In The News

Rise in Violence “Linked to Climate Change”

Rebecca Morelle August 5, 2013
Shifts in temperature or rainfall are correlated with a rise in assaults, rapes, murders and events of conflict or war, suggests researcher Marshall Burke of the University of California, Berkeley, in a study published in Science. Rebecca Morelle, BBC News, reports that the researchers reviewed 60 studies with data spanning hundreds of years: “Their examples include an increase in domestic...

Greenland Melting

Jeff Goodell August 5, 2013
Greenland’s ice sheets are melting more rapidly than once predicted, and abrupt changes in the Earth’s climate and landscape are contributing to a new sense of urgency among some researchers, including climatologist Jason Box who studies Greenland’s surface. “Box doesn’t shy away from bold strokes,” writes Jeff Goodell for Rolling Stone. “As he sees it, the general public has been betrayed by the...

Greening Financial Reform

Simon Zadek August 2, 2013
Government budgets already must tackle flooding, wildfires, rising seas, eroding coastlines and other effects of climate change and should prepare to invest even more. “Trillions of dollars in ‘green finance’ – that is, low-carbon, resource-efficient investment – are needed annually to prevent climate change and natural constraints from stalling the global economy and threatening the livelihoods...

The Shale Oil Revolution

July 24, 2013
New US drilling technologies have shifted nations’ rank for energy potential, and rising production in the US and throughout Asia has reduced prices, exports and GDP growth for Russia. The Asia Sentinel reports that the US has passed Russia as the largest producer of natural gas, and research from Samsung Economic Research Institute suggests that “China, one of the world's biggest energy...

Climate Will Alter the Soil That Feeds Us

Tim Radford July 15, 2013
Global warming and climate change are about much more than temperatures – and can affect the planet and its life at microscopic levels. Researchers in US and Spain are suggesting that one species of cyanobacteria, common in the soil, could displace another cold-loving form. “The real hazard, for humans and other creatures that depend on cyanobacteria – and that adds up to all life on Earth – is...

Time for India to Clean Up Its Act

Nayan Chanda July 8, 2013
Nations all over the world are keen to explore and drill for oil and gas in a melting Arctic– even though research roundly blames human reliance on fossil fuels for a rapidly warming climate. China, Japan, India, Korea and Singapore are among 12 permanent observer states on the Arctic Council, added just five days after researchers reported the level of carbon dioxide had climbed past 400 ppm for...

UN: Unprecedented Climate Extremes Marked Last Decade

Alex Kirby July 3, 2013
The decade 2001 to 2010 was the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, with more temperature records broken and sea levels rising twice as fast than the previous century. The WMO report, “The Global Climate 2001-2010, A Decade of Climate Extremes,“ analyzed temperature levels, precipitation and extreme weather events worldwide to reach its conclusions. Correlating...