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Yearly Archives: 2011
Is a Cost-Free National Climate Service Too Much to Ask?
In its recently released report, the Defense Science Board Task Force on “Trends and Implications of Climate Change for National and International Security,” called for the U.S. government to institute “a scientifically robust, sustained, and actionable climate information system… (see page 14).” The rationale for the recommendation is that currently, climate information is collected by a “loose federation” of government, university, industry and NGO entities, and that U.S. climate “observational and model assets” do not “constitute a robust, sustained, or comprehensive resource for generating actionable climate forecasts.” (more…)
E3G: “economies will eventually recover, the climate is for ever.”
E3G’s Tom Burke looks at the IEA’s annual World Energy Outlook, highlighting the contrast between the technological and economic possibility of carbon neutrality in the short-term, and the seeming political impossibility of getting there, despite the severe risks associated with delay. Our favorite line: “economies will eventually recover, the climate is for ever.” It’s worth a read.
This is a cross post of Tom Burke’s piece at E3G that originally appeared here.
Retired U.S. generals and admirals: “We believe America must reduce its dependence on oil.”
Concern over the national security implications of oil dependence has received a lot of attention over the past few weeks, first with the release of the Center for Naval Analysis’ Military Advisory Board report, and now with an open letter to Congress and the American public from seven retired generals and admirals.
Watch This: CO2 Concentrations Unprecedented in Human History
Andrew Revkin brings attention to NOAA’s new graph detailing the recent rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations in its historical and pre-historical context (it goes back 800,000 years). This is a case of effective data presentation, to say the least.
In terms of scale and rate of change, civilization has not experienced a shift in CO2 concentrations of this magnitude. We need not even whisper that there may be serious security implications. The science makes the case loud and clear.