According to a new report commisioned by the Climate Institute, only two of the G20 countries are currently improving carbon productivity quickly enough to meet carbon reduction targets. What’s more surprising is that Australia ranks 15th in improving carbon productivity, lagged only by South Africa, India, Saudia Arabia and Indonesia. Although a [...]
With Australia being a huge exporter of coal, the government seems set on the adoption and use of clean-coal technology. But, is time running out for coal?
“I grew up to a Rolling Stones song that said, “Time is on my side. Yes it is.” For our coal industry, sadly, it [...]
There is an interesting, if scary, article in the NYT today about the thawing of Arctic ice sheets which are making it feasible for cargo ships to use the Northeast passage from Europe, over the top of Russia, and into the western Pacific ocean.
Here’s an interesting graph taken from a recent publication by Russill & Nyssa in the journal Global Environmental Change (“The tipping point trend in climate change communication”, 19:336-344). The entire article is a fascinating read, but if the methods are to be believed, the data implies a HUGE increase in the reporting [...]
There is a nice, new essay on the NYT.com by Olivia Judson about the complexity of ecological communities. And about how ecologists strive to understand the impacts of loosing key species from complex ecosystems. She also discusses the challenges of understanding or untangling how complex systems like coral reefs operate.
I couldn’t help chuckling at [...]
Off the back of the last post, here is an interesting article from the Washington Post on the discovery of deep sea reefs in Hawaii. Deep reefs (‘mesophotic’ coral reefs) exist at the edge of the photic zone (upto 150m depth) and are still dependent on light. These are fascinating ecosystems that to [...]
A new paper published in Geophysical Research Letters sheds some interesting light on the impacts of climate change and regional shifts in temperature. Whilst it’s generally accepted that the instrumental temperature record shows an upward trend (see here for a graph), the regional patterns of climate change are less well known. Through analysis [...]
Japan’s next leader has promised a big cut in greenhouse gas emissions, saying he will aim for a 25% reduction by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.
Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama is due to take over as prime minister on 16 September, after a resounding election victory in August.
His predecessor, Taro Aso, had pledged cuts of only 8%.
Mr Hatoyama said the plan was dependent on other nations agreeing targets at December’s climate talks in Copenhagen
By Michael Vasquez, Miami Herald
Genetics professor Mahmood Shivji didn’t get into DNA research to strike fear in the hearts of restaurant owners and chefs. But the Guy Harvey Research Institute, which he heads, is a virtual CSI: Seafood lab these days. The widespread — and illegal — practice of fish substitution at restaurants has [...]
Humans rely on marine ecosystems for economic and nutritional sustenance—including about 16% of animal protein consumed by humans—making it especially important for natural scientists, economists, conservationists and long-term policy planners to understand how climate change is likely to affect oceanic food webs. Yet the general [...]
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