| Delivering biochar's triple win? |
| Last year, there seemed to be an unwritten rule in enviro-circles: whenever two or more enviro-folks were gathered together in a place of meeting, talk must turn to biochar. Accounts would be exchanged of articles half-read and half-digested...the pros would be arrayed against the cons...the words "local" and "sustainable" would be flagged up early and often. A common reaction was "Good idea, but..."The notion of biochar takes us back to ancient human civilisations in South America. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 25/08/2010 ( Reads : 48 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Autumn delayed by cold winter, Woodland Trust predicts |
| Autumn in the UK could be delayed this year with berries ripening and leaves changing colour later than usual, wildlife experts are predicting. Brambles and blackberries in the countryside appear to have been hit by the cold winter and are fruiting later, the Woodland Trust said. The first ripe berries traditionally peak around 4 August, but few have been recorded this year. And sightings of beech leaves turning are down from 116 in 2009 to just two. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 25/08/2010 ( Reads : 30 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Consequences of climate change |
| A chara, - Despite the 14 million people displaced by the flooding in Pakistan; the inhabitants of Moscow struggling to deal with record temperatures and rampant forest fires; villages being buried under landslides in China and the Petermann Glacier in Greenland splitting in two over the past few days, causing fears of chaos as it drifts south, there is still a notable lack of joined up thinking in Irish media reporting of these events. Nobody, as yet, seems to have made explicit the connection between between all of the above. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 12/08/2010 ( Reads : 30 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Merchants of Doubt |
| Rachel Carson is generally viewed as an environmental heroine, a courageous campaigner whose book, Silent Spring, alerted the world to the dangers of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Hers was a success story, the tale of a woman who highlighted a serious problem – that the anti-mosquito agent DDT was building up in the food chain where it was killing millions of birds and animals – and who helped introduce a global ban on use of the chemical. At least that is the common appreciation of Carson. However, a brief search of her name on the internet today produces an unexpected response. According to many websites, Carson – by all accounts a pleasant, amiable woman – was a mass murderer who killed more people than the Nazis. This dramatic claim is based on her campaign against DDT, which, it is alleged, has led to the deaths of countless Africans from malaria. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 10/08/2010 ( Reads : 36 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Midsummer's drought diverges from past deluges |
| LIKE GHOSTS OF an old underpainting, tawny shades of drought have been creeping across the hillside, sketching in the ribs of rock and hummocks of glacial gravel so shallowly skimmed with grass. By Midsummer's Day we were longing for the showers that even the winsome weatherpersons on TV no longer dared to call a risk. For half a year we have watched the rain passing us by on the weather maps, leaving this corner of Mayo largely high and dry. Until the first tentative skifts of drizzle edged i n from the Atlantic this week - a mere thickening of the atmosphere - our "moisture deficit" was close to Belmullet's 37mm. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 26/06/2010 ( Reads : 91 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Ancient climate change 'link' to CO2 |
| A "global pattern" of change in the Earth's climate began 2.7 million years ago, say scientists. Researchers found that, at this point, temperature patterns in the tropics slipped into step with patterns of Ice Ages in the Northern Hemisphere. They report in the journal Science that atmospheric CO2 could be the "missing link" to explain this global pattern. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 18/06/2010 ( Reads : 70 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Clare rock unsuitable for carbon storage |
| Rocks around one of Ireland's biggest polluters of CO2 are not suitable for long-term storage of emissions a new study has found. Research from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discovered the geology of West Clare, where Moneypoint power station is located, could not store carbon emissions. Plans to use Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) near the power station would have limited the carbon footprint of the emissions as no transport would be involved. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 03/06/2010 ( Reads : 169 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Royal Society to review climate message |
The UK's Royal Society is reviewing its public statements on climate change after 43 Fellows complained that it had oversimplified its messages. They said the communications did not properly distinguish between what was widely agreed on climate science and what is not fully understood. The society's ruling council has responded by setting up a panel to produce a consensus document. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 02/06/2010 ( Reads : 103 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| El Nino could make 2010 the hottest year ever |
| Climate scientists have warned that 2010 could turn out to be the warmest year in recorded history. They have collated global surface temperature measurements showing that the world has experienced near-record highs between January and April. Researchers working independently at the Met Office and Nasa are soon to publish data that reveal the trend is likely to continue for the rest of the year. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 02/06/2010 ( Reads : 102 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Queen’s ordered to release tree data |
| Queen's University has until Monday night to hand over unique data that could undermine global warming theories. The institution has refused to release all its findings on tree rings, which store information on climate patterns. London academic Douglas J Keenan has been battling Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) for three years for the vital material. He believes that studies of trees grown over thousands of years could prove that climate change is cyclical rather than man-made. Earlier this month the Information Commissioner told QUB to hand over the results of the 30-year-old studies and blasted the institution for “breaches” of the Freedom of Information Act. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 05/05/2010 ( Reads : 138 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Search engines' dirty secret |
HOW much does a web search cost? You don't pay up front, but there are costs nevertheless, and they are not just measured in dollars.
The term search "engine" is apt. Searches are powered by millions of computers packed into warehouses, all wired together to function as a single system. Like any system, it obeys the laws of thermodynamics, and therefore wastes energy.
