World faces decades of climate chaos, outgoing chief scientific adviser warns - Telegraph

World faces decades of climate chaos, outgoing chief scientific adviser warns - Telegraph

"In 12 years’ time there will be another billion people on the planet and we have big issues of food security, water security and energy security and many, many people will start to be living in cities," he said.
"These are massive problems. Climate change is just going to make it worse."

Yale Environment 360: Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations Show Second-Largest Annual Increase

Yale Environment 360: Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations Show Second-Largest Annual Increase

"Pieter Tans, a senior scientist at NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, attributed the latest spike to an increase in fossil fuel burning globally, particularly in China."

Facing Up to the Threat of Climate Change in the Arab World

Facing Up to the Threat of Climate Change in the Arab World

“Climate change is a reality for people in Arab countries,” said Inger Andersen, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa region. “It affects everyone – especially the poor who are least able to adapt – and as the climate becomes ever more extreme, so will its impacts on people’s livelihoods and wellbeing. The time to take action at both the national and regional level in order to increase climate resilience is now.”

Forget Sustainability. It’s About Resilience. - NYTimes.com

Forget Sustainability. It’s About Resilience. - NYTimes.com

Yet today, precisely because the world is so increasingly out of balance, the sustainability regime is being quietly challenged, not from without, but from within. Among a growing number of scientists, social innovators, community leaders, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropies, governments and corporations, a new dialogue is emerging around a new idea, resilience: how to help vulnerable people, organizations and systems persist, perhaps even thrive, amid unforeseeable disruptions. Where sustainability aims to put the world back into balance, resilience looks for ways to manage in an imbalanced world. 

Researchers report major advance in using sunlight to produce steam without boiling water

Researchers report major advance in using sunlight to produce steam without boiling water

"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp

"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp

"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp

"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp

"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.html#jCp

Commentary: China's ecological progress determines more than its own future - Xinhua | English.news.cn

Commentary: China's ecological progress determines more than its own future - Xinhua | English.news.cn
"If the U.S. lifestyle, which features vehicles with large displacement and big houses, prevails in China, other planets might be needed besides Earth to provide enough resources."

Germany Has Built Clean Energy Economy That U.S. Rejected 30 Years Ago | InsideClimate News

Germany Has Built Clean Energy Economy That U.S. Rejected 30 Years Ago | InsideClimate News
"The fight now, to the extent that there is one, is over the speed of the transition," Jens Kendzia told me as we stood on the Reichstag roof. Kendzia is chief of staff for a leader of the center-left Green Party, which crafted the legislation responsible for the Energiewende's success.

BioThink: Self-Sufficient Iranian Smart Vehicle Powered by Magnets and Sun | Green Prophet

BioThink: Self-Sufficient Iranian Smart Vehicle Powered by Magnets and Sun | Green Prophet: Looking ahead to over-populated mega-cities in a world of higher temperatures and mandatory carbon cuts, the Iranian designer conceived two different kinds of narrow, self-sufficient 2-seaters that use up less space than conventional vehicles and produce zero

Africa Progress Panel calls on African governments to drive towards MDGs | Global development | guardian.co.uk

Africa Progress Panel calls on African governments to drive towards MDGs | Global development | guardian.co.uk: On agriculture and food security, the report urged rich countries to deliver on commitments made at successive climate change summits at Copenhagen and Cancun to mobilise $100bn by 2020 for the Green Climate Fund, with half of that amount earmarked for adaptation. Investment for irrigation, terracing, rural roads and research would prevent annual losses of several hundreds of millions of dollars, the report said, a point highly pertinent for regions such as the Sahel, which suffers repeatedly from drought.

WWF - WWF calls for China and Africa to go green

WWF - WWF calls for China and Africa to go green: “This Forum is an opportunity to establish a new model of cooperation between emerging economies and developing countries,” says Jim Leape, WWF International Director General. “After the failure of Rio 20 and other major international summits to agree on ambitious action for a healthy planet, we hope FOCAC will signal new leadership for the creation of green and sustainable economies.”

The climate of the climate change debate is changing | Myles Allen | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The climate of the climate change debate is changing | Myles Allen | Environment | guardian.co.uk: The climate may have changed this week. Not the physical climate, but the climate of the climate change debate. Tuesday marked the publication of a series of papers examining the factors behind extreme weather events in 2011. Nothing remarkable about that, you might think, except, if all goes well, this will be the first of a regular, annual assessment quantifying how external drivers of climate contribute to damaging weather.

Earth may be near tipping point, scientists warn - latimes.com

Earth may be near tipping point, scientists warn - latimes.com
"We have created a bubble of human population and economy … that is totally unsustainable and is either going to have to deflate gradually or is going to burst," said co-author James Brown, a distinguished professor of biology at the University of New Mexico. "If it's going to burst, the consequences are really going to be grim for people as well as biodiversity and the rest of the planet."