Of my many childhood memories, most of which can be looked back at with a smile and involved sports in some way, one that stands out with a great deal of clarity was my first asthma attack. Read More
Scientists Agree Human-Caused Climate Change is Real: But Wait, We’ve Known That for Decades!
May 16th, 2013
An important peer-reviewed study was published today by John Cook et al. in the journal Environmental Research Letters. John Cook runs the well-known Skeptical Science website that rebuts global warming misinformation. His new research once again confirms there is overwhelming agreement amongst climate scientists – over 97 percent agree – and in the scientific literature – over 97 percent of papers confirm – that global warming is real and largely caused by humans. However, current surveys of the U.S. public, such as those done by the Pew Center and Yale, show that less than half the population believe scientists are in agreement on the issue of human-caused climate change. Read More
10 Places President Obama Should Visit to See Climate Change In Action
May 15th, 2013
In November, President Obama suggested that we needed a wide-ranging national discussion about climate change. But where to have that conversation? There are so many stories from communities that are on the front lines of climate change, grappling with ways to cope and looking for options. Here are ten places especially deserving of a visit from the President because they are dealing with consequences of climate change that affect many other parts of the country, indeed the world. Read More
We’ve Never Been Here Before: 400ppm of CO2 Measured in the Atmosphere at Mauna Loa
May 14th, 2013
We’ve just crossed a sobering milestone. For the first time since humans have walked the planet, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at Mauna Loa Observatory has reached 400 parts per million. On May 9, scientists from both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography measured the daily average concentration of carbon dioxide in air above this value. I don’t know about you, but when I heard this I wanted to cry. Let me put this in context for you. Read More
Ted Smith: A Visionary Conservation Leader and Climate Pioneer Remembered
May 6th, 2013
Friends and family gathered last weekend at a memorial in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to celebrate the remarkable conservation legacy of Theodore McRoberts Smith, known to one and all as Ted. It was an inspiring, warm, and wonderful commemoration of a visionary leader — and Ted would have hated it. Read More
Extending the Success Against Illegal Logging to Palm Oil and Other Drivers of Deforestation
May 2nd, 2013
The week before last I had the opportunity to go to London to participate in a workshop at Chatham House, on an idea that may turn out to be very important in ending tropical deforestation. Over the past several years there has been important progress in reducing forest degradation, based on a simple principle: if it’s against the law to cut down trees in one country, then it should also be illegal to import the cut timber from those trees into other countries. In other words, we should respect and help enforce the laws that protect forests in the countries that we import from.
Toxic Algae and No-Till—The Environmental Darling of Industrial Agriculture and Genetic Engineering Looks Less Attractive
May 2nd, 2013
Read attempts to defend the sustainability of industrial agriculture and genetic engineering, and you will soon encounter no-till, or more generally, conservation tillage. Now it appears that no-till may be contributing to some serious environmental problems. Read More
Bleeding for Science and Democracy: Thinking about Climate Change in the Emergency room
April 22nd, 2013
While on my way to a climate change conference at the University of Notre Dame earlier this month I managed to slam my hand in my car door. So my first evening in South Bend was spent in the Memorial Hospital Emergency Room with ample time to think about my presentation on climate science and the personal attacks on climate scientists that have become all too frequent, and how to respond to those attacks using resources such as the UCS manual “Science in the Age of Scrutiny”. Read More
White House Champions of Change Event Features Community Resilience Leaders
April 11th, 2013
Today’s “Champions of Change” event in Washington can be seen as a kick-off for a desperately-needed national conversation on climate change. It couldn’t have had a more fitting theme: “Preparing for the Costly Impacts of Climate Change – Community Resilience Leaders.” Read More
Angry Summer Down Under: Murdoch Paper Hosts Op-Ed that Attacks Scientists while Australia Sizzles
April 5th, 2013
INTRO NOTE: My colleague Melanie Fitzpatrick has just come back on board here at UCS. She’s a climate scientist who originally hails from Australia. She’s traveled the world doing scientific research on the climate, including in Antarctica. We’re very happy to have her back and she’ll have her own blog up soon. In the meantime, we wanted to share her thoughts on climate change in Australia and a disturbing op-ed recently published in The Australian. Read More