The first law says it takes energy to do work, even if that work is only to move electrons across silicon wafers. The second law says that no engine is perfect, meaning some of the input gets lost as heat. This is the entropy, or disorder, arising from your search.// Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 20/04/2010 ( Reads : 171 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Sun activity link to cold winters |
| The UK and continental Europe could be gripped by more frequent cold winters in the future as a result of low solar activity, say researchers. They identified a link between fewer sunspots and atmospheric conditions that "block" warm, westerly winds reaching Europe during winter months. But they added that the phenomenon only affected a limited region and would not alter the overall global warming trend. The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research Letters. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 16/04/2010 ( Reads : 178 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| 'No malpractice' by climate unit |
| There was no scientific malpractice at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, which was at the centre of the "Climategate" affair. This is according to an independent panel chaired by Lord Oxburgh, which was convened to examine the research published by the unit. It began its review after e-mails from CRU scientists were published online. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 16/04/2010 ( Reads : 179 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Flowers bloom earlier as UK warms |
| British plants are flowering earlier now than at any time in the last 250 years, according to new analysis. Researchers stitched together nearly 400,000 first flowering records covering 405 species across the nation. Writing in the journal Proceedings B, they show that the average first flowering date has been earlier in the last 25 years than in any other period. Flowering dates are closely linked to temperatures recorded in the Central England Temperature Record. This is the longest continuous instrumental record of temperatures anywhere in the world, dating back to measurements made in 1659. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 09/04/2010 ( Reads : 175 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Disputed island 'claimed by sea' |
| A disputed island claimed by both India and Bangladesh has disappeared due to rising sea levels in the Bay of Bengal, a leading scientist has said. For nearly 30 years, the two countries have argued over control of New Moore Island, a strip of rock about two miles long and 1.5 miles wide. But oceanographer Sugata Hazra says satellite imagery and sea patrols of the coastal area known as the Sunderbans no longer register the island, which has been submerged by the rising water. Bangladesh refers to the island as South Talpatti. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 25/03/2010 ( Reads : 225 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Grandaddy of green, James Lovelock, warms to eco-sceptics |
| Just occasionally you find yourself at an event where there is a sense of history in the air. So it was the other night at the Royal Society, when a small gathering of luminaries turned up to hear that extraordinary nonagenarian, the scientist James Lovelock. They had all come: David MacKay, chief scientist at the Department of Energy and Climate Change; Michael Green, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge; Michael Wilson, producer of the James Bond movies; Chris Rapley, director of the Science Museum; and more. You knew why they had answered the Isaac Newton Institute’s invitation. They wanted to learn where one of the most interesting minds in science stood in the climate debate. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Peter McCloskey on 23/03/2010 ( Reads : 213 ) | Comments (1) | Global Warming |
| Climate 'fix' could poison sea life |
| Fertilising the oceans with iron to absorb carbon dioxide could increase concentrations of a chemical that can kill marine mammals, a study has found. Iron stimulates growth of marine algae that absorb CO2 from the air, and has been touted as a "climate fix". Now researchers have shown that the algae increase production of a nerve poison that can kill mammals and birds. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they say this raises "serious concern" over the idea. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 21/03/2010 ( Reads : 222 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| Gormley energy crisis: Earth Hour clashes with TV speech |
| SAVE energy but please don't turn off your TV. This was the conflicting message delivered to eco-enthusiasts yesterday when John Gormley launched Earth Hour 2010 - which just happens to clash with his televised leader's speech at the Green Party annual conference. More than a billion people all over the world are being asked to conserve energy by cutting down on electricity use for one hour on March 28. It will start at 8.30pm - the same time as Mr Gormley's address to the party faithful is being broadcast live to TV audiences around the country. However, after discussing it with Friends of the Irish Environment, the Environment Minister will not be asking people to switch off their TVs but to watch him in the dark. // Read More // |  |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 18/03/2010 ( Reads : 359 ) | Comments (1) | Global Warming |
| Climate change 'makes birds shrink' in North America |
| Songbirds in the US are getting smaller, and climate change is suspected as the cause. A study of almost half a million birds, belonging to over 100 species, shows that many are gradually becoming lighter and growing shorter wings. This shrinkage has occurred within just half a century, with the birds thought to be evolving into a smaller size in response to warmer temperatures. However, there is little evidence that the change is harmful to the birds. Details of the discovery are published in the journal Oikos. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 15/03/2010 ( Reads : 227 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
| John Gormley falls foul of Earth Hour |
| John Gormley's live television broadcast at the Green party conference on March 27 will coincide with Earth Hour, a 60-minute period during which people all over the world are asked to turn off their lights to save electricity. Earth Hour, which begins at 8.30pm Irish time, only calls for the dimming or extinguishing of lights, but many environmentalists, including Gormley, have encouraged people to extend the principle to all electrical items. Last year, Gormley asked people to also switch off as many televisions as possible and "make a permanent change" in the way they used energy. // Read More // | |
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| Posted By Tony Lowes on 23/02/2010 ( Reads : 280 ) | Comments (0) | Global Warming |
