In The News

The Post-Crisis Crises

Joseph E. Stiglitz January 15, 2013
Caught up with many pesky invented crises, the US and Europe are neglecting pressing long-term problems. The most serious is the failure to address global climate change, argues Joseph Stiglitz for Project Syndicate. He notes that every delay will require sharper reductions from future generations. Stiglitz argues that “retrofitting the global economy for climate change would help to restore...

Temperatures Off Charts, Australia Turns Deep Purple

Peter Hannam January 14, 2013
Australia’s national weather bureau is adding new colors to weather graphs to for forecasting rising temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius, or 122 degrees Fahrenheit. “The Bureau of Meteorology's interactive weather forecasting chart has added new colours – deep purple and pink,” reports Peter Hannam for the Sydney Morning Herald. Breaking temperature records and battling wildfires, the...

All-Night Negotiations in Doha Produce No Cliffhanger

Scott Barrett December 10, 2012
Global leaders have been more adept at resolving economic crises than the climate crisis. Negotiating an economic crisis, whether it’s Brussels imposing euro budget oversight and consequences for excessive debt or the US avoiding a fiscal cliff of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes, is forced by immediate costs of inaction. Climate is not a human invention like an economy, and does not...

As Arctic Melts, Business As Usual

Will Hickey October 10, 2012
The compulsion to use dangerous substances dominates routines at an addict’s peril. And such is the case with global dependence on burning fossil fuels, as they irreparably ruin the planet, argues Will Hickey. An example is melting Arctic ice, already changing global weather patterns. Still, governments and oil companies are impatient to head to the Arctic and drill for more fossil fuels. As data...

Global Warming Is Real and Has Consequences – Part II

Pavin Chachavalpongpun April 6, 2012
Climate-change naysayers claim that shifting from fossil fuels to alternative energies is unnecessary or too costly for economies. Yet, the cost of climate change is clearly evident. Manufacturers are considering moving from Thailand and other countries threatened by flooding and other forces related to climate change, according to Pavin Chachavalpongpun, associate professor at the Centre for...

Global Warming Is Real and Has Consequences – Part I

William D. Nordhaus April 4, 2012
Although the consequences of global warming are painfully vivid, some scholars still question whether it requires urgent action. In January, a group of scientists, including those from the United States, Australia, France and the Netherlands, summarized reasons for their skepticism and opposition to findings of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They insist that evidence is...

A Deal in Durban

December 13, 2011
The good news is nations reached a deal to stem climate change; the bad news is the deal’s terms could allow temperatures to rise by as much as 4 degrees centigrade. Countries will continue negotiations on a new treaty with legal force by 2015, planning to make it operational by 2020, thus ending the divide between developed countries that have long polluted and fast-growing developing nations...