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Climate-change politics Cap-and-trades last hurrah (18 March 05:12) |
| The decline of a once wildly popular ideaIN THE 1990s cap-and-trade—the idea of reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by auctioning off a set number of pollution permits, which could then ... |
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Climate science Spin science and climate change (18 March 05:12) |
| Action on climate is justified, not because the science is certain, but precisely because it is notCLIMATE-change legislation, dormant for six months, is showing signs of life again in Washi... |
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The science of climate change The clouds of unknowing (18 March 05:12) |
| There are lots of uncertainties in climate science. But that does not mean it is fundamentally wrongFOR anyone who thinks that climate science must be unimpeachable to be useful, the past fe... |
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The IMF in Africa Going green (11 March 04:13) |
| The IMF says it wants to help Africa handle climate changeTHE global recession was slow to hit Africa. Its banks and stock exchanges were isolated enough from the wider capital markets to su... |
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New fiction Ian McEwan Mr Sunshine (11 March 04:13) |
| How not to write “state-of-the-nation” fictionSolar. By Ian McEwan. Nan A. Talese; 304 pages; $26.95. Jonathan Cape; GBP18.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk ... |
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Monitoring greenhouse gases Highs and lows (04 March 07:39) |
| You might think that measuring the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would be a priority. If you did think that, though, you would be wrongIN NEGOTIATIONS on nuclear weapons the p... |
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Weather forecasting Flaky science (04 March 04:47) |
| How to predict the consistency of snow“THE wrong type of snow” became famous as a lame excuse in Britain in February 1991 when, caught out by a cold snap, British Rail blamed sev... |
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Polar ice shelves Breaking waves (18 February 04:12) |
| The coup de grace that shatters ice shelves is administered by ocean wavesIN 2008 part of the Wilkins ice shelf on the edge of the Antarctic peninsular suddenly disintegrated. It was seen by... |
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Carbon markets after Copenhagen Dont hold your breath (04 February 04:11) |
| Why hasn’t the carbon price fallen further?SOMETHING curious has been happening in the carbon markets. They are entirely political creations—even the most inventive financial eng... |
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Rajendra Pachauri and the IPCC A time for introspection (04 February 04:11) |
| Increasing scrutiny of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, in particular, its chairman, should lead to reformsTHE past month has not been a good one for Rajendra Pachauri (pic... |
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Haiti two weeks after the earthquake Scrabbling for survival (28 January 04:10) |
| As international aid reaches a devastated people, their leaders wonder how to rebuild a country in ruinsIN THE days after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti on January 12th, the country... |
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Californias Central Valley The Appalachia of the West (21 January 04:07) |
| California’s agricultural heartland threatens to become a wastelandMIKE CHRISMAN looks out from his SUV as he drives through seemingly endless rows of walnut trees on his property near... |
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Post-earthquake chaos in Haiti A massive relief effort limps into gear (21 January 04:07) |
| The world’s attempt to aid Haitians stumbles against extraordinary difficulties of transport and communicationsIN ONE of the ramshackle tent cities that have sprouted in open spaces al... |
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After the earthquake A plan for Haiti (21 January 04:07) |
| Haiti’s government cannot rebuild the country. A temporary authority needs to be set up to do itMORE than a week after the earth convulsed beneath it, Haiti has still to plumb the dept... |
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Glaciers and the IPCC Off-base camp (21 January 04:07) |
| A mistaken claim about glaciers raises questions about the UN’s climate panelTHE idea that the Himalaya could lose its glaciers by 2035—glaciers which feed rivers across South an... |
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The earthquake in Haiti Hell on earth (14 January 04:15) |
| Why the outside world—and especially the United States—must respondEARTHQUAKES can be measured and mapped, but it will be days and perhaps weeks before the scale of the human suf... |
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Haitis earthquake Catastrophe in the Caribbean (14 January 04:15) |
