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Tag Archives: climate change
A Peek at Peaking
It’s official: 2023 was the hottest year on record. Yet the IEA predicts the world will reach peak carbon emissions before the end of this decade. Can both be true at the same time?
Here’s an infographic exploring the relationship between annual CO2 emissions, atmospheric CO2 concentration and global temperatures. Continue reading
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
Posted in Books, Economics, Environment
Tagged book review, clean energy transition, climate change, COP28, diplomacy, fossil fuel, nonfiction, Paris Agreement, UNFCCC
3 Comments
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
Posted in Environment
Tagged climate, climate change, COP28, global warming, Paris Agreement, UN, UNFCCC
4 Comments
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
Posted in Environment
Tagged carbon emissions, climate, climate change, COP28, methane, Paris Agreement, UN, UNFCCC
1 Comment
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
Posted in Books, Environment
Tagged book review, climate change, erica gies, flooding, infrastructure, nonfiction, water
3 Comments
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
Posted in Environment
Tagged carbon emissions, climate, climate change, COP28, explainer, Paris Agreement, UN, UNFCCC
8 Comments
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
Posted in Books, Environment, History
Tagged amitav ghosh, book review, climate change, colonialism, gaia, genocide, nonfiction, nutmeg
3 Comments
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
Posted in Books, Economics, Environment
Tagged book review, carbon price, climate change, CO2 emissions, externality, nonfiction, Nordhaus, sustainability
5 Comments
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
Posted in Books, Environment
Tagged book review, carbon cycle, climate change, extinction, geology, nonfiction, paleontology, peter brannen
8 Comments
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
