It’s relatively rare these days to come across a positive climate change item, but here are two.   
British scientists at the Cape Verde Observatory have found that greenhouse gases over the tropical Atlantic are decreasing, and at a faster rate than predicted by climate change models.  The team measured ozone and methane levels at different altitudes […]

George Monbiot is a regular columnist on science and sustainability affairs for ‘The Guardian’.  He is a well-informed, iconoclastic writer.  He doesn’t mince words and he stands on facts, however inconvient.  His book on climate change, ‘Heat’, published last year, is well worth reading–well researched, and written with engaging candour and panache.  His central thesis–that the […]

The greatest challenges of climate change are not, I believe, related to science and technology, although they are often put that way (see the recent report from UK and other scientists, reported in The Guardian, supporting carbon capture). They have to do rather with human societies and how we choose to live in them across the international community. […]

I delivered a paper to the “2008 Beyond Carbon: Local Government Climate Change Summit” in Adelaide on June 5, 2008.  The title of my presentation was”Conducting council business under radical uncertainty.” 
‘Radical uncertainty’ is not a flight of rhetoric, but a technical term from uncertainty and decision analysis which refers to situations where you don’t know […]

Kenneth Davidson is one of the finest Australian columnists now writing about sustainability and economics. Writing for The Age, Davidson’s contributions are models of public discourse: well-informed, well-argued and consistent in their determination to look clearly at environmental challenges, and to avoid simplistic responses. His column today is a case in point (link here). Here […]

It was reported today that the Group of Eight (US, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, Italy) environment ministers meeting in Kobe agreed on a target of 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but couldn’t agree on any earlier target.  There was a general consensus that emissions needed to peak and start reducing over the […]

The recently installed Australian Labor government recently brought down its first Budget .  Having been elected on a platform of strong climate action, this Budget conspicuously avoids such action.  This is puzzling, since in other respect the investment in future generations is substantial.
The climate change expenditure is, on the whole, uncoordinated and small.  There are […]

The Italian government has announced that it intends to resume the development of new nuclear power plants within five years. This comes two decades after a referendum comprehensively opposed nuclear power and forced the deactivation of all reactors in the country. The minister for economic development, Mr. Scajola, is reported as saying, “Only […]

An important initiative has been launched by Ceres and Environmental Defense to petition the US Securities and Exchange Commission to require companies to disclose the risks that climate change may pose to their financial results.
Ceres and Environmental Defense are non-profit organisations which attempt to bring together investor groups, environmental organisations and investment funds to engage […]

Ian Lowe’s Quarterly Essay entitled Reaction Time: Climate Change and the Nuclear Option is a well-informed, well-reasoned and timely contribution to the current debate. He brings an unusual level of credibility to the debate. He is an engineer and physical scientist by training, with a doctorate in physics, and currently emeritus professor of […]