Category Archives: Environment
Five Times Faster
We’re not on track to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. While there has been some progress, it hasn’t been nearly fast enough. In the last two decades, the amount … Continue reading
COP28 Wrap-up: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
They went into overtime at COP28, but delegates to the UN climate conference in Dubai emerged on the morning of December 13, 2023 with a unanimous agreement signed by nearly 200 countries. Here’s my summary. (For background on COP28, please … Continue reading
What’s happening at COP28?
Halfway through COP28, here’s a roundup of some of the key developments and announcements coming out of the conference. COP28 is the annual UN climate conference happening this year in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For background on the conference, please … Continue reading
Water Always Wins
Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of both flooding and drought all over the world. Erica Gies thinks our modern obsession with controlling water has made things worse. In her book Water Always Wins: Thriving in an Age … Continue reading
COP28 Explainer
After a year of record-shattering heat waves, floods and forest fires, world leaders will gather in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12, 2023, for COP28, the most important annual international conference on climate change. Climate change … Continue reading
The Nutmeg’s Curse
Trading rare and exotic spices has been a powerful force in history and economics for many centuries. Nutmeg is no exception. In the early 1600’s, the Dutch East India Company, known by its Dutch initials VOC, formed as the world’s … Continue reading
The Spirit of Green
In The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World, Yale economics professor William D. Nordhaus examines a wide range of economic, social and political issues from a Green perspective. Nordhaus won the 2018 Nobel Prize … Continue reading
Crow Planet
On a recent holiday in Ireland, we encountered several species of birds from the crow family that are quite different from the American Crow we see almost every day at home. The Hooded Crow has a black head but a … Continue reading
The Ends of the World
You might think a 290-page deep dive into mass extinction would be the most depressing book ever. But The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions by Peter Brannen is … Continue reading
Measuring Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A lot of numbers get tossed around in discussions about climate change. Degrees of warming, meters of sea level rise, square miles burnt or flooded, and most important, tons of greenhouse gases emitted. I like to know exactly what these … Continue reading
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