So far, several geoengineering options have been proposed to counter the effects of global warming. Anders Sandberg, an ethicist at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, recently considered a ‘safer’ route: although (admittedly) not entirely serious about the idea, he thinks that human engineering poses less danger than altering our planet through radical geoengineering options.  Continue Reading »

Citing President Jacob Zuma’s pledge at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, South Africa promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34 % in the next decade and 42 % by 2025 (with support from developed countries with regards to finance, technology and capacity-building). However, due to the large uncertainty surrounding the  Continue Reading »

In the April episode of his ‘How to Talk to an Ostrich’ climate change series, Richard Alley (the renowned climate change scientist and activist) discussed that a shift to clean energy can be achieved, using an analogy from 18th Century Scotland. In short, the story deals with a Londoner visiting Edinburgh and being confronted with  Continue Reading »

  frontier |ˌfrənˈti(ə)r| noun the extreme limit of understanding or achievement in a particular area     The impacts of climate change pile up in the extremes. This is the opening line in the IPCC video “In Harm’s Way” for the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate  Continue Reading »

In 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged hospitals to reduce their carbon footprint as the health sector is one of the most energy-intensive sectors (click here for article). Now it seems that not only hospitals must reduce their carbon footprints, but certain GP practices in the UK (and doubtless in other parts of the  Continue Reading »

In two weeks many of the worlds leading scientists (including a CSAGer) will be descending on northeast Austria to discuss the latest in geosciences research at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) annual meeting. During the lunch break yesterday, I therefore asked colleagues a question which was met with a polite trickle of laughter. “Is there  Continue Reading »

With only 120 days to go until the Olympics, London is making the final preparations for what has been dubbed the first “sustainable games”. The picture below was taken from a viewpoint outside the conference centre and shows the Olympic stadium, the love-it-or-hate-it red ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture and a newly installed wind turbine providing renewable  Continue Reading »

On the third day of the conference, the focus shifted to solutions and how scientists might enable solutions to be enacted. In the morning I attended a session on adaptation dominated by presenters from Australia (which is no bad thing of course). Rohan Hamden gave an interesting talk about regional adaptation plans in south Australia.  Continue Reading »

On another unusually sunny and warm March day in London, the Excel Centre (above) played host to the second day of the Planet Under Pressure conference. The day began with an address by Yvo De Boer (former executive of the UNFCCC) who described that the key challenge for enabling green growth was decoupling human progress  Continue Reading »

In June this year, world leaders and the glitterati of global change sciences will meet in Brazil for the Rio+20 meeting. Twenty years on from the original Earth Summit, the world still faces daunting environmental challenges. In preparation for the Rio+20 meeting, scientists, policy makers, business leaders and the media are in London to discuss  Continue Reading »