In The News

Let's Not Learn to Love Disaster

Stan Cox February 1, 2013
Countries often focus on disasters within their borders, overlooking floods, fires and storms elsewhere. Scientist Stan Cox suggests that entire economies must be restructured in an opinion essay for Al Jazeera: “Governments and corporations worldwide … have built entire economies that depend on huge energy inputs and ever-expanding consumption, and they can't back out now.” Disasters are...

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 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...

From Micro-Algae to Blue Oil

December 30, 2011
Microalgae, among the Earth’s earliest life forms, come in tremendous diversity, and scientists are making groundbreaking discoveries with what ParisTech Review calls the “tiny biochemical factories.” Some microalgae are rich in fats and fast to grow – these are the targets for new biofuels and expensive health products like beta-carotene and fatty acids like omega 3. “The vast majority of the...

Divisions Deepen at UN Talks on Climate

Pilita Clark December 3, 2011
The European Union has long been a leader advocating reduced carbon emissions to stem climate change. China rejects EU demands, though, that rapid-growing emerging economies also join in making sacrifices: a China spokesman urges sticking to a plan that does not hold developing nations to binding commitments; the EU maintains that all countries, developed or undeveloped, should join on binding...

Darkening Skies on the Road to Durban – Part II

Andrea Armeni November 23, 2011
In tackling climate change, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change must negotiate among parties that are poles apart and the equally vehement interests of developers and conservationists. This YaleGlobal series analyzes challenges awaiting the leaders headed for Durban, including the need for global cooperation and the cross-border nature of so many interests. In the second and final...