Comment on climate
Comment on climate
These are generally shorter pieces published variously in non-academic journals, magazines, newspapers and websites (NB. several of the commentaries have not been published elsewhere).
Dec. 2013. Piece for the British Science Association. People & Science An invited article summarising my concerns over the emergent conspiracy of silence amongst policy-makers, business leaders and many scientists as to the political and economic repercussions of science-based carbon-budgets…
Don’t shoot the messenger: why disliking a conclusion is not a good basis for disregarding it. “… for a reasonable probability of avoiding the 2°C characterisation of dangerous climate change, the wealthier (Annex 1) nations need, temporarily, to adopt a…
The debate on the appropriate level of EU emission reductions for 2030 is being conducted in a scientific vacuum. Certainly the decision is ultimately political, but the neglect of any robust scientific framing is emblematic of how the rhetoric of…
why the near-collapse of Europe’s carbon-trading scheme could be good for reducing emissions A pdf of coaxing the mitigation phoenix is also available The past fortnight has been a time of considerable disquiet for those who consider carbon trading generally…
(the arguments outlined in this commentary apply equally to any politician, civil servant, journalist, NGO or business leader calling for stringent mitigation) The commentary is also available as a pdf: Hypocrites in the air and is now a chapter in Beyond Flying From…
Further to my response to Sue Ion’s comparison of nuclear and wind turbine output, there was some disagreement on Carboncounter as to the numbers I had used. I take the view that this disagreement is unjustified, with my reasons outlined…
Pdf version of the full comment is available at Response to Sue Ion on wind turbine numbers In BBC Radio 4’s the Life Scientific (Tuesday 26th February), Jim Al-Khalili interviewed the former technical director of British Nuclear Fuels, Sue Ion. This is a response…
6 Feb 2013 Climate policy based on naive assumptions environmentalresearchweb Liz Kalaugher, editor of the Institute of Physics’ environmentalresearchweb, reports on the Cabot 2012 Annual Lecture – “Real clothes for the emperor: facing the challenges of climate change”. In his presentation Anderson argues…
Dec 2012 Aviation and shipping privileged – again? UK delays decision to act on emissions – Tyndall Briefing Note 47 Just a week on from the Prime Minister publicly declaring his “Government has the most incredibly green set of energy policies”, DECC chooses to…