Some parts of the City (e.g. Sea Point) experienced hails earlier this morning. For obvious reasons or simply because we can hardly experience hails, the condition took attention of many citizens – i.e. children were skating on the pavements partially cover with hail, numerous pictures were taken at different areas at different views, media founds… Read more »
CSAG student blog
Climate change mitigation – one roof at a time.
As a former conservation student, I have always enjoyed exploring ideas about improved sustainable options. At the beginning of the year, while I was in search of a thesis topic, I was very much interested in rooftop gardens and the possibility of contributing to sustainable living, specifically focussing Cape Town. This idea included combining modern… Read more »
Climate Science Research: Where is the interest in the absence of climatic anomalies…???
In (climate science) research, there are three basic components associated with the understanding a particular system of interest. First basic component is called “normal” pattern or trend; which is a series of events following a particular trend or pattern that is well known, understood and/or can be represented with high precision and accuracy. Second component… Read more »
Sustainability is Conservatism …
“Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land” Aldo Leopold (1886-1948), U.S. Naturalist, Conservationist and Philosopher Conservatism may be defined as reluctance in accepting abrupt changes while… Read more »
A changing Arctic
Currently, there is a huge debate on the state of the Arctic and the concentration of sea ice over the area. Greenpeace are pushing for action on issues of future oil drilling, industrial fishing and the conflict that will undoubtedly ensue. But these are not the sole issues that need to be addressed. This blog… Read more »
Climate Change Scenarios – Where are we headed?
For over a decade, future climate change impacts have been assessed using a number of standardised emission scenarios. These scenarios assume different future states of the world’s population and corresponding greenhouse gas emissions – from really optimistic to really grim. For more information on these scenarios, please see IPCC SRES Scenarios and RCP Scenarios. It is important… Read more »
A New Revelation in Geophysics
There has always been evidence supporting the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean and the interdependence of the two, so no declaration of such findings is going to come as any sort of shock. However recently findings by Durack et al 2012 that were published in Science that presented the relationship between the… Read more »
What Happened to the Power of Science?
―The truth is that promoting science isn‘t just about providing resources—it‘s about protecting free and open inquiry. It‘s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics. It‘s about listening to what our scientists have to say even when it‘s inconvenient— especially when it‘s inconvenient — President Barack Obama, December 20,… Read more »
Background on carbon taxation and the automotive industry
In 2010 the number of registered cars in the world hit the 1 billion (10⁹) mark (see Ward’s Auto, or, if you want to try some Dutch, Autoweek). This equated to 1 car for every 6,75 people, whereas in the United States (with the largest number of cars at 239.8 million, way ahead of China,… Read more »