Tag Archives: climate scientist

Culture

UNESCO Puts Spotlight On Women’s Voices In Imagining World To Come

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Paris, May—UNESCO has invited leading women thinkers, artists and activists from fields ranging from climatology to international relations through physics and African studies, to voice their views on the challenges and opportunities the world will face in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first six short videos published today provide a female perspective on questions regarding the environment, education and international relations that are coming to the fore during the current global crisis. UNESCO chose to highlight female perspectives in its first videos as the thinking about these pressing issues remains dominated by male voices all too often and in all too many parts of the world.

The first six inspiring women featured in UNESCO’s Forum of Ideas are: Katharine Hayhoe (Canada), Climate Scientist, Director of the Texas Tech University Climate Science Center, Professor of Political Science and UN Champion of the Earth, Fadia Kiwan (Lebanon), Political Science Professor, General Director of the Arab Women Organization, Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UNESCO-MOST Programme, Sara Purca (Peru), Researcher at the Peruvian Sea Institute, winner of Peru’s National L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science (2017) Prize, N’Dri Assie-Lumumba (Côte d’Ivoire), Professor at the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Chairperson of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the UNESCO-MOST Programme, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (Japan),Professor of International Affairs, Director of the Oslo University Independent Panel on Global Governance for Health, and Márcia Barbosa (Brazil), Physicist, Director of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, laureate of L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science (2013).

New contributions from prominent women and men working in all parts of the world in a rich variety of disciplines will be added to the UNESCO Forum of Ideas platform over coming months.

In producing its Forum of Ideas series, UNESCO fulfills its mission as an open and inclusive laboratory of ideas, destined to contribute to strategic thinking about the Organization’s programmes. UNESCO also hopes that the series will inspire national policy-makers and provide a positive contribution to global governance. For the Silo, Clare O’Hagan.

UNESCO Forum website: en.unesco.org/forum

Earth

Climate Peril Book Highlights Predicted Ecological Catastrophe

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How do we know? "Orbital climate satellites will measure changes in energy that is entering and exiting the atmosphere as well as the effect that manmade greenhouse gases (GHG) or aerosols, are having on the atmosphere." http://green.blorge.com/2011/01/the-glory-climate-satellite-will-join-the-a-train/
Orbital climate satellites measure changes in energy that is entering and exiting the atmosphere as well as the effect that manmade greenhouse gases (GHG) or aerosols, are having on the atmosphere. image: green.blorge.com

A new, authoritative climate book puts all major aspects of the climate crisis into a broad national and international perspective, revealing that the gravity, imminence, and permanence of the crisis are widely misunderstood.

Climate Peril
Climate Peril: The Intelligent Reader’s Guide to Understanding the Climate Crisis (Northbrae Books) by energy and climate expert Dr. John J. Berger  has an introduction by Dr. Paul and Anne Ehrlich of Stanford University and a foreword by Dr. Ben Santer, an internationally respected climate scientist with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The book underscores the unprecedented urgency of the climate crisis, providing detailed revelations about the grave harm climate change is now doing to human health, national and international security, our economy, natural resources, including the oceans, and biodiversity. Climate Peril demonstrates, for example, that holding global heating to 2° C is no guarantee of climate safety, contrary to the assumptions of many policymakers, and that the world is very likely to exceed this limit anyway.

2degrees threshold

Readers have found that Climate Peril makes important findings of climate science easily accessible and helps them better understand the breadth of the climate threat to our economy and society. The book begins by explaining how the climate system naturally operates and then illustrates how human activity has disturbed it.

Climate Peril goes on to document the broad consequences of rapid climate change, drawing attention to its impacts on nature, the economy, human health, and national security. In the process, Climate Peril highlights our proximity to irreversible climate tipping points and to ecological catastrophe.

Supplemental- Why a two degrees C increase in global average temperature IS a big deal by Elizabeth May  https://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/7/2013-01-21/why-two-degree-celsius-increase-global-average-temperature-big-deal

Earth

Canada Methane Emissions Not Properly Regulated

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We need to take steps NOW to make sure Canada’s methane (aka Hydrogen Sulfide gas which contains up to 90% methane) emissions are being properly regulated. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide – and its uncontrolled emissions affect everyone.

The solutions to reducing methane emissions are actually very simple – frequent leak detection and repairs, and replacing equipment that deliberately releases methane. The industry is resisting these solutions and pushing the Canadian government for weaker methane regulations. They want longer delays before regulations come into effect, as well as less frequent monitoring so that methane leaks go undetected for longer. And, they want to be paid for reducing methane emissions – so instead of polluters pay, the industry wants it to be pay-the-polluter.

Those who live in Alberta strongly agree that regulating pollutants like methane to the strictest North American standards is the right thing to do. If the province that would be most affected by these regulations feels this way, why aren’t we doing it?

Time is running out to make sure Canada’s methane emissions are strongly regulated. For the Silo, Dale Marshall.  Featured image- Les Stone /Greenpeace

Dale Marshall
National Program Manager