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Two Climate Analysts Fault Gas Leaks, but Not as a Big Warming Threat
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on August 1st, 2013
New York Times: Two prominent analysts of human-driven global warming have offered fresh criticisms of the way Anthony Ingraffea, a Cornell University engineering professor, has been portraying the contribution of natural gas leaks to climate change. The researchers are Raymond Pierrehumbert, a climate scientist at the University of Chicago, and Richard A. Muller, a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley who is best known of late for his research corroborating the extent of recent climate warming....
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On ‘Unburnable Carbon’ and the Specter of a ‘Carbon Bubble’
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on May 3rd, 2013
New York Times: A new buzz phrase in the push to limit greenhouse gas emissions is "unburnable carbon" - an effort to define and then wall off the portion of the world`s still-vast reserves of coal, oil or natural gas that might, if combusted, cause unacceptably costly or dangerous climate change. The effort builds, to a large extent, on studies aiming to create a "carbon budget" for the world`s nations - divvying up the amount of emissions (and thus fuels) below that threshold. The most notable paper, published...
On Pipelines, Pulitzers and Independent Online Journalism
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on April 18th, 2013
New York Times: I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch and weigh in on the illuminating online chat I had yesterday with Inside Climate News publisher David Sassoon, editor Susan White and reporter Lisa Song. We explored the comprehensive series of articles on environmental risks from America’s fast-growing maze of oil pipelines that earned the tiny, foundation-supported Web site the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting on Monday. This is the third online news outlet to win a Pulitzer (one prize for Huffington...
State Department Again Sees No Environmental Barriers to Keystone Pipeline
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on March 2nd, 2013
New York Times: The State Department`s revised supplemental environmental impact statement on the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline is out, and offers very little that Secretary of State John Kerry or President Obama might use as a reason to reject the plan.
You can best gauge the reaction of various factions on Twitter using the #noKXL and #keystoneXL tags.
The voluminous report includes this blunt conclusion on the inconsequential nature of the pipeline if one`s interest is in reducing extraction...
Is There Room for Varied Approaches to Energy and Climate Progress?
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on February 19th, 2013
New York Times: Is there room for more than one approach to pursuing energy and climate progress? I`d like to think so.
On various choices related to America`s, and the world`s, energy and climate future, I have a different view from those of many good friends and relations. A longtime bandmate pushes hard to ban hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in New York; I seek responsible oversight of gas drilling as an important step down the carbon ladder away from coal.
But we still play together.
My wife and...
Eyes Turn to Antarctica as Study Shows Greenland’s Ice Has Endured Warmer Climates
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on January 24th, 2013
New York Times: An important discussion is developing among climate and polar researchers around the central point of a landmark Nature paper on Greenland conditions during Earth`s last (very warm) interval between ice ages. The paper, in which a critically important Greenland ice core is analyzed by 133 authors from a host of research centers, concludes that the vast ice sheet largely endured over a period of 6,000 years that was warmer than what is forecast for coming decades.
The graph above, with the Eemian...
A Closer Look at Melting Ice in the Andes and Antarctica
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on January 23rd, 2013
New York Times: Fascinating new studies of two of the world`s regions with accelerated melting, the Antarctic Peninsula and the Andes, are worth a closer look:
One paper, published in The Cyrosphere, finds that glaciers throughout the tropical Andes have been melting in the last 30 years at a faster rate than at any time since the peak of the "little ice age" 300 years ago. Here`s a direct link: "Current state of glaciers in the tropical Andes: a multi-century perspective on glacier evolution and climate change."...
Draft Federal Report Sees Big U.S. Impacts from Global Warming
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on January 15th, 2013
New York Times: If global emissions of greenhouse gases remain high, many parts of the United States will see a big rise in the number of days with temperatures hotter than 100 degrees, a draft government analysis concludes. Click here for large version. Justin Gillis has filed a post on the Green Blog summarizing the main points in a new and voluminous draft federal report on current and anticipated impacts from greenhouse-driven global warming on the United States. (Yes, the Green Blog, thankfully, is still up...
Scientists See Big Impacts on U.S. Ecosystems from Global Warming
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on December 19th, 2012
New York Times: A new analysis by dozens of scientists provides a useful update on measured and anticipated impacts of human-driven climate change on ecosystems from western forests to coastal waters. The report, "Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services," is one of a suite of studies feeding into what will be the third National Climate Assessment, an overarching analysis of impacts on everything from transportation systems to public health. (Periodic assessments were requested...
Damning Review of Gas Study Prompts a Shakeup at the University of Texas
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on December 6th, 2012
New York Times: The University of Texas said today that it has accepted the findings of a damning independent review of the preparation of a report on potential impacts of shale gas drilling by the school`s Energy Institute. The school said it will undertake six recommended actions, the most significant being the withdrawal of papers from the Energy Institute`s Web site related to the report until they are submitted for fresh expert review.
In its news release, the university said that the lead investigator,...