The Daily Mail, on the 26th of March 2009, reports on a talk given by an Archbishop where he warns people that God will not intervene to stop runway climate change.
God is not going to intervene to prevent humanity from wreaking disastrous damage to the environment, the Archbishop of Canterbury warned last night as he called for a 'radical change of heart' to prevent runaway climate change.
Dr Rowan Williams said there needed to be a 'conversion' by humanity away from selfishness and greed that leads us to turn a 'blind eye' to the destruction of the environment and to our interdependence with the natural world.
Without a change of heart, Dr Williams warned, the world faced a number of 'doomsday scenarios' including the 'ultimate tragedy' of humanity gradually 'choked, drowned, or starved by its own stupidity.'
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Friday, 6 March 2009
'No proof' of bee killer theory
The BBC website, on the 5th of March 2009, reports that there is no evidence of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) that is killing large numbers of Bees throughout the world.
Scientists say there is no proof that a mysterious disease blamed for the deaths of billions of bees actually exists, the BBC has been told.
Dr Dennis Anderson, principal research scientist on entomology with the Australian research organisation CSIRO said the term could be distracting scientists from other work:
"It's misleading in the fact that the general public and beekeepers and now even researchers are under the impression that we've got some mysterious disorder here in our bees.
"And so researchers around the world are running round trying to find the cause of the disorder - and there's absolutely no proof that there's a disorder there."
Many experts speak about a "perfect storm" of impacts that are the real reason for the decline.
Some critics of the bee industry have called the whole concept of CCD a hoax, a public relations stunt designed to attract public sympathy.
Scientists say there is no proof that a mysterious disease blamed for the deaths of billions of bees actually exists, the BBC has been told.
Dr Dennis Anderson, principal research scientist on entomology with the Australian research organisation CSIRO said the term could be distracting scientists from other work:
"It's misleading in the fact that the general public and beekeepers and now even researchers are under the impression that we've got some mysterious disorder here in our bees.
"And so researchers around the world are running round trying to find the cause of the disorder - and there's absolutely no proof that there's a disorder there."
Many experts speak about a "perfect storm" of impacts that are the real reason for the decline.
Some critics of the bee industry have called the whole concept of CCD a hoax, a public relations stunt designed to attract public sympathy.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
4C rise will threaten human survival
The Daily Mail’s website, on the 26th of February 2009, has an article about a report detailing how a 4C temperature rise this century will threaten human survival and change the world beyond recognition.
As part of their research into the article the New Scientist spoke to leading climate experts from around the world to create a map of how our world might look 4C warmer.
Rivers from the Danube to the Rhine would be reduced to a trickle while melting glaciers and storm surges would drown coastal regions under two metres of water.
Humans will become mostly vegetarian with most animals being eaten to extinction by desperate people.
Large chunks of Earth's biodiversity would vanish because they could not adapt in such a short time.
In the world's oceans, numbers of fish would drop dramatically as acid levels rose because of decreasing plankton.
'I think they'll survive as a species all right, but the cull during this century is going to be huge,' former Nasa scientists James Lovelock said.
'The number remaining at the end of the century will probably be a billion or less.'
As part of their research into the article the New Scientist spoke to leading climate experts from around the world to create a map of how our world might look 4C warmer.
Rivers from the Danube to the Rhine would be reduced to a trickle while melting glaciers and storm surges would drown coastal regions under two metres of water.
Humans will become mostly vegetarian with most animals being eaten to extinction by desperate people.
Large chunks of Earth's biodiversity would vanish because they could not adapt in such a short time.
In the world's oceans, numbers of fish would drop dramatically as acid levels rose because of decreasing plankton.
'I think they'll survive as a species all right, but the cull during this century is going to be huge,' former Nasa scientists James Lovelock said.
'The number remaining at the end of the century will probably be a billion or less.'
Friday, 13 February 2009
Save up fossil fuel reserves to fight the next ice age
The Register website, on the 13th of February 2009, has an article about a Danish scientist that is telling us to stop using all the world’s fossil fuels and save them for the next ice age.
According to Shaffer [Professor Gary Shaffer] "the greatest climate challenge mankind has faced has been surviving ice ages that have dominated climate during the past million years".
But there's no need to panic. By burning fossil fuels, we have already put enough CO2 into the atmosphere to stand off ice ages for 55,000 years. Shaffer thinks it would make sense to save a lot of the remaining fossil reserves for the far future, when we'd need to bump up atmospheric carbon or face life in the deep freeze.
“Fossil fuel reserves may be too valuable for regulating climate far into the future to allow the reserves to be consumed within the next few centuries,"
According to Shaffer [Professor Gary Shaffer] "the greatest climate challenge mankind has faced has been surviving ice ages that have dominated climate during the past million years".
