Index of articles in the Science in Society Archive on the topic climate change. For articles in other categories, please see the SiS archive menu.
Climate Change Revolution in Paris away from Fossil Fuels
“In Paris, there have been many revolutions over the centuries. Today it is the most beautiful and the most peaceful revolution that has just been accomplished – a revolution for climate change.” President Francois Hollande
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 25th January 2016
Leave Oil in the Ground, Renewables Can Deliver Climate Solution
Crude oil continues its downward slide while divestment from fossil fuels increased 50-fold over the past year; US-China accord on climate change gathers momentum, triggering a slew of new pledges to reduce carbon emission, renewables are booming and poised to deliver climate solutions for a successful climate summit in Paris this December
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 25th November 2015
China Commits $5.1 Billion to South-South Cooperation on Climate Change and Development
Two new Chinese funds totalling US$ 5.1 billion to help developing countries tackle climate change and development problems could be a game changer in South-South cooperation and international relations
Martin Khor - Director of South Centre director@southcentre.int 23rd November 2015
O2 Diving Towards Danger Point
Not only is O2 dropping faster than CO2 rising, it is diving towards the danger point much faster than previously thought, O2 accounting is urgently needed
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 18th May 2015
Age of Oil Ending?
Oil prices plunging to a five year low sparked a wave of downsizing in an industry desperate to rid itself of stranded assets; meanwhile renewable energy markets are booming with ‘100 % renewables’ on the climate action plan, and civil society grassroots movements are winning major campaigns to divest mega-investments from fossil fuels and leave oil in the ground
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 26th January 2015
Waste Plastics into Fuel Oil?
One way to clear the existing mountains of waste plastics is to turn them into clean fuel oil; a company in New York appears to have done just that at a cost of 11 cents a gallon using unsorted, unwashed plastic wastes in a safe, environmentally friendly, and highly efficient process; but will this perpetuate our dependence on fossil fuel?
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 21st January 2015
Large Cities in USA less Green than Small Ones
Large cities emit more CO2 and earn no more per capita than small cities, contradicting the 'economy of scale' that makes larger cities 'greener' than small ones and raising doubt over claims of other benefits
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 15th September 2014
China is World's Leading Renewable Superpower
Top in investment, installed capacity and generation, and moving away from fossil fuels; in contrast to the USA
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 30th July 2014
Surviving Global Warming
Record-breaking heat waves destroying harvests and worse predicted, localized food and energy systems urgently needed if we are to survive
Dr Mae-Wan Ho 25th September 2013
World Water Supply in Jeopardy
The most essential of natural resources is being depleted and degraded at unsustainable rates and further threatened by human-induced global warming; but the looming crisis is avoidable
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 26th September 2012
Skyhook to Save the Climate?
Geoengineering, like banking, can affect the whole world, and again like banking, has no international regulation, which is urgently needed
Prof. Peter Saunders 26th September 2011
How the Cancun Conference Failed to Save the Climate
The Cancun conference may go down in history as the decisive turning point at which the burden of saving the climate was passed on developing countries, and WTO procedures was introduced into UN meetings
Martin Khor 7th January 2011
The Green Shoots of China
China streaking ahead in renewable energy technologies amid explosive economic growth and steeply rising greenhouse gas emissions
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 22nd March 2010
The Real Importance of the Amazon Rain Forest
Rain forests power atmospheric circulation that bring rain to continental land masses from the oceans; new theory explains why losing forests will cause catastrophic desertification Peter Bunyard
Peter Bunyard 15th March 2010
Can The People Save The Climate?
A colourful and radical People’s Summit stole the show at Copenhagen for the real solutions to climate change
Sam Burcher 22nd February 2010
Getting Sceptical about Global Warming Scepticism
John Cook rebuts the most common sceptic arguments against global warming
John Cook 25th January 2010
Sceptical about Climate Change Sceptics
Scepticism is good, but the inability to see the whole is what leads climate sceptics astray
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Peter Saunders 20th January 2010
The Age of Stupid Steers Towards 2010
Climate change, the most important story of all time is dramatized in a film that just won’t go away
Sam Burcher 28th October 2009
Kenya to Build Africa’s Largest Windfarm
Ambitious plans to light up Africa, but local off grid power sources must not be neglected
Sam Burcher 19th October 2009
Germany 100 Percent Renewables by 2050
Sets an example for all industrial nations
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Peter Saunders 14th October 2009
UK’S Lackluster Low Carbon Transition Plan
Belated, good in parts, but not green and definitely lacking in vision
Prof. Peter Saunders and Brett Cherry 12th October 2009
Wind Power Could Supply Global Electricity Needs 40 Times Over
Wind power could electrify the world or provide its energy needs many times over, not necessarily with big turbines and wind farms
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 5th October 2009
Green Energies 100% Renewables by 2050
Announcing an ISIS/TWN Special Report
"A must-read for saving the climate"
ISIS 1st October 2009
Black Carbon Warms the Planet Second Only to CO2
Eighty percent of black carbon emissions come from fossil fuels and biomass burning associated with deforestation; reducing black carbon emissions may be the quickest, cheapest way to save the climate
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 28th September 2009
350ppm CO2 the Target
Reducing present atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm is needed to avert irreversible climate catastrophe, top climate scientists say
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 9th September 2009
Beware the Biochar Initiative
Turning bioenergy crops into buried charcoal to sequester carbon does not work, and could plunge the earth into an oxygen crisis towards mass extinction
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 7th September 2009
O2 Dropping Faster than CO2 Rising
New research shows oxygen depletion in the atmosphere accelerating since 2003, coinciding with the biofuels boom; climate policies that focus exclusively on carbon sequestration could be disastrous for all oxygen-breathing organisms including humans
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 19th August 2009
The EU Agora on Climate Change
Sam Burcher reviews the meeting in Brussels
Sam Burcher 4th August 2008
Renewables versus Carbon Capture and Storage
A study commissioned by the German federal government finds carbon capture and storage emits ten to forty times as much greenhouse gases as wind or solar energy and gives no protection against the rising cost of fossil fuels
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 11th July 2008
Carbon Capture and Storage A False Solution
Too late to be of use, much too expensive, ineffective, and unsafe
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 9th July 2008
World Bank Climate Funds May Undermine ClimateTalks
NGOs concerned over the World Bank’s proposed US$7-12 billion portfolio of climate investment funds
Celine Tan 2nd April 2008
Europe Unveils 2020 Plan for Reducing C Emissions
Europe’s lead generally welcomed but will others follow?
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 22nd February 2008
Mitigating Climate Change through Organic Agriculture
There is much scope for mitigating climate change through sustainable agriculture and localising the food supply chain
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Lim Li Ching 31st January 2008
Saving and Restoring Forests Saves Far More Carbon Emissions than Biofuels
Biofuels out forests in, scientists advise policy-makers to concentrate on increasing fuel efficiency in the short term and restoring unused croplands to forests. Selective harvesting of wood waste and biomass from standing forests may be sustainable.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 12th December 2007
IPCC Final Climate Warning Before Bali
Evidence for global warming unequivocal and most likely due to human activities, but there is high confidence for effective adaptation as well as high agreement and much evidence of substantial economic potential for mitigation; the cost of fighting global warming at the most stringent level will cost no more than 0.12 percent of global GDP a year up to 2030
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 3rd December 2007
Global Action on Climate Change
A Third World Perspective
Martin Khor stresses the need to link development and environment for developing countries and cooperation between North and South especially in the next period of the Kyoto Protocol
Martin Khor 24th September 2007
Biofuels Republic Brazil
Brazil’s rapidly expanding biofuels industry pose serious threats to the survival of people and planet.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 18th December 2006
Biofuels: Biodevastation, Hunger & False Carbon Credits
Europe’s thirst for biofuels is fuelling deforestation and food price hikes, exacerbated by a false accounting system that awards carbon credits to the carbon profligate nations. A mandatory certification scheme for biofuels is needed to protect the earth’s most sensitive forest ecosystems, to stabilise climate and to safeguard our food security.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 11th December 2006
Shutting Down the Oceans Act III: Global Warming and Plankton; Snuffing Out the Green Fuse
The oceans' plankton is about to give us the final curtain call in the greatest tragedy the human species has ever enacted unless we make determined efforts to stop burning fossil fuels right now. Numerous options for sustainable and renewable energies exist (Which Energy?) that will save our oceans and our planet
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 23rd August 2006
Shutting Down the Oceans. Act II: Abrupt Plankton Shifts
Global warming has seriously disrupted plankton growth and growth cycles, putting the entire marine food web at risk.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 28th July 2006
Shutting Down the Oceans. Act I: Acid Oceans
Global warming and acidification are damaging the phytoplankton at the basis of the oceans’ enormous food web, putting the entire biosphere in jeopardy
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 26th July 2006
Oceans Carbon Sink or Source
Do oceans remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or contribute to it? The answer is crucial for climate change.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 25th July 2006
Oceans and Global Warming
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho explains how oceans determine climate and influence climate change. Urgent need to shift away from fossil fuels to renewable options
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 21st July 2006
Global Warming Is Happening
Climate change scepticism is politically motivated, the evidence is all around us. Good science is about dispelling common prejudice, not taking leave of common sense.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 18th July 2006
Energy Strategies in Global Warming: Is Nuclear Energy the Answer?
Nuclear energy makes economic nonsense and ecological disaster and provides great opportunities for terrorists. Peter Bunyard
Peter Bunyard 8th July 2005
Feeding the World under Climate Change
Industrial agriculture contributes enormously to global warming, it is increasingly unproductive and heavily dependent on oil that's fast running out. Nor can it feed us once climate change really gets going. A very different agriculture is needed.
Edward Goldsmith 6th October 2004
More CO2 Could Mean Less Biodiversity and Worse
More carbon dioxide doesn't just make the earth warmer. It is an entire conglomerate of correlated changes of global dimensions in the earth's climate, water, land, and not the least of all, her living inhabitants.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 3rd October 2003
Why the United States Needs the Amazon
The US cornbelt will shrivel if the Amazon is destroyed
Peter Bunyard 1st October 2003
Why Gaia Needs Rainforests
Losing the earth's largest remaining tropical rainforests will greatly accelerate global warming
Peter Bunyard 28th September 2003
Global Warming & then the Big Freeze
A global circulation of water between the surfaces and the depths of oceans plays a major role in keeping the earth's climate congenial to life. But this circulation is unstable to global warming, with catastrophic consequences.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 27th September 2003
Abrupt Climate Change Happening
'Climate change' conjures up a picture of a gradual process occurring in the timescale of the earth, hundreds if not thousands of years. Not anymore. Since the mid 1990s, scientists have been asking if climate change might be abrupt, in other words, it could happen suddenly, over a matter of decades or even years, and be global in extent.
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho 26th September 2003
Back to the Future for Gaia
The projected increase in carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere is without precedent over the past 12 million years or more
Peter Bunyard 25th September 2003
With a Bang, Not a Whimper
The gigantic Antarctica iceberg floating loose has brought global warming back into the headlines. Scientists say sudden catastrophic changes are to be expected. Prof. Peter Saunders looks into the new report, and asks why the scientists are so complacent.
Prof. Peter Saunders 31st March 2002