| One of the world’s most vulnerable countries is devastated by a murderous earthquakeIF THERE is one country in the Americas that cannot afford to suffer a natural disaster, it is dirt-... |
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Scottish power Crossed wires (14 January 04:15) |
| A storm is blowing up over charges for transmitting renewable powerMOST new technologies get cheaper to use as time goes by. Not so in Scotland, where power from renewable sources may become... |
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Offshore wind power Oil rigs to whirligigs (14 January 04:15) |
| New plans to increase clean power are ambitious and expensiveTHE diameter of a wind turbine capable of generating five megawatts (MW) of electricity is, at 120 metres, roughly that of the Lo... |
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Green jobs Back to the City (07 January 04:12) |
| Britain may get green jobs, but not the sort ministers promiseBRUISED by the worst recession since the second world war, and staring glumly at a megalithic national debt that their children ... |
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Climate change No hiding place (07 January 04:12) |
| The betting is that 2010 will be the hottest year on record. But understanding how the planet’s temperature changes is still a challenge to scienceIT MAY seem implausible at the moment... |
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Goats in the Netherlands Caprine contagion (07 January 04:12) |
| A dangerous Dutch epidemic: goats now, humans next?EVEN for one of Europe’s most efficient countries, it is a tricky problem. At least 40,000 pregnant goats must be destroyed in the co... |
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Climate change after Copenhagen Chinas thing about numbers (30 December 04:09) |
| How an emerging superpower dragged its feet, then dictated terms, at a draining diplomatic marathon AMID the alphabet soup and baffling procedures of last month’s climate-change confer... |
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Agriculture and climate change Why farms may be the new forests (30 December 04:09) |
| In the war against climate change, peasants are in the front line FOR people who see stopping deforestation as the quickest climate-change win, Copenhagen seemed a success. Although there is... |
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Asian carp advance on Chicago The invaders (30 December 04:09) |
| Desperate efforts to keep a piscine predator from the Great LakesTHEY came to America in the 1970s, where they were employed to eat up algae in the fish farms of Arkansas. Before long, howev... |
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Flood defences Dambusterbusters (30 December 04:09) |
| Some clever, new ways of stopping rivers floodingTHE destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 showed the importance of keeping levees—the artificial banks that contain t... |
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New sources of rubber Blow out (30 December 04:09) |
| The tyres of the future may be made from dandelionsOTHER than being an ingredient of the more recherche sorts of salad, herbal tea or wine, dandelions are pretty useless plants. Or, at least... |
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Clean technology after Copenhagen Waiting for a green light (30 December 04:09) |
| Business comes to terms with a disappointing outcomeSO KEEN were many energy and clean-technology executives to see a robust agreement to cut emissions of greenhouse gases emerge from Decemb... |
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Climate change Planet B (30 December 04:09) |
| How the underwhelming Copenhagen accord could yet turn into a useful documentFACED with the undoubted grandeur of climate change, a grand response seems in order. But, to the immediate disap... |
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Water Through the aqueous humour (30 December 04:09) |
| Water through the agesWater. By Steven Solomon. Harper; 563 pages; $27.99. Harper Collins; GBP18.99. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.ukTO WRITE a history of water was a good idea. Since life ... |
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Climate change and forests Touch wood (17 December 04:32) |
| Everyone agrees on the need to save trees, but the details are still tricky WHATEVER else historians say about the Copenhagen talks on climate change, they may be remembered as a time when ... |
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The Amur River The Amurs siren song (17 December 04:32) |
| The long river that marks the border between Russia and China has proved to be a site of dashed hopesFOR a couple of decades around the middle of the 19th century an extravagant delusion ove... |
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The Copenhagen talks Seeking compromise (15 December 12:14) |
| Slow, if any, progress is being made at the Copenhagen climate-change talksTHE Copenhagen climate conference is supposed to be making a fresh start, as ministers and heads of government prep... |
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The Copenhagen climate talks Filthy lucre fouls the air (10 December 04:29) |
| Arguments over money dampened the euphoria that marked the start of talks on a global deal to limit greenhouse gases DESPITE the gloomy talk that preceded the UN climate conference, the open... |
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Expanding Heathrow airport Clearer skies (10 December 04:29) |
| Some think aviation can be both bigger and greenerCLIMATE change is not bad news for everyone. To those living beneath the flight paths of busy airports such as Heathrow and Stansted, it bri... |
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The future of the Arctic The bleakest outlook in the world (10 December 04:29) |
| Oil, gas, shipping and overfishing all threaten northern watersOn Thin Ice: The Changing World of the Polar Bear. By Richard Ellis. Knopf; 416 pages; $28.95. Buy from Amazon.comAfter the Ice... |
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The Copenhagen climate conference Green enough (08 December 04:15) |
| Gloom and doom in a very big roomSome 35,000 asked to get in, but the convention centre holds only 15,000. I am one of those lucky 15,000, here to cover the opening of the Copenhagen climate... |
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From the archive The green legacy (07 December 05:12) |
| 1992: Our correspondent reports from the Earth summit in Rio de JaneiroFROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN RIO DE JANEIROAS a galaxy of heads of state descended on Rio de Janeiro for the closi... |
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The Copenhagen climate-change conference Searching for harmony (07 December 05:09) |
| Will the Copenhagen climate conference end with a deal on carbon emissions?DELEGATES turning up to the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change—k... |
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Climate change Costing the earth (07 December 02:05) |
| Who would pay more to tackle climate change?AROUND 100 world leaders are set to attend the UN climate-change summit in Copenhagen to discuss a global deal to replace the Kyoto protocol. This... |
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Climate change e-mails Reply all (04 December 10:30) |
| A fruitless row over climate change e-mailsAS POLITICIANS, policy wonks, businessmen, NGO types, hacks and hangers-on converge in Copenhagen for the forthcoming climate conference, a row ove... |
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Techview Size matters (04 December 12:59) |
| Big-screen televisions are being put on a crash dietTHE energy cops in California are clamping down again. Not content with the federal government’s voluntary Energy Star standard for ... |
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Climate change What lies beneath (03 December 07:32) |
| The planet’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide is under investigationAS THE world gathers in Copenhagen over the coming weeks to discuss how much carbon dioxide people should be putting... |
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Carbon-management software Heat count (03 December 04:25) |
| Programs that help businesses cut greenhouse gases are proliferatingLIFE is looking up for managers at the 4,300 stores of Tesco, one of the world’s biggest supermarket chains. A progr... |
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Australias emissions-trading row Cap trade and block (03 December 04:25) |
| A climate-change election loomsKEVIN RUDD, Australia’s prime minister, has much political capital riding on his promise to tackle climate change. It helped him win power in 2007. He ca... |
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India and climate-change negotiations Back to basics (03 December 04:25) |
| What India has to offer in CopenhagenA STEELY lot, India’s negotiators for the Copenhagen climate talks, to be held from December 7th, are still afraid of abandonment by China. India&#... |
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Indias recovering economy Vroom vroom (03 December 04:25) |
| Despite a bad monsoon, India’s economy is motoringMARUTI-SUZUKI, India’s leading carmaker, sold over 76,000 cars in November, 60% more than in the dire month of November 2008. T... |
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The Copenhagen Summit Stopping climate change (03 December 04:25) |
| Rich and poor countries have to give ground to get a deal in Copenhagen; then they must focus on setting a carbon priceAT A time when they are not short of pressing problems to deal with, th... |
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Efficient aviation V for victory (03 December 04:25) |
| Copying birds may save aircraft fuelBOTH Boeing and Airbus have trumpeted the efficiency of their newest aircraft, the 787 and A350 respectively. Their clever designs and lightweight composi... |
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More climate change Southern bellwether (03 December 04:25) |
| Ozone giveth. The greenhouse taketh awayTO SEE the ironic complexities of climate change at their finest, look south. For the past few decades the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica has... |
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