In The News

Managing Globalization: The Trouble with Water

Daniel Altman November 17, 2006
The United Nations Development Program issued a report this month highlighting the growing problem of access to water and sanitation in poor areas of the world. Water is becoming both costlier and more dangerous for those who can afford it least. The UN report made three proposals: first, that access to water is recognized as a human right. Second, that local governments be held accountable...

Parched in Australia: Drought Changes Views on Warming

Tim Johnston November 16, 2006
Australia has entered its fourth year of drought, and desperate farmers are selling livestock and worrying about a drop in land prices. A 10 percent increase in global wheat prices is another consequence of Australia’s drought. Extreme weather patterns have prompted Australian leaders to drop their skepticism about global warming and express some concerns. Like the US, Australia refused to sign...

Climate Chaos? Don't Believe It

Christopher Monckton November 6, 2006
Most scientific evidence points toward an alarming trend of a warmer planet, with a meltdown of polar caps, extinction of species and extreme weather that will threaten populated coasts throughout the world. A small group of people – including writer, puzzle-maker and former advisor to Margaret Thatcher Christopher Monckton – suggests that the warnings about global warming are alarmist and...

IoS 2060: Tsunami Horror Hits Britain

Geoffrey Lean November 6, 2006
Nations have slacked off in reducing energy use and efforts to combat global warming. Nations meeting in Nairobi on setting new targets for pollution reduction will hear three reports – the Stern Report in the UK on economics and global warming, the United Nations report on national efforts and an Institute on Public Policy Research report from the UK that suggests the need for immediate policy...

Apocalypse Now

David Adam November 4, 2006
A report released by the British government has everyone talking about the weather, and contains dire reasons for the world to start doing something about it. The 600-page Stern Report warns that, unless drastic measures are taken to combat global climate change, average temperatures will rise 2 or 3 degrees Celsius in the next half century, which will in turn melt ice fields, raise sea levels,...

The Planet in Peril – Part II

Jim Hansen October 24, 2006
People have some measure of control over how much the climate will change, explains Jim Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. In the second of a two-part series, he makes specific recommendations that do require some sacrifice: Humans must end their reliance on fossil fuels; governments can impose carbon taxes in a way that provides incentives to decrease fuel...

The Planet in Peril – Part I

Jim Hansen October 19, 2006
The evidence on global warming is overwhelming. Ongoing scientific research reveals that human-induced climate change will contribute to dangerous new weather patterns and rising sea levels that will gradually swamp many coastal cities, displacing millions of people over the next century. Jim Hansen, director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, explores the implications of global...