Category Archives: Climate Change

Brace for impacts : Nature News & Comment

When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its previous report in 2007, some scientists and many environmentalists were still loath to talk about adapting to climate change. The policy focus was squarely on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and even … Continue reading

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What caused a 10-year winter starting in 536?

A winter that lasts years isn\’t just a problem in Game of Thrones. Roughly 1500 years ago, our world was turned upsidown by a winter that witnesses say \”never ended.\” Now there is scientific evidence that there really was a … Continue reading

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What Happened On Easter Island — A New (Even Scarier) Scenario : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR

What we have here are two scenarios ostensibly about Easter Island’s past, but really about what might be our planet’s future. The first scenario — an ecological collapse — nobody wants that. But let’s think about this new alternative — … Continue reading

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Naomi Klein: How science is telling us all to revolt

In December 2012, a pink-haired complex systems researcher named Brad Werner made his way through the throng of 24,000 earth and space scientists at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held annually in San Francisco. This year’s conference … Continue reading

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Outlook for Earth

This Nature special issue explores the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – an international body of hundreds of scientists and policy experts that regularly assesses the state of knowledge about how climate is changing, what impacts that will have, and how … Continue reading

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IPCC Fifth Assessment | Summary for Policy Makers

The Final Draft of the Working Group I contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report will be available on 30 September. Until then, you can read the summary for policy makers. 

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Physicist tipped for US energy post : Nature News & Comment

As the administration of US President Barack Obama prepares for a renewed push towards cleaner energy and reduced greenhouse-gas emissions, the White House appears to have chosen another physicist to head the effort. The leading candidate to replace departing energy … Continue reading

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Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? | Joanna Blythman | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Now, this is something for us really to think about. Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? | Joanna Blythman | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk. It’s silly to suggest that vegans are to blame, of course. It’s all … Continue reading

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Denton Drilling: The End of Closed-Door Paternalism

“Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.” -Martin Luther … Continue reading

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After Kyoto: Special Issue of NATURE

On 1 January 2013, the world can go back to emitting greenhouse gases with abandon. The pollution-reduction commitments that nations made as part of the Kyoto Protocol will expire, leaving the planet without any international climate regulation and uncertain prospects … Continue reading

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Fracking Secrets by Thousands Keep U.S. Clueless on Wells – Bloomberg

“Texas state government has been a wholly owned subsidiary of national oil and gas interests for a century,” he says. “Do not look at it for guidance on anything related to protecting public health and safety.” Strong words — and … Continue reading

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America’s secret fracking war – Salon.com

There’s a war going on that you know nothing about between a coalition of great powers and a small insurgent movement.  It’s a secret war being waged in the shadows while you go about your everyday life. In the end, … Continue reading

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Climate Change & the Research Scientist

Does this make an argument for moving elite research centers–for which the Federal government & corporations pay out an enormous amount of money over many years–to areas that will be less physically hit by global warming… in like, I don’t know, North … Continue reading

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The politics of prudence; or, how I learned to stop worrying about climate change and love therapeutic nihilism

Frankenstorm Sandy, currently ravaging the northeastern US, is testament enough to the predictable unpredictability inherent in global warming. What I mean by “predictable unpredictability” is something like the following: though we cannot know exactly how individual weather systems in particular … Continue reading

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*Fracking survey* — Make sure your beliefs about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas are counted!

Technology and Society: Fracking Ideology A survey of beliefs about hydraulic fracturing for natural gas Dear energy consumers, Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” for natural gas plays an important role in the debate about our energy future. As an energy consumer, … Continue reading

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Denton Drilling: Draft ordinance needs overhaul

Last night, about forty dedicated citizens gathered to review the draft gas drilling ordinance and generate ideas for how to improve it. There was one clear take home message: The draft ordinance is inadequate. It gets an F. We need … Continue reading

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The Religiosity of the Fracking Debate

CSID Faculty Fellow Adam Briggle publishes at Science Progress: The debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the shale gas revolution it has spawned has a religious aura to it. Both sides have an unshakeable conviction that fracking is either … Continue reading

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Struggle for Water in Colorado With Rise in Fracking – NYTimes.com

Struggle for Water in Colorado With Rise in Fracking – NYTimes.com. An indication of our thirst for fossil fuels ….

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“Fracked Ideologies” published at Science Progress

The use of high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas drilling has ignited a fiery political debate. Advocates tout natural gas as a clean-burning, cheap, and abundant fuel that can boost economic growth and energy security. Detractors question these benefits and … Continue reading

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We need a knowledgeable nudge

Here Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations argues that the SCOTUS ruling on the Affordable Care Act bodes well for the constitutionality of environmental policies that use taxes to influence our behavior. Of particular interest to me here … Continue reading

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New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years

“Simply put, [the rock layers] are not impermeable,” said the study’s author, Tom Myers, an independent hydrogeologist whose clients include the federal government and environmental groups. “The Marcellus shale is being fracked into a very high permeability,” he said. “Fluids could move … Continue reading

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‘Huge’ Water Resource Discovered Under Africa – Cui Bono?

Scientists say the notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater. They argue that the total volume of water in aquifers underground is 100 times the amount found on the surface. The team have produced … Continue reading

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Arup | Designing the new normal

Our world is changing; it always has and it always will. Our greatest challenge is often not how to recognize change, but what to do about it. What responsibility does it place upon designers? I believe that a big part … Continue reading

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More Americans Linking Global Warming to Extreme Weather

A poll due for release on Wednesday shows that a large majority of Americans believe that this year’s unusually warm winter, last year’s blistering summer and some other weather disasters were probably made worse by global warming. And by a 2-to-1 … Continue reading

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George P. Mitchell, fracking, and scientific innovation. – Slate Magazine

CSID Fellow Adam Briggle argues that it’s time to frack the innovation system. We need to frack the innovation system—create fissures to let in more people and more perspectives. Researchers must obtain the informed consent of individuals participating in trials … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, CSID Publications, Environmental policy, Gas Fracking, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, Transformative Research | 1 Comment