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Climate Change
In the News |
Climate Change & Global Warming News
Climate Ark
| Independent: The bitterly cold weather sweeping Britain and the rest of Europe has been linked by scientists with the ice-free seas of the Arctic, where global warming is exerting its greatest influence.
A dramatic loss of sea ice ... |
| Mongabay: The Indonesian government plans to create a massive plantation firm next month when it will combine the assets of state-owned rubber and palm oil companies, reports Reuters.
The new corporation, which will be consolidated under ... |
| Associated Press: Small island nations, whose very existence is threatened by the rising sea levels brought about by global warming, are seeking to take the issue of climate change before the International Court of Justice.Johnson ... |
| Reuters: Republican lawmakers hope to move one step closer next week to linking a measure approving the controversial Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline to a highway funding bill.
The House of Representatives Energy and Commerce ... |
| Reuters: The U.S. government will require natural gas drillers to disclose which chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing on public lands, according to draft rules crafted by the Interior Department.
President Barack Obama pledged in ... |
| Reuters: Selenium contamination from a phosphate mine in southeastern Idaho is linked to fish deformities such as two-headed trout, and the problem would worsen if discharge limits were eased, a new government report found.
The findings ... |
| Reuters: Democrats unveiled legislation on Friday that would block export of any oil transported by the Keystone XL pipeline, as they challenged claims that the delayed project would boost U.S. energy security.
TransCanada's $7 billion ... |
| Reuters: Canada will set up a new environmental monitoring system for the northern Alberta oil sands as it seeks to fend off harsh international criticism following revelations that oversight of the huge petroleum development has been ... |
| National Public Radio: For snow fans in the contiguous US, this winter has left much to be desired. The warm and mild season in the lower 48 and the wild snow dumps and cold weather up north in Alaska can be blamed largely on a weather pattern ... |
| National Public Radio: A new map from the USDA has some northern gardeners hoping to grow plants that used to be considered too fragile for cold weather zones. The hardiness zone chart is about a half zone warmer than the last one issued in 1990. ... |
| Time: Mainstream environmental groups have struggled to find the right line on shale natural gas and the hydraulic fracturing or fracking process. Gas has a much smaller carbon footprint than coal--according to most scientists--and produces far ... |
| Guardian: Opening the door to the animal house, passing a rhino on the way and patting the giraffe inside, Sarah Forsyth points out small white boxes that dot the walls. "Everywhere you look there's a detector or a motion sensor," she says, ... |
| New York Times: Sand dunes rise above a windy, desolate stretch of beach, miles beyond where most tourists venture. Occasional flocks of brown pelicans are visible, arcing through the sky above the water.“I love watching them fly,” said ... |
| Yale Environment 360: The Sierra Club, the largest and oldest environmental group in the U.S., accepted more than $25 million from the natural gas industry from 2007 to 2010 while promoting the fuel as a “bridge” to a clean-energy future, ... |
| New York Times: As many readers know, considerable fear surrounds the future of the world`s coral reefs. Catastrophic declines have already occurred in some places, usually as a result of climate change combined with human activity like the ... |
| Associated Press: Federal safety officials will vote Feb. 9 on whether to approve what could become the nation's first nuclear plant in a generation.The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a hearing on the Atlanta-based ... |
| Reuters: Farm analysts living in Argentina's capital city went to sleep on Thursday soothed by the welcome sound of rainstorms, but the showers failed to relieve many of the country's drought-hit soy fields.
While the streets and wide ... |
| Ecologist: The media frenzy that erupted as Tesco admitted having second-thoughts on carbon footprint labels may have inflicted lasting damage on a once promising sector
Back in 2007, when former CEO Terry Leahy promised to bring in ... |
| Economic Times: In the run up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit, India today said the principle of "equity" for cutting greenhouse gas emissions should be the "bottom line" of negotiations on climate change.
"I would like to reiterate one ... |
| Times of India: France today said India's stand on climate change will be a significant factor to arrive at an agreement in the future and stressed the need to understand specific conditions of countries involved in the issue.
"It is ... |
| Independent: Britain is lying in wait for widespread snow this weekend after another bitterly cold day in which temperatures in some places struggled to get above freezing.
