potentially poisonous substance as a byproduct of its activities is usually held responsible for its safe disposal.
This principle underpins most of the regulation of pollution affecting land, water and air. Pollution is defined in UK law as contamination of the land,...
Is Antarctica getting warmer and gaining ice?
Posted by Guardian: Duncan Clark on March 2nd, 2012
Guardian: Almost 70% of the globe's fresh water is stored as ice in Antarctica, mostly in the huge ice sheet covering the continent. As well as this land-based ice, the sea ice that encircles the continent grows to a wide expanse in winter and almost entirely melts away during the summer.
While global temperatures have increased, overall Antarctic air temperatures have fallen slightly, although they have increased over the Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica. At the same time, the overall extent of...