Nourishing the environmental debate

Author Archives: Ruth Brown

The hacked emails causing climate sceptic chaos

Last week, hundreds of private emails and documents from climate scientists were nicked from computer servers at the Climatic Research Unit of the UK’s University of East Anglia and unleashed into the wilds of the intertubes.
The internet went insane (OK, more insane) as the leaked emails spread like a bad case of the clap online, [...]

Can sexing up science help save the world?

The ABC has a great analysis on the Timor Sea oil spill and how the mainstream media only started paying attention once the leaking rig burst into flames.
Endangered marine life? Pah. Big explosions?! Now you’re talking!
It’s an unfortunate reality: science doesn’t sell; sex (and other big bangs) does.
But what’s the lesson in all this for [...]

This is your planet, 4C later

How will the predicted 4C rise in global temperature by 2050 affect the planet?
The UK’s Met Office has produced this interactive map showing just how dramatically Earth could change in our lifetime if urgent action isn’t taken to curb this grim forecast.

Keep Pedalling

A new film clip from a Melbourne-based hip-hop artist celebrates the joy of two-wheelers.

Three Mile Island, 30 years on

Green news for the day:

Happy Birthday, nuclear disaster! It’s 30 years since the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island melted down.
TIME looks at how it changed the US energy industry, and asks: if the disaster hadn’t happened, and the nuclear industry had continued to grow unabated, would the country’s greenhouse emissions be significantly smaller?
Scientific [...]

Can Disney really go green?

News from around the planet today:

Disney goes green? The happiest company on Earth is planning to cut their greenhouse gas emissions in half over the next four years, but the Guardian’s Fred Pearce calls BS, asking: just how green can they be if they still rely on people travelling around the world to visit their [...]

Sea level story a washout?

Sea level story a red herring? Yesterday, we noted that the first big story — or at least the one picked up by all the international press — coming out of this week’s climate conference in Copenhagen was claims that sea levels may rise by more than twice the previously expected levels.
But Island of Doubt [...]

Coverage from Copenhagen

Coverage from the Copenhagen Climate Congress (try saying that five times fast):
In The Guardian, Oliver Tickell describes the conference as “chaos” and wonders how those present can expect to save the world when they can’t even run a press conference.
TreeHugger reports on a talk by the University of Copenhagen’s Katherine Richardson, who proposed that climate [...]

Chances of climate change accord up sh-t creek?

Green news for today:
Chances of climate change accord up sh-t creek? With a massive conference on climate change about to kick off in Copenhagen this week where environmental leaders are expected to nut out a successor to Kyoto, two climate scientists are already saying the chances of any meaningful global deal being established are slim, [...]

Aggro over aquaculture

Green news for the day:
Aggro over aquaculture. The UN recently called for an increase in fish farming in order to ease pressure on wild stocks, a suggestion not received well by many environmental groups, according to Discover magazine:
Environmental groups say the report appeared to ignore the huge environmental problems posed by fish farms: particularly the [...]