North Dartmoor recorded a temperature of minus 2.6C at midday, ... |
| Guardian: In 2005, while teaching history at a French university, I was struck by the general disbelief among students that rational and sensitive human beings could ever hold others in bondage. Slavery was so obviously evil that slave-holders ... |
| Reuters: The European Union (EU) is willing to consider whether India's efforts to reduce carbon emissions could qualify for waivers under an EU law that charges airlines for polluting, the 27-nation bloc's climate chief said on ... |
| Reuters: U.N.-backed carbon permits were among the worst performing commodities in 2011 and trading volume fell more than 35 percent in January this year from December as the benchmark contract became very illiquid, renewing concerns about lack ... |
| Agence France-Presse: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday that "a lack of collective will" was hampering efforts to forge a common global front against the threat of climate change.
Addressing the opening of a Sustainable ... |
| New Kerela: Criminal gangs are becoming a threat to the world's glaciers, which are already receding as a result of climate change, the United Nations said on Thursday, citing a case in Chile where police are investigating the theft of some 5,000 ... |
| Guardian: US Republicans are deploying a $100m election spending machine to savage Barack Obama's green agenda, with Karl Rove's political action committee releasing a new advert attacking the administration for funding a collapsed solar panel ... |
| Independent: Researchers working around Japan's disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say bird populations there have begun to dwindle, in what may be a chilling harbinger of the impact of radioactive fallout on local life.
In the ... |
| Press Association: Shell's chief executive, Peter Voser, called on Europe for a less "emotional" response to fracking, as he outlined plans to accelerate the oil giant's use of the controversial technology used to release hydrocarbons from ... |
| Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Do you consult your dentist on your heart condition? In science, as in any area, reputations are based on knowledge and expertise in a field, and on published, peer-reviewed work.
If you need surgery, ... |
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Climate Change Overview
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1. Planets and atmospheres
A planet's climate is decided by its mass, its distance from the sun and the composition of its atmosphere. Mars is too small to keep a thick atmosphere. Its atmosphere
consists mainly of carbon dioxide, but the atmosphere is very thin. The atmosphere of the Earth is a hundred times thicker. |
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2. Temperature and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere over the past 400 000 years
Over the last 400,000 years the Earth's climate has been unstable, with very significant temperature changes, going from a warm climate to an ice age in as rapidly as a
few decades. These rapid changes suggest that climate may be quite sensitive to internal or external climate forcings and feedbacks. |
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3. The greenhouse effect
The Earth has a natural temperature control system. Certain atmospheric gases are critical to this system and are known as greenhouse gases. |
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4. Radiative forcing
Radiative forcing is the change in the balance between radiation coming into the atmosphere and radiation going out. |
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5. The main greenhouse gases
The table lists some of the main greenhouse gases and their concentrations in pre-industrial times and in 1994; atmospheric lifetimes; anthropogenic sources; and Global Warming Potential. |
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6. CO2 Concentration in the atmosphere: Mauna Loa curve
CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have been measured at an altitude of about 4,000 meters on the peak of Mauna Loa mountain in Hawaii since 1958. |
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7. Global atmospheric concentration of CO2
Atmospheric CO2 has increased from a pre-industrial concentration of about 280 ppmv to about 367 ppmv at present (ppmv= parts per million by volume). |
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8. CO2 emissions from industrial processes
This map depicts the unequal distribution of industry in the world. The significant part of carbon dioxide emissions comes from energy production, industrial processes and transport. |
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9. Emissions of CO2 - selected countries (1995)
The rich countries of the world historically has emitted most of the anthropogenic greenhouse gases since the start of the industrial revolution in the latter half of the 1700s. Per capita, the significant emissions still are produced by the OECD countries |
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10. The present carbon cycle
The global carbon cycle shows the carbon reservoirs in GtC (gigatonne= one thousand million tonnes) and fluxes in GtC/year. |
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11. The cooling factors
The amount of aerosols in the air has direct effect on the amount of solar radiation hitting the Earth's surface. Aerosols may have significant local or regional impact on temperature. |
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12. The UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Convention is the foundation of global efforts to combat global warming. |
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13. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
In 1988, UNEP and WMO jointly established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as concern over climate change became a political issue. The purpose of the IPCC was to assess the state of
knowledge on the various aspects of climate change including science, environmental and socio-economic impacts and response strategies. |