But there's no need to panic. By burning fossil fuels, we have already put enough CO2 into the atmosphere to stand off ice ages for 55,000 years. Shaffer thinks it would make sense to save a lot of the remaining fossil reserves for the far future, when we'd need to bump up atmospheric carbon or face life in the deep freeze.
“Fossil fuel reserves may be too valuable for regulating climate far into the future to allow the reserves to be consumed within the next few centuries,"
UK's ex-science chief predicts century of 'resource' wars
The Guardian newspaper, on the 13th of February 2009, reports on a talk given by the Sir David King where he says this century with be full or wars over resources like oil and water.
The Iraq war was just the first of this century's "resource wars", in which powerful countries use force to secure valuable commodities, according to the UK government's former chief scientific adviser. Sir David King predicts that with population growth, natural resources dwindling, and seas rising due to climate change, the squeeze on the planet will lead to more conflict.
"Unless we get to grips with this problem globally, we potentially are going to lead ourselves into a situation where large, powerful nations will secure resources for their own people at the expense of others."
King summed up by saying that with growing population and dwindling resources, fundamental changes to the global economy and society were necessary. "Consumerism has been a wonderful model for growing up economies in the 20th century. Is that model fit for purpose in the 21st century, when resource shortage is our biggest challenge?"
The Iraq war was just the first of this century's "resource wars", in which powerful countries use force to secure valuable commodities, according to the UK government's former chief scientific adviser. Sir David King predicts that with population growth, natural resources dwindling, and seas rising due to climate change, the squeeze on the planet will lead to more conflict.
"Unless we get to grips with this problem globally, we potentially are going to lead ourselves into a situation where large, powerful nations will secure resources for their own people at the expense of others."
King summed up by saying that with growing population and dwindling resources, fundamental changes to the global economy and society were necessary. "Consumerism has been a wonderful model for growing up economies in the 20th century. Is that model fit for purpose in the 21st century, when resource shortage is our biggest challenge?"
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Dark comets may be on collision course with Earth
The Daily Mail newspaper, on the 12th of February 2009, has an article about comets that can not been seen and could collide with Earth without warning.
Thousands of invisible 'dark' comets may be posing an unseen threat to Earth, according to two British astronomers.
Professor Bill Napier, from the University of Cardiff, told New Scientist magazine: 'There is a case to be made that dark, dormant comets are a significant but largely unseen hazard.'
The rate that bright comets pass through the Solar System suggests there should be 3,000 of them flying around, yet only 25 have been detected. Most may have remained hidden because they are too dark to see, say the astronomers.
Thousands of invisible 'dark' comets may be posing an unseen threat to Earth, according to two British astronomers.
Professor Bill Napier, from the University of Cardiff, told New Scientist magazine: 'There is a case to be made that dark, dormant comets are a significant but largely unseen hazard.'
The rate that bright comets pass through the Solar System suggests there should be 3,000 of them flying around, yet only 25 have been detected. Most may have remained hidden because they are too dark to see, say the astronomers.
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
'Apocalyptic climate predictions' mislead the public
The Guardian website, on the 11th of February 2009, has an article about the Met Office moaning that there are too many alarmist reports about Climate Change and it is having a negative affect on the public.
Experts at Britain's top climate research centre have launched a blistering attack on scientific colleagues and journalists who exaggerate the effects of global warming.
The Met Office Hadley Centre, one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world, says recent "apocalyptic predictions" about Arctic ice melt and soaring temperatures are as bad as claims that global warming does not exist. Such statements, however well-intentioned, distort the science and could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions, it says.
"It is easy for scientists to grab attention by linking climate change to the latest extreme weather event or apocalyptic prediction. But in doing so, the public perception of climate change can be distorted. The reality is that extreme events arise when natural variations in the weather and climate combine with long-term climate change."
The criticism reflects mounting concern at the Met Office that the global warming debate risks being hijacked by people on both sides who push their own agendas and interests.
Experts at Britain's top climate research centre have launched a blistering attack on scientific colleagues and journalists who exaggerate the effects of global warming.
The Met Office Hadley Centre, one of the most prestigious research facilities in the world, says recent "apocalyptic predictions" about Arctic ice melt and soaring temperatures are as bad as claims that global warming does not exist. Such statements, however well-intentioned, distort the science and could undermine efforts to tackle carbon emissions, it says.
"It is easy for scientists to grab attention by linking climate change to the latest extreme weather event or apocalyptic prediction. But in doing so, the public perception of climate change can be distorted. The reality is that extreme events arise when natural variations in the weather and climate combine with long-term climate change."
The criticism reflects mounting concern at the Met Office that the global warming debate risks being hijacked by people on both sides who push their own agendas and interests.
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