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Emissions Trends + The Masterplan

Some months back I produced a report entitled climate change facts and impacts. This report covored two important aspects of climate change: what are the facts about the science and what does this tell us about our need to act?

Since then I have done a lot of reading and a little thinking. One of the questions that Is often asked now is how do we do this, how do we make the transition and what will this low carbon economy look like?

I therefore considered writing a report on just that. It has, however, been bothering me for some time that my knoledge is far from perfect in terms of the details of our current course. I understand where we need to go on emmisions but an uncertain of how much of a leap this is from our current route and what this means for each sector. Where are our biggest challenges.

The lineage that therefore seems most appropriate is:

Climate Change Facts and Impacts.
Details of Current Emission Trends with sectorial/regional breakdown.
Low Carbon Futures.

This represents a journey from a consideration of the reality of climate change to the realisation of its urgency to a contemplation of our current and unsustainable path and the magnitude of our challenge and finally an acceptance of the urgency of revoloutionary technologies, policies and business models.

Why on earth I would mention this plan I have know idea...to produce this would take atleast a month if i was briming with energy and had the time. In reality it may well be a long slog.

On the more posotive side the first and complete part of this project has already been downloaded over 2500 times and is now in the hands of several teachers who are putting it to good use.

For the second part of this project, on which i am currently working, the following documents are a significant source of the basic information.

IEA "World Energy Outlook 2004"

BP "Energy Review 2006"

IEA "Key World Energy Stats 2006"

WRI "Climate Data: A Sectoral Perspective"

WBCSD "Pathways to 2050"

Responses to the stern review on the economics of climate change

The UK government is currently awaiting the results from a study it as commissioned into the economics of climate change.

The 'Stern Review' will be out shortly. Bellow are some of the respones to this consultation. The consultation document is freely available.

Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change
WWF
Sustainable Development Commission
Tyndall Centre
NERC
The Royal Society

A Low Carbon Future...How?

I have just decided to to do a followup to my report 'Climate Change: Facts and Impacts'

The idea is still germenating in my mind but basically it is going to be my views on what changes are required to develop a low carbon future.

This will encompass technology, social policy and economic functioning. International policy will probably make an appearence but only a minimal one.

My first points of reference are bellow but there are a good number of other reports that i need to look into, perticularly to cover the economics and international policy.

Decarbonising the UK: Energy for a Climate Concious Future (Tyndall Centre)
Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs and Security (Rocky Mountain Institute)
Pathways to 2050: Energy and Climate Change (WBCSD)
Meeting the Climate Challenge (International Taskforce on Climate Change)
Decentralising Power: An Energy Revoloution for The 21st Century (Greenpeace UK)
The 40% House (Environmental Change Institute)

Climate Change Resource Highlights from Harvard

Harvard Medical School has an enormous number of good videos, presentations and links on the topic of climate change. Here is a brief overview of where they can be found. These will pop up from time to time as video of the week or audio of the week on Climate Change Action.


The web pages to these resources are distributed around the not very easy to use website so i have provided direct links below.

Policy Maker Education:(Climate Change Video, Reports and Links)
2005: Policy Maker Education Course
2004: Policy Maker Education Course
2003: Policy Maker Education Course

Congressional Briefings:(Climate Change Video, Reports and Links)
Congressional Briefings Overview (most but not all of the briefings have associated videos)
Congressional Briefing #1 (click on the other titles at the left hand side for more presentations)

A Public Presentation: (Climate Change Video)
Healthy Ocean: Healthy People

Medical School Lectures:(Climate Change Video, Reports and Links)
2006: Med School Lectures
2005: Med School Lectures

Some interestng reports.

1. WWF no place to hide (report of the week on Climate Change Action)
2. Munich Re-Insurance Report on Climate Change Associated Costs
3. Cutting the Gordion Knot, a look at an realistic climate change mitigation regieme...is contraction and convergence sufficient to bring the developing world on-board?
4. Extinction by Numbers, a look at the dramatic loss of biodiversity predicted for the comming century in tropical froests.
5. An introduction to the effects of climate change on health.

Some new climate change audio

OneWorld Radio

A global radio community sharing programmes and ideas on development.

http://radio.oneworld.net/article/frontpage/251/4907

Guelph Radio

Environment Radio bring you news on current international regional and local environmental issues. All through a radical lens! Many view points are welcome and people with opposing viewpoints, ideas are welcome to call in for constructive debate.

http://gsec.ca/envradio/

Updates from the Tyndall Centre

A couple of great reports from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change:
1. Decarbonising the UK: Energy for a Climate Conscious Future.
2. Domestic Tradable Quotas (DTQs)...an equitable.

The first one in perticular is a very interesting report, essential reading if you are interested in what the govornment should be focussing for climate policy.

