Report from the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun.
global warming
Connecting local weather and global climate change
Our daily weather reports, cheerfully presented with flashy graphics and state-of-the-art animation, appear to relay more and more information.
And yet, no matter how glitzy the presentation, a key fact is invariably omitted. Imagine if, after flashing the words "extreme weather" to grab our attention, the reports flashed "global warming." Then we would know not only to wear lighter clothes or carry an umbrella, but that we have to do something about climate change.
I put the question to Jeff Masters, co-founder and director of meteorology at Weather Underground, an Internet weather information service. Masters writes a popular blog on weather, and doesn't shy away from linking extreme weather to climate change:
May 3, 2012 |
British Columbians in 2035 will be facing a variety of climate-related challenges to a decent quality of life. BC should not get caught flat-footed, but instead the province needs to be proactive.
Earth Day in Vancouver: Youth-led action against tankers and pipelines
We are a group of high school students who call ourselves “Youth 4 Climate Justice Now,” and we are organizing this year’s Vancouver Earth Day Parade & Celebration, hoping to build upon last year’s Earth Day event that brought out over 1,500 passionate people out to the streets on Vancouver.
This Sunday, April 22, 2012, starting at 11 a.m., people will be gathering at Commercial Drive Skytrain Station to march down to Grandview Park for speakers and entertainment. If you are in Vancouver, we hope you can join us. If you are somewhere else in Canada, look for an Earth Day event near you.
Climate change, politics and coup d'etats
The Pentagon knows it. The world's largest insurers know it. Now, governments may be overthrown because of it. It is climate change, and it is real. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, last month was the hottest March on record for the United States since 1895, when records were first kept, with average temperatures of 8.6 degrees F above average. More than 15,000 March high-temperature records were broken nationally. Drought, wildfires, tornadoes and other extreme weather events are already plaguing the country.
Reading Andrew Weaver's Nature article to the end
The Conservatives are brandishing a new weapon in their fight to exploit the Alberta oil sands, pulling a figure from a recent article published in the science journal Nature, written by climate scientist Andrew Weaver. "The oil sands will raise temperatures by only 0.03°C," announced Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver triumphantly in question period on February 28, quoting from Weaver's article.
