These are painful times for those hoping to see an international consensus and substantive action on global warming. In the US, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney said in June 2011: “The…
“Artists are shape-shifters and in this there is a perennial, ferocious hope; the hope which transforms, which whispers of possibility, of vision, of change and radical healing. Existing art about climate…
Many species have dubious futures in the face of climate change. But sea turtles have a particularly pressing problem: their sex is determined by temperature. Australia has ecologically and culturally…
Vast meadows of seagrass are thought to be the oldest living things on the planet.
Flickr/Submon
An ancient seagrass that spans up to 15 kilometres and weighs more than 6,000 metric tonnes may be more than 100,000 years old - making it the oldest living organism, Australian researchers have found…
More fossil fuel is out there, but if policy doesn’t stop us, physics will.
EvolveLove/Flickr
In his recent Quarterly Essay, Man-made world: choosing between progress and planet, economist Andrew Charlton presents technological innovation as the solution to climate change and the route to unbounded…
It’s time to pay attention to warnings from the Arctic.
NOAA Photo Library
We are seeing the first signs of dangerous climate change in the Arctic. This is our warning that humanity is facing a dire future. The Arctic region is fast approaching a series of “tipping points” that…
Unlike the Great Barrier Reef, some coral reefs off Western Australia have flourished in the past century. Flickr/kibuyu.
Coral reefs off part of Western Australia’s coastline have flourished over the past 110 years, despite the rise of carbon dioxide levels in the world’s oceans, new research has found. But the growth has…
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal published a letter from “16 concerned scientists”, telling the world we don’t need to worry so much about climate change. Unsurprisingly, the opinion piece has been picked…
Shouldn’t we try harder to stop runaway climate change?
AAP
In the month and a half since the Durban climate change conference it has been said that the “international climate process” has been “strengthened” and that Durban resulted in “the means and the ends…
If speaking up helps avoid devastating bushfires, scientists should take the risk.
AAP
Scientists are increasingly expected to engage with the media to communicate their findings. My research leads me to believe Hobart is at risk from a severe bushfire disaster – but what are my responsibilities…
An ice-free world isn’t impossible – even though it seems the stuff of science fiction.
Alistair Knock
Last December’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union featured three of the world’s leading climate scientists: James Hansen (NASA’s chief climate scientist), Elco Rohling (National Oceanography Centre…
A popular misconception in the public mind is that science “proves” things by turning them from ideas and theories into absolute “facts”. This more or less confuses science with mathematics. Mathematical…