climate review March (B)

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March/April 08 Foreign Affairs 87.2 (2008): 63-77:
Scott G. Borgerson "Arctic Meltdown: The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming"

... quote I (first paragraph, p. 63):

The Arctic Ocean is melting, and it is melting fast. This past summer, the area covered by sea ice shrank by more than one million square miles, reducing the Arctic icecap to only half the size it was 50 years ago. For the first time, the Northwest Passage--a fabled sea route to Asia that European explorers sought in vain for centuries--opened for shipping. Even if the international communtiy manages to slow the pace of climate change immediately and dramatically, a certain amount of warming is irreversible. It is no longer a matter of if, but when, the Arctic Ocean will open to regular marine transportation and exploration of its lucrative natural-resource deposits.

... quote II (in the text, p. 65):

The Arctic has always experienced cooling and warming, but current melt defies any historical comparison. It is dramatic, abrupt, and directly correlated with industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. In Alaska and western Canada, average winter temperatures have increased by as much as seven degrees Fahrenheit in the past 60 years. The results of global warming in the Arctic are far more dramatic than elsewhere due to the sharper angle at which the sun's rays strike the polar region during summer and beause the retreating sea ice is turning into open water, which absorbs far more solar radiation. This dynamic is creating a vicious melting cycle known as the ice-albedo feedback loop.

... quote III (last paragraph, p. 77):

Washington must awaken to the broader economic and security implications of climate change. The melting Arctic is the proverbial canary in the coal mine of planetary health and a harbinger of how the warming planet will profoundly affect U.S. national security. Being green is no longer a slogan just for Greenpeace supporters and campus activists; foreign policy hawks must also view the environment as part of the national security calculus. Self-preservation in the face of massive climate change requires an enlightened, humble, and strategic response. Both liberals and conservatives in the United States must move beyond the tired debate over causation and get on with the important work of mitigation and adaptation by managing the consequences of the great melt.

CLIMATE POLICY:

"Kyoto II" climate talks open in Bangkok 3.31.
... UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Intersession Meeting Bangkok Climate Change Talks 31 March to 4 April
... UN FCCC Bangkok intersessional Agenda
... UN FCCC Bangkok intersessional Schedule
... UN FCCC Bangkok intersessional Webcast

ON THE ECOSOPHICAL RADAR SCREEN:

World first & largest commercial tidal stream energy generator in EU 3.31.
... American decline I 3.31.
... European cargo spaceship in orbit 3.31.
... American decline II 3.31.
... Asian rise 3.31.
... American decline III 3.31.
... Peak Oil game (multimedia links) 3.31.
... World Bank climate profiteering 3.31.
... Sportsfans boo Bush (video) 3.31. ... Stadium visitor told to hit delete button
... Rising food prices 3.31.
... Karl Rove is Grendel (video) 3.30. ... Rove hated by his neighbors
... Earth Hour review 3.30.
... Al Gore on Flat Earthers (video) 3.30.
... Peak oil, peak water 3.30.
... Climate mitigation: biofuels suck 3.29.
... Sustainable design: congestion pricing 3.28.
... Canada v. seal pups 3.28.
... Climate change: US infrastructure is f*cked 3.28. ... ... Climate change: US infrastructure is f*cked (pdf) US Climate Change Science Program
... Legal fights of the future 3.27.
... Unsustainable Bushonomics 3.27.
... No maglev for Munich 3.27.
... The clean energy scam 3.27.
... Antarctic Sea Pine passage has opened 3.27.
... A recipe for disaster 3.26
... Republicans steal the vote 3.26.
... Islands drowning in plastic 3.26.
... New solar power 3.26.
... Bush is evil 3.26.
... Yukon Flats NWR v. Bush 3.26.
... Track carbon footprints 3.25.
... American decline IV 3.25.
... Melting tundra, trading tusks 3.25.
... Antarctic Wilkins breakoff 3.25. ... West Antarctic chunk collapses
... Peak oil & dumb Bush 3.25.
... Las Vegas future (pics) 3.24.
... US Fed climate censorship (Hansen interview) 3.24.
... China-US pollution path (pics) 3.24.
... B. Fagan The Great Warming (review) 3.24.
... Running out of rice: climate-crop feedback 3.24.
... Unsustainable Bushonomics 3.23.
... Climate mitigation: save the rain forest 3.22.
... carbon trading as climate mitigation tool 3.20
... American decline V 3.20.
... Invest in railroads 3.20.
... Melting glaciers, dwindling food 3.20. ... Melting glaciers, shrinking harvests in China/India
... Running out of water: climate-drought feedback 3.13.
... Hong Kong's hot future 3.12.
... China emissions to swamp Kyoto reductions 3.11.
... Green homes are red hot 3.8. ... How to green your home (quiz)

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

... 2007 Climate records World Wildlife Fund Dec 07
Climate change 2007 update Green Facts (Switzerland) Dec 07
Climate change jelly fish effects Telegraph Nov 07
The first climate casualty: Bangladesh The Nation Apr 07
A climate repair manual Scientific American Sep 06
James Lovelock homepage

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