Climate Change Choices: Difficult, Easy, or Erroneous? Having waited too long to address reduce greenhouse gas emissions, climate change is now forcing some difficult choices. In parts of the western U.S. the issue is whether to preserve groundwater for residents or allow its use for building solar power plants. …

A visit to the Arctic and some new research results — Any serious discussion of climate change is likely to include the fact that the Arctic region has been warming nearly four times faster than the global average. What does this mean for humanity and the ecosystem? To better understand the changing Arctic environment, I recently visited Longyearbyen, Norway, in one…

Words matter — naming things increases awareness and understanding — Not long ago talking about climate change was relatively simple — how hot will it get, and how soon. However, disasters in recent years have introduced a growing number of terms such as polar vortex and tipping point in addition to conversations about record highs and lows. New words describing…

A border adjustment will tax carbon intensive imports — A new EU tax on some of the most carbon intensive traded goods may address one of the greatest barriers to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions: the absence of near-term commitments from the largest, most rapidly growing developing nations. While the EU, US, and most industrialized nations have goals to…

Exceeding the 1.5C degree limit on warming now seems inevitable — The major failure of COP27, the recent international climate negotiations, was the absence of any new commitments to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. The source of this target, and the significance of failing to achieve it, is the subject of this blog. What makes the 1.5C target so…

Will rich countries compensate poor developing countries for climate disasters? — For the first time in the history of the international climate negotiations, the agenda at COP27 in Egypt includes discussion of provision to fund developing countries for “loss and damage” — compensation for the residual impacts of climate change which mitigation and adaptation efforts are insufficient to prevent or alleviate…

Industry support and trade requirements made the difference At a time of so many dramatic climate disasters, the recent bi-partisan Senate approval of a climate treaty, the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, received much less attention than it deserves. On September 21st, by a vote of 69–21, the U.S…

As the likelihood of such events increases, preparing for the future is critical — Every informed American was no doubt horrified by the images and consequences of Hurricane Ian. …

Potentially catastrophic tipping points may be much closer than we thought Scientific reports describing the dangers of climate change are now so frequent that unless you track the relevant journals carefully it’s easy to miss something really significant. …