Page 73

In 2002, Nobel Prize winner Leon M. Lederman moved the hands of the 'Doomsday Clock' to 11:53 p.m. They're now at 11:57.

Tim Boyle/Getty Images

CLIMATE CRISIS

Three minutes to midnight: Scientists reset doomsday clock

25th November 2015

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity, and world leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe. These failures of political leadership endanger every…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Special: Institutions are pulling out investments worth billions from fossil fuels

24th November 2015

What is fossil fuel divestment? Divestment is the opposite of investment – it is the removal of your investment capital from stocks, bonds or funds. The global movement for fossil fuel divestment (sometimes also called disinvestment) is asking institutions to move their money out of oil, coal and gas companies for both moral and financial…

Reuters

CLIMATE CRISIS

Series: Weathering the change – Part 1

23rd November 2015

(Note: The weather is changing, adding to the woes of the Indian farmer, who is already in a state of crisis. Even as the pundits split hairs over climate change, for the farmer, it seems the writing is on the wall. In Weathering the change, we present a short series presenting the farmer’s perspective on the impact of these changes.)…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Pablo Solon: Behind the negotiating text for the Paris Climate talks

22nd November 2015

Bolivia’s former climate negotiator Pablo Solon writes: In the current text there are good and bad proposals, and the final result will be something in between the most ambitious and the weakest proposals. Are they going to put us on a path that limits the increase of the temperature to 1.5 ºC or 2 ºC?…

CLIMATE CRISIS

World Bank warns climate change could drive millions into extreme poverty

Efforts to curb climate change must be twinned with programmes to cut poverty, warns a study of the threat posed by global warming to food security View/download World Bank report pdf): Shock Waves : Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty The Guardian UK The world must pair efforts to stabilise climate change with…

Economy

Video: The Impossible Hamster

21st November 2015

New Economics Foundation We wanted to confront people with the meaning and logical conclusion of the promise of endless economic growth. We used a hamster to illustrate what would happen if there were no limits to growth because they double in size each week before reaching maturity at around 6 weeks. But if a hamster…

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 4

20th November 2015

(Note: In this series of posts, we take a closer look at India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) and its larger context, ahead of the Paris climate talks. Also read: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the series) Consumption injurious to the planet’s health Sujata Byravan, The Hindu Most observers agree that the government has set ambitious…

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #73

18th November 2015

Overheated Planet Entering ‘Uncharted Territory at Frightening Speed’ Common Dreams With new evidence that the concentration of greenhouse gases broke yet another record in 2014, the head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Monday that the warming planet is hurtling “into uncharted territory at a frightening speed.” The United Nations weather agency’s latest…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Research: Burning existing fossil fuels will melt the Antarctic ice sheet

17th November 2015

READ ORIGINAL PAPER: Combustion of available fossil fuel resources sufficient to eliminate the Antarctic Ice Sheet By Ricarda Winkelmann, Anders Levermann, Andy Ridgwell and Ken Caldeira If We Burned All the Fossil Fuel in the World Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker What would happen if we burned through all of the fossil-fuel resources known to…

From the comic Syria's Climate Conflict, written by Audrey Quinn and illustrated by Jackie Roche

Yearsoflivingdangerously.tumblr.com

CLIMATE CRISIS

Kurt Cobb: Syria, climate change and the horror in Paris

16th November 2015

Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights As the world mourns those who died in Paris last week in a killing spree for which the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has claimed responsibility, reporters and commentators have been discussing the motivations behind the attacks. I’m not sure that any so far has considered whether one can…

ALTERNATIVES

Peak Oil (Or why city slickers should learn to get their hands dirty)

15th November 2015

Peak Oil, Food Security and Urban Agriculture T. Vijayendra Abstract Peak Oil refers to the point when oil production reaches a peak, and henceforth can only fall. This has already happened. This has enormous implications for food security. It raises cost and prices of food because farm inputs – primarily fertilisers and pesticides – are petroleum…

CLIMATE CRISIS

Video & Report: Fossil Fuel Subsidies Push Us Closer to Climate Disaster

14th November 2015

‘Production Subsidies are Driving the World to Burn More Fossil Fuel than it Needs’ Unfortunately, these environmentally damaging subsidies are often ignored during discussions on fossil fuel pricing and use, which tend to focus on the quantifiably larger and more politically controversial consumer-focused subsidies The Wire With global climate talks set to happen in Paris…

CLIMATE CRISIS

India’s INDCs and the road to Paris – 3

13th November 2015

(Note: In this series of posts, we take a closer look at whether India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) ahead of the Paris climate talks. In this third installment, we present comments by three independent observers that critically analyse India’s climate commitment. Also read: Part 1 and Part 2 of the series) “India has low per capita emission only thanks…

CLIMATE CRISIS

World Energy Outlook 2015 has a mixed message for the future

12th November 2015

Latest World Energy Outlook sees clear signs that the energy transition is underway, but warns strong direction is needed from Paris climate summit IEA.org More at: www.worldenergyoutlook.org An extended period of lower oil prices would benefit consumers but would trigger energy-security concerns by heightening reliance on a small number of low-cost producers, or risk a…

CLIMATE CRISIS

NEWS UPDATE #72

10th November 2015

India’s energy emission growth at 8.2 per cent, highest globally: PwC Asian Age Buoyed by strong economic activity, India’s energy emission growth was highest in the world at 8.2 per cent last year, says a report. According to the report by global consultancy firm PwC, the sharp rise was on account of double-digit growth in…

Protesters near the Kudankulam nuclear plant

Reuters

Digests/Specials

Special: Nuclear power wanes as solar rises worldwide

9th November 2015

India drastically lowers nuclear energy target Deccan Herald With little progress on ground since the 2008 Indo-US nuclear agreement, the government has drastically cut the nuclear energy target from 63,000 Mwe by 2032 to just about 14,500 Mwe by 2024. Quiet Burial For India-US Nuclear Deal? Amit Bhandari, Gateway House Solar power developers have offered…

ALTERNATIVES

The Bioeconomy: A Primer

8th November 2015

The bioeconomy refers to production and use of renewable biological resources as well as economic activities, both within and between countries, related to the invention, development, production and use of biological products and processes. Read the original document Download e-book: The Bioeconomy – a Primer (pdf – 1 MB) Key Points The bioeconomy is industry’s response to…

Bookshelf

Book: The Secure and the Dispossessed

7th November 2015

(Note: This new book asks, and attempts to answer, the crucial question: What if government and corporate elites have given up on stopping climate change and prefer to try to manage its consequences instead?) The Secure and the Dispossessed: How the Military and Corporations Are Shaping a Climate-Changed World Edited by Nick Buxton and Ben…

ECOCIDE/EXTINCTION

Video: Aluna – A Warning from the Kogi of Sierra Madre

6th November 2015

From the Heart of the World – The Elder Brother’s Warning [1989 – full movie] More at: www.alunathemovie.com Review: Aluna: A Message to Little Brother Charles Eisenstein, Tikkun.org Aluna Directed by Alan Ereira How are we to interpret this warning coming from the Kogi people of the Sierra Madre in Colombia, delivered through their latest film,…

ALTERNATIVES

Announcing Ecologise Camp 2, Dharwad, Nov 14

5th November 2015

Date: November 14 -15, 2015 Venue: Suman Sangam– A forest farm (village Daddi Kamalapur (Dharwad — Panaji (Goa) highway) Dharwad, Karnataka, India) Host: Dr. Sanjeev Kulkarni (Note: Registrations are closed for this Camp. If you want to register for the next one, contact the organisers named below) Ecologise Camp The Ecologise Camp is a programme through which those living…