Purpose of this piece In this short companion blog, a link is provided to an article in The Conversation, in which Sabina and I give a short, broad overview of our current understanding of storms affecting Cape Town and surrounding areas and how they may be affected by climate change. In this blog, we provide… Read more »
By Sabina Abba Omar & Stefaan Conradie A major cut-off low event is currently wrecking havoc across large parts of South Africa, most notably around Kariega. This follows another severe cut-off low storm that hit the Western Cape between 6 and 9 April 2024 after a series of destructive wind and rain storms between June… Read more »
The April 2021 fire will be difficult to forget any time soon. One year later, what have we learnt about this fire and the risk of another big one?
I don’t know about you, but I personally struggle with finding sense in the contemporary world in the face of climate change, but also in general, in the face of the contemporary world. I’m a scientist, a hydro-climatologist. I work with climate data. I read scientific papers. I know Clausius-Clapeyron equation. I know the planet… Read more »
I might be tempted to restate the title as “Hierarchical confusions in intellectual debate” – but then I’ll be accused (again) of using big words. However, it is my experience that as climate science engages more across communities and disciplines, increasingly the conversations initially miss their targets, and finding convergence requires iteration. In my dialogues… Read more »
(An accumulation of thinking from discussions and experiences with a wide range of people and contexts) I, like all of us I suspect, hold a range of views on different subjects. Some of these I hold to strongly, some I hold strongly depending on the relevance to the situation, and some I am indifferent about…. Read more »
(*T Pratchett) The subtitle to this blog is: “Is it time to panic yet?” Following COP21 in Paris the world seems to be frantically pushing for climate change actions. In CSAG we talk about it; we have arguments about whether scientists should engage in activism, or if we are putting too much of our research… Read more »
(The paradox of this post is that it is probably not purely objective) “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability… Read more »
The email discussion recorded below ensued after a link was shared which spoke about “20 things YOU can do to address the climate crisis“. Read that article first! This conversation is a valuable starting point to thinking about what you can do … have more conversations! [Edited to remove too many personal aspersions, and spell… Read more »