The Little Ice Age is generally seen as a major event in European history. Analysing a variety of recent weather reconstructions, this column finds that European weather appears constant from the Middle Ages until 1900, and that events like the freezing of the Thames and the disappearance of English vineyards have simpler explanations than changing climate. It appears instead that …
Scientists analysing sophisticated satellite data warn that rises in sea level more rapid than expected are increasing threats to coastal cities and food security.
LONDON, 27 March, 2015 − Satellite observations show that sea level rise may have been underestimated, and that annual rises are increasing. A collaborative effort between maritime organisations and space agencies in measuring sea level rise has come to the conclusion that it has been increasing by 3.1 millimetres a year since 1993 – higher than previous estimates. The evidence …
The California drought: Water-rationing plan leaves corporate interests untouched
The unprecedented drought gripping California has deepened for the fourth consecutive year, having already set new records for the lowest annual precipitation levels on record. 2014 brought the highest calendar-year temperature for the state, while this February was the hottest on record and this January the driest. A recent study conducted by Daniel Griffin and Kevin J. Anchukaitis found that …
Florida’s Climate Change Gag Order Claims Its First Victim
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Florida’s Republican governor Rick Scott had directed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to stopusing terms like “climate change” and “global warming” in any official correspondence or during meetings. According to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), that gag order has now claimed its first victim. PEER made the following assertions in a press release today: Barton …
Climate denial is immoral, says head of US Episcopal Church: ‘It is a very blind position’
The highest ranking woman in the Anglican communion has said climate denial is a “blind” and immoral position which rejects God’s gift of knowledge. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church and one of the most powerful women in Christianity, said that climate change was a moral imperative akin to that of the civil rights movement. She said …
The Fate of Trees: How Climate Change May Alter Forests Worldwide
In May 2011, a postdoctoral student at Los Alamos National Laboratory named Park Williams set out to predict the future of the dominant iconic conifers of the American Southwest — the Douglas fir, the piñon pine and the ponderosa pine. As the planet warms, the Southwest is projected to dry out and heat up unusually fast — few places will be more …
Wendell Berry on Climate Change: To Save the Future, Live in the Present
I. [2013] So far as I am concerned, the future has no narrative. The future does not exist until it has become the past. To a very limited extent, prediction has worked. The sun, so far, has set and risen as we have expected it to do. And the world, I suppose, will predictably end, but all of its predicted …
Us and Them: On Understanding Climate Denialism
So we’re in the midst of another round of climate-change related mud slinging. The latest issue of National Geographic, “The War on Science”, was seen to sneer at the 130 million American who don’t believe in human induced climate change. The Washington Times‘ Stephen Moore fired back with an emotional op-ed titled “The Myth of Settled Science,” and to go by the pundits …
A Melting Arctic and Weird Weather: The Plot Thickens
Everyone loves to talk about the weather, and this winter Mother Nature has served up a feast to chew on. Few parts of the US have been spared her wrath. Severe drought and abnormally warm conditions continue in the west, with the first-ever rain-free January in San Francisco; bitter cold hangs tough over the upper Midwest and Northeast; and New England is …
Majority of Catholics Are Worried About Climate Change and Support Immediate Action
Today marks the day of fast for Catholics in the U.S. as part of the “Lenten Fast for Climate Justice,” a global campaign launched by the Global Catholic Climate Movement in partnership with Fast for Climate Change, Green Anglican Carbon Fast and others to encourage Pope Francis and the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world to take meaningful action in addressing climate change. During this Lenten season, …