Webcasts from the montreal talks.

I found a great selection of webcasts from the montreal talks which may be of interet to anyone with an interest in the negotiations, or the future of our planet!

Here is the link

Deutsche Welle Radio

Here are a couple of interesting radio shows about climate change that i found recently, cheers to radio ecoshock for the lead. Deutsche Welle Radio has a load of great environmental news in english, theire site is here and the two shows are 1. here and 2. here.

1. The climate conference in Montreal got underway this week and will continue until December 9th. Meanwhile the European Environment Agency warned this week that Europe is facing the worst climate change in 5,000 years as a result of global warming. The Agency has just published a 5 year assessment of the environment in 31 European countries. Jacqueline McGlade is the Director of the EEA. Helen Seeney asked her for concrete examples of how climate change is affecting Europe.

2. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has launched a new international dialogue to tackle climate change. He chaired a meeting of energy and environment ministers from twenty countries in London earlier this month, which focused on curbing global warming through climate friendly technology such as the use of bio-fuels. The move is seen as a shift away from the approach adopted under the Kyoto Treaty. The treaty imposed targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But, critics say, since the world's biggest polluter – the United States – has not signed up and fast-growing polluters like China and India are exempt, the Kyoto approach has not proved effective. From London, Stephen Beard reports.

Climate Change (an overview) and Poverty

I found this SUPERB video from the university of columbia, it is a presentation on the the current state of scientific understanding on climate change and a look at what this knoledge tells us about how the poor are going to be affected.

The university of columbia has many more great video on climate change, and a list of them can be found here.

What happens after kyoto, how do we get the deep cuts we need?

Two good documents:
A new report by the Pew Center
A report by the Global Taskforce on Climate Change (IPPR, Australia Institute, et.al.,)

The other documents i have been reading for my next article on this topic.

• Climate Change Policy Beyond Kyoto: A new global plan (The Australia Institute)
• Catalysing commitment on Climate Change (IPPR)
  
• Setting a Long-term Climate Objective (IPPR)
• Free Riding on the Climate: The possibility of legal, economic and trade restrictive measures to tackle inaction on global warming (NEF)
• Ethical business: how a new breed of business is changing the world: (NEF)
• Fresh air? options for a future climate change mitigation framework (NEF)
  
• The international challenge of climate change: UK leadership in the G8 and EU. (EAC)

Climate Outreach Information Newtork: Climate Radio

Climate Outreach Information Network

For further information about Climate Radio, please contact Phil England, email: phil@switch-online.co.uk

Show 1
Show 2
Show 3 Show 4
Show 5 Show 6
Show 7 Show 8
Show 9

Buisness and Climate Change: ABC Australia

Superb program on climate change. The empahsis is on buisness, insurance industries and the economic impacts of climate change.

49 min Program by ABC National Radio

Download from here

More information on climate change at Climate Change Action


Thanks to Alex from Radio Ecoshock for this tip :-) if anyone else has a report/video/mp3 they think i should know about just give me an e-mail or post a comment.

Hello Visitors

Hello visitors from TheWatt. If you are looking for more articles about climate change then you should visit my main site, Climate Change Action, if you are looking for information about campaigning on climate change the you should go to the Campaign against Climate Change website.
If you would like to "carbon offset" your lives, for around £1-3 a week then look at the links on the right hand side of this page, towards the bottom. If you are looking for more radio shows, video and media on climate change then this is the right place, have a look around and the archives are well worth a look.

Calvin Jones
calvin.jones@gmail.com

p.s The report my discussion with Ben was based on can be downloaded here, it covers the issues in a lot more detail and if you where interested in why a 60% cut emissions by 2050 won't be enough to avoid dangerous climate change then the report backs up my claims.

Climate Change Radio Programs

Content Related To 'Climate Change'

• Interviews: Ritawatch 5: James Howard Kunstler
• Lectures: The Dangers of Climate Change
• Articles: Global Warming and the Elephant in the Living Room
• Interviews: Kevin Kamps on the Nuclear Option
• Interviews: Jim Kunstler on The Long Emergency
• Products: Ross Gelbspan: The Boiling Point DVD
• Lectures: Ross Gelbspan at the World Affairs Council
• News Reports: President of Iceland calls out Bush on Global Warming
• Articles: Stepping back from the brink - some sanity at last!
• Articles: Impacts of a Warming Arctic
• Articles: Desperado Days by Zbignew Zingh
• Articles: The Climate Wrecking Ball
• Interviews: Is global warming having a disproportionate impact on people of color?
• Interviews: Peter Schwartz speaks with Michio Kaku on Explorations
• Interviews: Dr. William Rees speaks with Julian Darley

Climate Change-Facts and Impacts

I try to maintain this site as a usefull resource for people interested in climate change so they can learn more and discover the severity of the issue. This however takes time, many people dont have the patience to persevere with the subject for long enough to grasp its real scale. Fortunately i have just completed a short report on climate change which aims to give a comprehensive but concise guide to the subject in general. The report is full of easy to understand charts, images and diagrams to beter explain my argument which is that climate change is a very serious problem which requires a reduction on carbon emmisions of around 70% on 1990 levels by 2050 and that failure to do so will be disasterous, environmentally, economically and socially.

