Archive for Climate change
As a possible consequence of the so-called “ Climategate ” Americans’ global warming concerns continue to drop. This occurs as the IPCC reports and actions have been repeatedly under fire.
One of my friends sent me a list of institutions believing in man-made climate change versus the ones not believing in it. The results are unequivocal, unambiguous and crystal clear.
Indeed, there is no debate, but only a few institutions paid by oil and coal companies to make you think there is one. Science, as we have seen leaves no doubt whatsoever.
We know it, biofuels aren’t a sustainable solution as they take food from a billion hungry people. Now here is another fact that literally infuriates me : “(the) food wasted by the US and Europe could feed the world three times over.”
This isn’t entirely new as I already tackled the issue. What is new is the importance of this phenomenon on climate change as producing this food produces carbon dioxide and as the waste produces methane.
I believe we truly need a paradigm shift on food. I also think that if people knew how much time and resources it takes to produce food they would waste much less. Continue »
I found during the past few weeks news showing that Europe is investing more and more in solving the climate / energy equation by using various solutions : energy efficiency, smart grids and renewable energies.
Here are some examples : Sweden pledged this week for the installation of 2,000 wind turbines by the year 2020 and the United Kingdom is working on efficiency in the building sector.
Additionally, several countries are due to invest 30 billions euros in smart grids to connect renewable energy sources from across the continent. Continue »
The Guardian published last week a most interesting series of articles on a report to be published this year by the United Nations and Trucost which estimates the damages on the environment to $2.2 trillion per year.
To the newspaper ” the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost if firms were forced to pay for use, loss and damage of environment”
This poses an important question: Are we ready to pay for the damages done to the environment ? This question leads to many others on our societies and economies. Continue »
As climate warms, extreme weather events are more and more frequent and more and more violent. Indeed, after the blizzards on the East coast of the United States, Europe was hit this weekend by an important storm.
Xynthia claimed more than fifty lives this weekend in France alone and the costs are due to exceed a billion euros (Le Figaro). Half a million houses were without electricity on Monday morning.
Climate change is due to increase these phenomena. This is another reason to act fast and big on decreasing greenhouse gases emissions worldwide.
Last month the founder of Microsoft gave a speech on low carbon energy and climate change at TED, a renowned event on Technology, Entertainment and Design.
To Mr. Gates we need five means : carbon capture and storage, nuclear power and renewable energies (solar PV, Concentrated Solar Thermal and Wind power). I agree with that.
To him, we need 20 years to research on the needed breakthroughs to achieve zero emissions energy sources and twenty other years to apply them. I beg to differ on this. Continue »
I have been committed for three years to bring you each month a selection of the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change and the world energy sector.
However, I don’t blog as much as I would like to and generally write around 25 posts per month. However, many more great news are worth reading and blogging about so I had to find a way to share them with you.
This solution came last year with my use of Twitter as I use my account to share with my followers news that are worth your time. Here is a selection of the most interesting ones. Continue »
According to the United Nations’ Billion Tree Campaign, India planted two billion trees since 2007. This brings the amounts of trees planted globally to no less than ten billion. These are fantastic news !
At the beginning of this project, the UNEP wanted to plant a billion trees. This was at the time a very optimistic goal. Now, nott only have we succeeded but we have done ten times more. This is truly encouraging.
All these trees will absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide, thus limiting greenhouse gases emissions. But we shouldn’t forget we still have to stop deforestation…
At first I wasn’t sure even if I had huge doubts. But now this is a certainty as I came accross three articles on how biofuels production in the United States, Brazil and Europe is a threat to our societies and our environment.
In Brazil, biofuels production are a danger to the Amazon rainforest as farmers are willing to cut trees to plant more and thus earn more. In America, 25 percent of the cereals grown are fed to cars.
This is enough to feed no less than 350 million people. As over a billion people are still starving around the globe I don’t call that a sustainable solution. Continue »
The next Winter Olympic games are beginning this week in Vancouver and snow is lacking and has to be either shipped or manufactured. Current high temperatures are to the AFP up to 10°C (50°F).
After the air pollution issues being at the center of the Beijing Olympics two years ago, now climate is worrying organizators. All this is mirroring our environmental concerns all too clearly.
Contrary to what deniers claim, climate change is real and starts seriously worrying the International Olympic Committee (IOC). For more on this, please check out the New York Times article.
