Month: January 2013

A climate change to do list

Yesterday I published an lengthy article on how business leaders and elected representatives of the so-called ” developped countries ” are awakening slowly to the threat of climate change. While these are great news, we are still waiting for concrete actions that could actually have a chance to avoid catastrophes such as flooded cities, extreme …

A climate change to do list Read More »

Hope for climate in Davos’ World Economic Forum

Last week in Davos, Switzerland, took place the annual World Economic Forum. As the financial crisis of 2008 is drawing to an end, climate change is emerging as a key crisis that has to be addressed as soon as possible. To Reuters : ” Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, summed it …

Hope for climate in Davos’ World Economic Forum Read More »

Agreement on mercury signed by 140 countries

This month no less than 140 countries signed a legally binding agreement to curb their mercury emissions. While mercury is no greenhouse gas, it is a serious problem for both the environment and human health. To the World Health Organization (WHO) : ” “The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, …

Agreement on mercury signed by 140 countries Read More »

14 carbon bombs to defuse before 2020

Greenpeace has released an interesting report on fourteen projects that could increase greenhouse gases emissions by 20 percent by 2020. This would lead to an increase of temperatures by five or six degrees Celcius. The largest threats are China and Australia as they plan to increase their coal productions. This is particularly ironic as Climate …

14 carbon bombs to defuse before 2020 Read More »

Soot’s underestimated role in climate change

According to the most comprehensive research on the subject, soot – also known as black carbon – may have a significantly higher role in climate change than previously estimated. According to a BBC article quoting the study : ” (soot) dark particles are having a warming effect approximately two thirds that of carbon dioxide, and …

Soot’s underestimated role in climate change Read More »

Are our cities just too big to flood ?

This was the question asked on the the Yale Environment 360 blog and I believe the timing is perfect as last year cities such as New York City, Manila and Bangkok got it by record floods. Now it is the turn of Jakarta. The capital megacity of Indonesia now has water in its streets and …

Are our cities just too big to flood ? Read More »

Obama’s second inaugural speech is a new hope

President Barack Obama delivered his second Inaugural Address this Monday in Washington DC. Climate change got quite a few mentions and it looks like the second term might be the time where the climate crisis is tackled as it should. However, this was supposed to be the case in his first term. And many analysts …

Obama’s second inaugural speech is a new hope Read More »

Food waste : a HUGE issue

According to a new study by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers “Between 30 and 50 percent of all the food that’s produced on the planet is lost and wasted without ever reaching human stomachs.” Treehugger wrote a compelling article on how this is such a huge and awful waste as there are still hundred of …

Food waste : a HUGE issue Read More »

Cleantech investments fell in 2012

According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, investements in clean technologies fell by 11 percent in 2012 compared to their 2011 levels. They still amounted to 268.7 billion USD or over 200 billion euros. These news aren’t all that bad even if this decrease marks the end of a seeminlgy unstoppable increase but i has to …

Cleantech investments fell in 2012 Read More »

Australia is getting hotter, Beijing more irrespirable

Last week two events caught my attention in the Asia Pacific region as they show that our climate is warming and our air is deteriorating. Both events look unrelated at first but aren’t as fossil fuels are in both cases the culprit. The first one was the horrendous fires and temperatures witnessed in Australia. The …

Australia is getting hotter, Beijing more irrespirable Read More »

%d bloggers like this: