The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
FEARS that oil demand would decline because of a US-proposed energy tax have been expressed by delegates at a meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The Clinton administration had proposed the tax in an effort to reduce emission of greenhouse gases. OPEC representatives are worried that the …
STAR Plus, the satellite channel well-known for its steamy soaps and street-wise sleuths, is going green -- and with a vengeance. It showed a two-part series in mid-March called After The Warming and has scheduled, among other programmes for this slot, Race to Save the Planet, -- a ten-part series …
A HINT that Washington may soften its opposition to measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions was given at the recent session of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in New York. In an implicit dig at the Bush administration's attitude -- which was widely blamed for watering down the terms …
A VOLCANIC explosion does not affect only those living in the vicinity -- it's impact can be global and it may be felt for years afterwards. A volcanic eruption can cause unexpected changes in the earth's climate and environment and the onset of the Ice Age, global cooling, depletion of …
MOTIVATED by the need for a holistic understanding of the impact of human activity on the earth's natural phenomena, scientists in the last decade have been studying the earth as an entire system, focussing their attention on large-scale physical and biotic (related to living things) interactions. The pursuit of this …
BIRD MIGRATION patterns can change dramatically over decades and scientists say global warming can increase the incidence of such changes. Drastic changes in climate and landscape during the ice ages led to many birds altering their migratory routes. Such changes occur at present as well, but too gradually to be …
TWO RECENT climate studies have found that while changes in solar radiation do contribute to global warming, this effect is small as compared to that of human-made greenhouse gases. The increase in the annual average global temperature at the earth's surface was as much as 0.8o C between 1880 and …
RECENT findings that global warming of the lower atmosphere could trigger major ozone destruction have added an alarming new dimension to the climate change scenario (Nature, Vol 360 No 6401). British scientists John Austin of the Meteorological Office, Neal Butchart of the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Keith Shine …
WRITING of the 1919 Treaty of PeaceJohn Maynard Keynes saidThe proceedings... all had this air of extraordinary importance and unimportance at the same time. The decisions seemed charged with consequences to the future of human society; yet the air whispered that the word was not flesh, that it was futile.The …
IT IS WIDELY believed that higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will stimulate plant growth and thus help crops and forests fix more carbon - a positive feedback effort that may partially help control the global warming problem. But two recent studies indicate'forests may not be as efficient in …
AFTER the hype and pomp of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, diplomats met again in Geneva in December to start work on implementation of the emasculated climate convention that world leaders were so eager to sign as proof of their green credentials. Despite warnings from Bert Bolin, chairman …
CLIMATE change brought about by the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could lead to mass extinction of wildlife in isolated habitats (Conservation Biology, Vol 6 No 3). Global warming is expected to raise temperatures in the northern temperate latitudes by 2o to 6oC by …
THE BRITISH government is finding it easier to preach than practice. After lecturing developing countries in Rio on the importance of controlling global warming, it has now been forced by a nationwide protest to rescind its decision to close British Coal's 31 pits and lay off three-fifths -- some 30,000 …
THE BILL Clinton-Al Gore team, as expected, put the Democrats back in power in the US after 12 years. Gore, the vice president-elect, has been widely acclaimed as a "sincere environmentalist" and his book, Earth in the Balance, is seen as one coming straight from the heart. But exactly how …
SCIENTISTS at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) in Hyderabad have developed clean fuel, a coal gasification technology, but are finding no takers, even though their new technology is important, given the worldwide concern for global warming and pollution from thermal power stations and the fact that India has …
Basing methodology on global justice N S Jodha THE ESSENCE of the conclusions of the World Resource Institute is aptly reflected in the Gujarati proverb, "What is mine is mine and what is yours is ours." Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain question this conclusion. In the first place, they find …
IT IS POSSIBLE today to make a CFC-free domestic refrigerator. Yet, eco-friendly fridges are not found on shop floors. As the 2000 AD, CFC-free, Montreal Protocal deadline approaches, reports from the European Chemical-makers Association show the European Community's (EC) refrigeration sector increased its CFC use by 4 per cent between …
THERE is widespread belief that global warming will melt the polar ice caps and submerge large areas of inhabited lands. But a review of the latest scientific research published in New Scientist (Vol 135 No 1833) points to a totally opposite possibility. Says Garry Davidson of the geology department at …
CORAL reefs in various parts of the world are getting bleached and scientists are debating whether this is an early warning of global warming, or simply a local warming of sea waters. Tom Goreau of the Global Reef Alliance says bleaching results from "expulsion by the coral of their symbiotic …
THIS BOOK, a collection of articles by six authors, is meant to be a sequel to Blueprint for a Green Economy (Earthscan), which was published in September 1989. The theme of the earlier book was that economics can and should come to the aid of environmental policy. Properly interpreted, economics …
