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climate change adaptation

The climate agreement, 2 degrees, and your children’s future

Not too long ago, just after the Paris COP21 climate meeting, I read two interesting articles that contradicted each other.  The first said “COP21: Paris deal far too weak to prevent devastating climate change, academics warn.”  The second was more optimistic, “Rapid switch to renewable energy can put Paris climate goals within reach.” “So which is it?”, I wondered. The first one discussed a letter sent by eleven supposedly prominent climate scientists to The Independent that warned that the climate deal reached at the COP21 gives “false hope” and will result in insufficient action being taken. A few choice quotes… Read More »The climate agreement, 2 degrees, and your children’s future

CO2 made for different sized homes using different energy sources

The shocking truth about alternative energy!

If you want to save money switch to LED lighting, insulate your home and buy energy-efficient appliances.  If you want to keep carbon dioxide out of the air the single biggest thing you can do is switch to alternative energy. That’s the “shocking truth”.  Why shocking?  Because no other single thing you do as an individual will have as big an impact on climate change.   In this post you will see the huge impact you can make by switching to alternative energy and how to get it for your home.  You can save money, prevent carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere, and… Read More »The shocking truth about alternative energy!

Sylvia Earle, my new favorite scientist; and other tidbits

Sylvia Earle I was recently listening to the ClimateOne podcast, one of the best podcasts about climate change out there.  They were interviewing Dr. Sylvia Earle, a famous oceanographer and outspoken advocate for the world’s oceans, about the decline of the worlds oceans.  She has been an oceanographer for some time, and is a pioneer in the field for women, and in general.  She was formerly NOAA’s Chief Scientist, among many other accomplishments, and is a National Geographic Explorer in Residence. She’s very well spoken and really brings home the huge declines that have occurred in the world’s oceans due to human… Read More »Sylvia Earle, my new favorite scientist; and other tidbits

China Outshines U.S. On Climate Change

The big climate change news from the last few weeks is that China has finally released it’s CO2 mitigation plan. It’s fairly impressive, all things considered. I’d call it a good start, and even though it’s fairly ambitious; however, just like the U.S. plan — it falls far short of what will eventually be required. But let’s just be hopeful for the moment. Here’s a quick rundown of what China proposes… Cut the amount of greenhouse gas emitted per unit GDP to 60-65% of 2005 levels by 2030 Put a nationwide cap and trade program for carbon dioxide in place… Read More »China Outshines U.S. On Climate Change

Oklahoma farmer's son, Dust Bowl era, 1930s

Climate change, drought and the future of America

Climate change will likely lead to drought in the Southwest that make the historic Dust Bowl of the 1930’s look like good times.  A bunch of scientific studies assessing the risk of drought were recently covered in various media outlets, including Forbes, National Geographic, Scientific American and elsewhere. Several of these media reports are based on an excellent paper, published in Science Advances, called “Unprecedented 21st century drought risk in the American Southwest and Central Plains.”  Their findings were not encouraging. In this paper, scientists from NASA, Columbia and Cornell Universities used historical tree ring data and something called the Palmer Drought Severity Index… Read More »Climate change, drought and the future of America