Download the report as a pdf file here.

Renewables vs Energy Efficiency

Recomended book: The Green Building Bible, its cheap and usefull with loads of practical advice and contact details for renewables and insulation materials.

Renewables
Wind A B C
PV A
Solar A B C
Ground Heat Pumps A
Energy Efficiency
Efficient Boilers A
Well Insulated Windows A B
Insulation A B
General Adivce: The Energy Saving Trust
Insulation Building Regulations Windows Upgrading Existing Housing
Heating Systems Ventelation Building a New House

Inuit observation on climate change.

Watch the video which documents the changes being witnessed by the Inuvialuit of Sachs Harbour who have lived on the land and have learned its patterns for generations. Life for the people of Sachs Harbour has become increasingly difficult and unpredictable - an example of the negative impacts of climate change that are already occuring in North America. (Nov. 2000)


http://iisd.ca:8080/ramgen/casl/silaalangotok.rm

Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change

On the 1st-3rd feb 2005 over 200 internationally renowned scientists met in Exeter(UK) at the invite of the British Govornment. The aim of this meeting was to establish with a greter degree of certainty the level of carbon dioxide emmision cuts required to avoid dangerous climate change.

The powerpoint/pdf files of these presentations can be found on at: this site.

I have just found a very interesting series of 6 programs dedicated to this meeting. These are half hour programs of about 25 minutes each. They are from TUC radio .

Opening Address: Professor Stephen Schneider
Show 1 + Associated pdf

Interview with the Director of the British Antarctic Survey
Show 2 + Associated pdf

Global Warming on Greenland
Show 3 + Associated pdf

Possible Collapse of the Gulf Stream
Show 4 + Associated pdf

The Impacts on Oceans and Land
Show 5 + Associated pdf

The Bush Wars on Climate Science
Show 6 + Associated pdf

What a find!

I just found a new website detailing the evidence of climate change in a graphic and concise manner. This is of more interest to you non-believers out there than to most of the environmentally aware folk I guess will be visiting my site but you can always pass on the URL to your more skeptical friends.

http://sciencebulletins.amnh.org/earth/

A superb video

A superb argument for taking climate change seriously. Also some damning comments on the way the climate debate is presented in the media.

Highly recommended: A superb half hour talk.

My books arrived :-)

I have recently been watching a series of lectures. On ocean and climate, really interesting stuff but technical so not for everyone, top scientists talking on interesting issues for about 1hr:20 a lecture. One of these lectures was given by Richard Alley of Penn State University. I looked on Amazon and he has written a book on climate change called "The Two Mile Time Machine" which is based around his work as a paleo-glaciologist looking at ice cores from Greenland. I've only read five of the fifteen chapters but its going well so far, he really puts the climate variability humanity has experienced into context, and warns that historically climatic responses to change have been unpredictable in magnitude "Sometimes a small 'push' has caused the climate to change a little, but other times, a small push has knocked the earths climate into a different mode of operation, brining new weather patterns to much of the earth in just a few years or decades".

After looking at this book I noticed a couple others which looked interesting, my usual reading consists of a wide variety of reports, some news articles and in the past quite a bit of scientific literature for my chemistry course, but I thought it would be nice to read up some more on climate in particular, to build up my knowledge for this blog.

The other two books I bought are "The Great Ice Age: Climate Change and Life" and "Energy Systems and Sustainability: Power For a Sustainable Future". I have only looked at these to briefly, but I would say that the former has about as much information on the science of paleo-climatology as any non-professional could want, it is certainly a useful read if you are a climate change campaigner and want a good solid understanding of how the climate varies over different time periods and how anthropogenic climate change is different. The latter is a textbook, with all the related issues, hardly cutting edge, published 2003 with data fro a couple years before but appears to be an objective look at energy systems, explaining the various problems and potentials are.

Arctic Climate Change Impact assessment

A major study of the arctic, convincing evidence of climate change and worrying indications about its future severity. A fascinating document, if you need proof of climate change, here it is, if you need convincing of the urgency of the situation then here it is!

