Permafrost holds key to release of trapped carbon – Tim Radford

Three sets of scientists in the same week have helped narrow the uncertainties about how the natural world will respond to extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon locked in the frozen earth will escape gradually as the Arctic permafrost melts – but the scientists say the process could accelerate. As greenhouse gas …

Scientists predict gradual, prolonged permafrost greenhouse gas emissions, allowing us more time to adapt

A new scientific synthesis suggests a gradual, prolonged release of greenhouse gases from permafrost soils in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, which may afford society more time to adapt to environmental changes, say scientists in an April 9 paper published in Nature. “Twenty years ago there was very little research about the possible rate of permafrost carbon release,” said co-author A. …

Lead, Don’t Follow on Climate Justice

RECENTLY, THERE HAS BEEN a growing discussion of climate change as a moral issue, both in academia and in religious communities. This past fall I spoke at three religion and climate change conferences in as many months, including a conference at Harvard Divinity School, “Spiritual and Sustainable: Religion Responds to Climate Change,” and in June 2015 I will join many global …

How Long Can Oceans Continue To Absorb Earth’s Excess Heat?

For decades, the earth’s oceans have soaked up more than nine-tenths of the atmosphere’s excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions. By stowing that extra energy in their depths, oceans have spared the planet from feeling the full effects of humanity’s carbon overindulgence. But as those gases build in the air, an energy overload is rising below the waves. A raft of …

US Climate Plan ‘Treats the Wound But Does Not Stop the Bleeding’

With bold language and take-charge rhetoric, the White House on Tuesday unveiled its plan to cut U.S. carbon emissions by roughly one third over the next decade, a goal that environmentalists say is commendable but is not enough to keep global warming beneath the critical 2°C threshold. Submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ahead of a midnight …

The Social Costs Of Capitalism Are Destroying Earth’s Ability To Support Life

I admire David Ray Griffin for his wide-ranging intelligence, his research skills, and for his courage. Dr. Griffin is not afraid to take on the controversial topics. He gave us ten books on 9/11, and anyone who has read half of one of them knows that the official story is a lie. Now Griffin has taken on global warming and …

Shell’s Climate Change Strategy: Narcissistic, Paranoid, And Psychopathic

In an open letter to Shell’s Ben Van Beurden, the UK’s former top climate envoy says now is the time for him to show leadership Dear Mr. van Beurden – one month ago, at the IP Week dinner in London, you gave a speech calling on your peers, as you put it in your title, to be “Less Aloof, More …

The California drought: Water-rationing plan leaves corporate interests untouched

The unprecedented drought gripping California has deepened for the fourth consecutive year, having already set new records for the lowest annual precipitation levels on record. 2014 brought the highest calendar-year temperature for the state, while this February was the hottest on record and this January the driest. A recent study conducted by Daniel Griffin and Kevin J. Anchukaitis found that …

Florida’s Climate Change Gag Order Claims Its First Victim

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Florida’s Republican governor Rick Scott had directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to stopusing terms like “climate change” and “global warming” in any official correspondence or during meetings. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), that gag order has now claimed its first victim. PEER made the following assertions in a press release today: Barton …

What’s Going On In The North Atlantic?

The North Atlantic between Newfoundland and Ireland is practically the only region of the world that has defied global warming and even cooled. Last winter there even was the coldest on record – while globally it was the hottest on record. Our recent study (Rahmstorf et al. 2015) attributes this to a weakening of the Gulf Stream System, which is …