With the release this morning in Copenhagen, Denmark, of the final world Synthesis Report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel, it has become evident that all peoples of Earth need to take action (Sunday, November 2, 2014). Why is this important to Americans? IPCC interfaces on a global scale between science and … [continued]
Almost everyone in the media has taken a stab at summarizing, if not snap-judging, the results of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s one-day UN climate summit last week. The meeting had a real name, but Robert N. Stavins in his New York Times runup to the conference was the only writer I … [continued]
A group of nongovernmental organizations from the United Kingdom has elaborated on the elements it sees necessary for the planned 2015 Paris climate talks among 196 countries to succeed. The group calls for all governments to accelerate their approaches to decarbonization significantly by initiating much stricter emission reductions and pursuing sustainable energy policies, … [continued]
This week, the government of Chile holds a final vote on its first carbon taxation scheme, also the first in South America, a measure to make fossil fuel generators pay for emitting greenhouse gases. The Chile carbon tax is part of a larger program of wide-ranging tax revisions introduced by the country’s … [continued]
The United Nations Environment Programme released a report yesterday that responds to a 2013 report on the potentially crippling costs of climate change in Africa. At an October meeting in Gabarone last year, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment endorsed the Africa Adaptation Gap Report, which identified these costs. The new … [continued]
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) finds it encouraging that after years of denial, business uses carbon prices to plan ahead these days. The response of business and industry leaders to the problem of climate change is undergoing a major transformation, says the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions: “Just over … [continued]
A research study published in Science this month (June 2014) found that a 70% decline in Brazilian Amazon deforestation could be an indication that effective management of the expanding agricultural sector is possible. One of the leading organizations behind the study was the Earth Innovation Institute in San Francisco, CA. … [continued]
Originally published on Planetsave. Drones are no longer known as mere weapons of war. At least, that’s how Google, Facebook, and other online giants like Amazon appear to be thinking. Google has just acquired Titan Aerospace, a promising solar-powered drone maker, as part of its plans to globalize wireless internet. … [continued]
The Sollvatten uses ultra-violet light in sunshine to purify up to 11 liters of water in a matter of hours, a capability that’s opening up new income-producing opportunities for developing world residents, as well as helping the save on fuel bills and conserve precious water and forest resources. […]
Confounding pessimistic expectations for Rio+20, Ban-ki Moon announced encouraging news regarding the UN’s “Sustainable Energy for All” program. The UN Secretary reiterated his assertion that “sustainable energy is the golden thread that weaves together the economy, the environment and equity.”