Overview http://www.acia.uaf.edu/
or
Download

Short report on the article (mp3 format : 3min)

Listen Now

An Interesting Climate Change Program

A short program about the arctic ecosystem and its response to climate change. This program is from a series of programs b Earthwatch Radio. All the earthwatch radio programs on climate change can be found here. All these programs are about 3 minutes long.

UK Climate Change Policy: Some Tips

I have finally finished researching and writing my article of UK climate policy. There are some pretty good ideas in there, from the 300 respondents to the govornments consultation. The links are below nd the article is on Climate Change Action

I`m currently still looking at biomass and my article on the subject wont be upf for a few days, after which i`m taking a closer look at the affordability of highly energy efficent housing.

I do however update Climate Change News daily.

peace be with you :-) and bookmark this site!

Biomass as a fuel source, climate change mitigation potential.

I can never concentrate on one thing at a time, so I`m currently looking into the UK climate change policy review and biomass. My interest in biomass has resurfaced because of a journal article by a scientist names Pimitel which is receiving a lot of attention, this article rubbishes biofuels. I thought it was time to re-appraise my views on the situation and educated myself. The place I first heard of the the journal article is here . The article can also be accessed at the journal homepage, for 40 dollars! But fortunately a larger review written by the Pimitel is freely available.

I have started reading up on the subject and will be writing a review of the area and my opinion of this recent study. For the moment however I would just like to point out a few of the errors and assumptions in the study, and also to highlight the fact that Europe has a bio-fuels target and the governments all seem to be describing bio-fuels as low carbon, they clearly aren't zero carbon due to transport and fertilizer etc.A detailed response to the work of Pimentel has also been produced by the national biodiesel board, this work is fairly convincing to me but is definitely not removed from vested interest so the search continues.

Sheffield Halam university, provided an overview of theire work to the UK government.
Department for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have a lot of info on the subject including a research page, or two. One of the best independent thinktanks in the UK, the Institute for Public Policy Research, also published a report on the subject of low carbon cars, it compares the advantages of hydrogen/biomass etc.

(for my take on the most important climate change issues have a look at climate change action
at http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com)

UK Climate Change Program Review

The Currently on going climate change program review will be the subject of my next article, i`m currently researching the topic. These links may be of interest to people wishing to find out how the govornments climate change efforts are getting on. This document summerises all the replies to the consultation. Of perticular interest:
Response of The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Response of The Carbon Trust
Response of The WWF

(for my take on the most important climate change issues have a look at climate change action
at http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com)

The Greenpeace report into distributed energy.

The enormous potential of climate change mitigation presented by a distributed energy system.
In Full
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/MultimediaFiles/Live/FullReport/7154.pdf
In Summary
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/decentralisingpower_summary

Have a look, then write yo youre mp and ask that they put pressure on the govornment to act, and show real commitment on this key climate change issue.

(for my take on the most important climate change issues have a look at climate change action
at http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com)

Big news about aviation, maybe!

Today the European commission has anounced draft legislation to bring aviation emmisions withing the EU ETS. The proposals are still at an early stage but i will be watching this issue closely as it is of utmost importance.

(for my take on the most important climate change issues have a look at climate change action
at http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com)

Site of the day

Got a spare 60 seconds? Check out this site.

http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/big_ask/take_action.html

A climate change campaign by friends of the earth

(for my take on the most important climate change issues have a look at climate change action
at http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com)

A letter on gas flaring

I have recently posted a comment on the blog of Mark Lynas. I also filled out a profile whiere i mentioned my interest in the issue of gas flaring. I recieved this letter which might be of interest. I will be posting my own article on this subject soon.

http://climatechangeaction.bravehost.com/gas%20flaring%20letter.htm

Also see the links on the right of this website (report on gas flaring in nigeria)
I have 3 links on the topic they are
1. A report into gas flaring in nigeria with is human rights and climate change issues.
2. A press briefing by foe.
3. A article about shell delaying the date for ceasing to flare gas.

(for my take on the most important climate change issues have a look at climate change action
at http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com)

CHECK OUT THE MIRROR SITE

This is a site purely for links to reports which might be of interest and is relavent to my CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION blog. Check it Out!


http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com/

Things are just getting started

This whole setting up a website-thing takes quite a while! so-far all the recent reports banner is working, as are the links at the top of the page. The links to material on aviation are also working but the rest of the links are as they where when i knicked the table i`m using from the BBC website :-) and they are internal site links to the bbc so they dont work...give me a few days and hopefully this will be a usefull and fully functional resource.

BOOKMARK THIS SITE AND CHECK BACK IN A FEW DAYS

UPDATE: i have added a whole heap more links and this site is currently running at about 50% of what my aim for it is. I want to add more links and integrate this site with my climate blog which is still in its early stages.

(for my take on the most important climate change issues have a look at climate change action
at http://climatechangeaction.blogspot.com)