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14. Trend in global average surface temperature
The mean global surface temperature has increased by about 0.3 to 0.6?C since the late 19th century and by about 0.2 to 0.3?C over the last 40 years. |
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15. Precipitation changes: trend over land from 1900 to 1994
Precipitation has increased over land at high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, especially during the cold season. Decrease in precipitation occurred in steps after the 1960s over the subtropics and the tropics from Africa to Indonesia. |
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16. Sea level rise due to global warming
Over the last 100 years, the global sea level has risen by about 10 to 25 cm. |
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17. Potential climate change impacts
If greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising, climatic changes are likely to result. Those changes will potentially have wide-ranging effects on the environment and socio-economic sectors. |
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18. The six IPCC scenarios
The projection of future climate change depends partly on the assumptions made about future emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosol precursors and the proportion of emissions remaining in the atmosphere. |
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19. Projected changes in CO2 and climate: summary of assumptions in the IPCC 1992 alternative scenarios
Projected anthropogenic CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use, deforestation and cement production for the six IPCC emission scenarios. |
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20. Projected Changes in Global Temperature
Climate models calculate that the global mean surface temperature could rise by about 1 to 4.5 centigrade by 2100. |
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21. Scenarios of sea level rise
Models project an increase in global mean sea level of between 13 and 94 cm by the year 2100. |
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22. Sensitivity, Adaptability and Vulnerability
The potential impacts of climate change on the environment and socio-economic systems can be understood in terms of sensitivity, adaptability and vulnerability of the system. | |
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Matt Horne, director of the Pembina Institute’s climate change program, made the following statement in response to the release of British Columbia’s Natural Gas Strategy. |
Recently, Calgary City Council voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting its first citywide greenhouse gas plan. The plan aims to reduce the city’s emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, and 80 per cent by 2050, below 2005 levels and I’m thrilled to say that the Pembina Institute’s community services consulting group helped to write it. |
The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan have pledged to meet with the federal government to discuss a national energy strategy and the related issue of regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Before that meeting happens, let’s examine their efforts to price carbon, a critical component of any cost-effective approach to dealing with climate change. |
The Obama administration’s surprise decision to deny the proposed Keystone XL pipeline created quite the media storm yesterday, and for good reason.
In defending the decision, the president highlighted the risks the project could pose to “the health and safety of the American people and [to] the environment,” and the need to adequately review those concerns. And while a wide range of responses surfaced from the Republicans, Democrats, public opinion leaders and local interest groups, one story in particular caught our eye. |
An open letter from the Pembina Institute to Canadians
Dear friends,
As you may have noticed, the Harper government and the “Ethical Oil Inc” front group have been working to discredit groups like the Pembina Institute and our work on energy issues by claiming that we are a “foreign-funded,” “radical” organization advocating against the best interests of Canadians.
Allow us to set the record straight. |
The federal government has repeatedly touted its forthcoming regulations for coal-fired electricity as proof that it’s serious about climate change. It was therefore concerning to see reports from the Globe and Mail last week that suggest the government might “backtrack” on their coal regulations even before the final version has seen the light of day. |
In an open letter released today, 85 British Columbia business leaders call on the provincial government to reaffirm and strengthen its leadership on climate change. |
Recently, the International Energy Agency warned that we have fewer than five years left to act if we are to avoid irreversible climate change. We, the undersigned, believe our government has both an obligation and an opportunity to reduce our carbon emissions. |
In the most comprehensive assessment of Alberta’s climate change policies to date, a new report by the Pembina Institute concludes that Alberta’s current approach will deliver less than one third of the greenhouse gas reductions the Government of Alberta has committed to, but strengthening current policies could enable the province to meet its climate targets.
Responsible Action? An assessment of Alberta’s greenhouse gas policies provides a detailed evaluation of current regulations and financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, and identifies key opportunities for the Government of Alberta to strengthen its approach to climate change. |
This report provides a detailed evaluation of Alberta's current regulations and financial incentives to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, and identifies key opportunities for the Government of Alberta to strengthen its approach to climate change. |
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