RealClimate: 2015 temperatures

By Gavin SchmidtBy January 2016 (RealClimate) – To no-one’s great surprise, 2015 was clearly a record year in all the surface temperature analyses (GISTEMP, NOAA, HadCRUT4, Cowtan&Way, JMA + Berkeley Earth). There is a lot of discussion of this in the press, and on the relevant websites, so not much to add here. A few […]

Tasmania fires: First images of World Heritage Area devastation emerge, show signs of system collapse – ‘The scene is complete and utter devastation. There is kilometres of burnt ground, everything is dead.’

By Linda Hunt31 January 2016 (ABC) – The first images to emerge from within Tasmania’s fire-affected World Heritage Area (WHA) have illustrated the level of destruction caused by bushfire, as experts warn such incidents are signs of a changing climate. Many fires continue to burn around the state, ignited by lightning strikes. Some are in […]

Scientists: ‘Doomsday Clock’ reflects grave threat to world – ‘Unless we change the way we think, humanity remains in serious danger’

By Sudhin Thanawala26 January 2016 STANFORD, California (AP) – Rising tension between Russia and the U.S., North Korea’s recent nuclear test and a lack of aggressive steps to address climate change are putting the world under grave threat, scientists behind a “Doomsday Clock” that measures the likelihood of a global cataclysm said Tuesday. The Bulletin […]

Climate deniers attack NASA scientist dying of cancer

By Katie Herzog20 January 2016 (Grist) – Readers of The New York Times were treated to a deeply touching essay this week by Piers Sellers, a NASA astronaut and climate scientist who was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. […] And yet, it took no time at all for the climate change deniers to […]

Stop emissions! A climate scientist argues that it should no longer be acceptable to dump carbon dioxide in the sky

By Ken Caldeira25 January 2016 (Technology Review) – Many years ago, I protested at the gates of a nuclear power plant. For a long time, I believed it would be easy to get energy from biomass, wind, and solar. Small is beautiful. Distributed power, not centralized. I wish I could still believe that. My thinking […]

Fish stocks dwindle in Cambodia’s Tonlé Sap lake – ‘If there are no more fish, we’ll have to send people from the community to the city’

By Sam Jones1 December 2015 Tonlé Sap lake (Guardian) – Out past the floating villages, the daytrippers and the mangrove arcades, the brown waters of the Tahas river open into a vast, dull green lake fringed by forest and a seemingly endless horizon. Silhouetted by a sinking afternoon sun, distant figures fish from small boats […]

In Greenland, a climate change mystery with clues written in water and stone

By Ari Daniel24 January 2016 (PRI) – The breakfast on the edge of Greenland’s massive ice sheet is ordinary — granola, yogurt, bread and jam. Everything else here is anything but. “You’d pay a million bucks for a view like this,” says Gordon Hamilton, from the University of Maine by way of Scotland. “Pretty nice […]

Will the Fourth Industrial Revolution improve the state of the world? World Economic Forum meeting ends

By Judith Magyar22 January 2016 (SAP Community Network) – Emerging technologies such as 3D printing and genetic engineering offer a lot of promise, but can also be double-edged swords. They can help make our lives easier, safer and healthier, but there is also potential to build weapons or dangerously modify organisms. Developments like these raise […]

World discovers a $1 trillion ocean as Arctic sea ice vanishes – ‘These changes are like nothing we have seen. We don’t have anything to compare with in history.’

By Eric Roston22 January 2016 (Bloomberg) – As chairman of investments at Guggenheim Partners, Scott Minerd thought he had a realistic view on how big an economic challenge climate change poses. Then, at a Hoover Institution conference almost three years ago, he met former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz. Minerd recalled him saying: “Scott, […]

Winter storm Jonas brings record coastal flooding to New Jersey and Delaware

By Andrew Freedman and Megan Specia23 January 2016 (Mashable) – This blizzard has another hazard besides the snow, sleet and strong winds its bringing to the East Coast: flooding. The storm is pounding the New Jersey and Delaware shorelines with 22-foot waves and a 3 to 5-foot storm surge that sent water levels to all-time […]

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