Climate change activists have chosen a magic number: In a PowerPoint presentation he gave at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco last December, he named a number: 350 parts per million carbon dioxide. That, he said, was the absolute upper bound of anything like safety—above it and the planet would be unraveling. Is unraveling, because we’re already at 385 parts per million. And so it’s a daring number, a politically unwelcome one. [Orion]
Is the fuel crisis a blessing in disguise?: It depends on your point of view, of course, but there is some evidence that the surge in oil prices is succeeding where green campaigners and government initiatives have not: in persuading people to drive less. This means a cut in carbon dioxide emissions, and ultimately, less global warming. [Guardian]
Nanotech: Why Something So Small Can Be So Dangerous: Nanotech does hold clean and green potential, especially for supplying cheap renewable energy and safe drinking water. But nanomaterials also pose possible serious risks to the environment and human health — risks that researchers have barely begun to probe, and regulators have barely begun to regulate. [AlterNet]
Twenty years later: tipping points near on global warming: James Hansen, director of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, marks the 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking statement to Congress by saying there’s no time left to delay in defusing the global warming time bomb. [Guardian]
Wildlife and livelihoods at risk in Kenyan wetlands biofuel project: Kenya has approved a controversial biofuel project that environmentalists say could destroy some of the country’s most pristine wetlands. More than 80 sq miles of the Tana river delta is scheduled to become a sugar cane plantation, with much of the crop turned into ethanol in a purpose-built factory. [Guardian]
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