This and That on Global Warming

Warmer, Warmer by John Lanchester (reviews of some recent books on the issue);

We know all this, but whether any of it will actually happen is a different question. It is easy for politicians to stick wind turbines on their houses and ride bicycles, but effective action on climate change is about to require doing things that are not popular. In his eponymous report, Nicholas Stern has argued that it would cost about 1 per cent of global GDP now to prevent a loss of 5 per cent of global GDP in the future. The calculation is tweaked to make the cost now sound manageably small – but it is not yet clear whether Western electorates are willing to pay it. One per cent of global GDP is 600 billion dollars, most of which would be paid by the developed world. The idea is that by paying it now we would be keeping the world’s economy on track so that by 2050 the developed world would be 200 per cent richer and the developing world 400 per cent, while our emissions decline by 60 to 90 per cent and theirs increase by 25 to 50. (One problem is that 17 per cent of that growth in developing world emissions has already been used up.) The promised economic growth is jam tomorrow; we would be paying for it today, in the form of increased taxes and lost jobs. These things are all real to voters in ways that climate change perhaps is not. Are people going to give things up in the present in order to prevent things that computer models tell them are going to happen in 25 years’ time? If they – we – aren’t, then we’re heading for breeding pairs, and camels in the Arctic.

Post-normal;

Global warming is so important that scientists need to practice “post-normal” science. So writes Mike Hulme, professor in the school of environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia and the founding director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. We need to recognise, he argues, two aspects of science: “scientific knowledge is always provisional knowledge, and […] it can be modified through its interaction with society”.

Rebutting errors in the Great Global Warming Swindle

Al Gore rallies US Congress over climate

World breaks temperature records

Environment posts at Cafe Hayek, Economist's View,

Global Warming Has Gone Hollywood By Robert Samuelson

The actual politics of global warming defy Hollywood's stereotypes. It's not saints versus sinners. The lifestyles that produce greenhouse gases are deeply ingrained in modern economies and societies. Without major changes in technology, the consequences may be unalterable. Those who believe that addressing global warming is a moral imperative face an equivalent moral imperative to be candid about the costs, difficulties and uncertainties.

Climate Change Impact More Extensive than Thought

According to the IPCC, "more than 85 percent" of the data show "changes in a direction that would be expected as a reaction to warming." In other words: Researchers found evidence of environmental changes due to the greenhouse effect caused by mankind in nearly 9 out of 10 cases surveyed.

A Small Fish Becomes an Indicator of Global Warming

Global Warming, Carbon Taxes, and Public Choice

Stern vs Nordhaus et al. at Yale

Letters on Al Gore and the Climate Debate- NYT

From a Rapt Audience, a Call to Cool the Hype

The Climate-Change Precipice

Podcasts;
Lindzen of MIT Says Global Warming Is `Marketing, Not Science'

Boucher of Virginia Says U.S. Needs Carbon Emissions Cap

Bob Shackleton- "Climate Change: An Economic View"


Carbon trading

The Economics of Climate Change- Sir Stern

The economics and politics of climate change

Earth in the Balance Sheet- Al Gore

Man's role in changing the face of the earth

The CO2 'debate'
Ralph Keeling responds to sceptics of the role of carbon dioxide in climate change. He says he does not interact with them and suggests that just one in a thousand scientists is a sceptic

At TED Talks- Lomborg and Al Gore

Saving the Planet: Climate Change

Links from the University Channel

Climate Security: Risks and Opportunities for the Global Economy
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, Swiss Re's Jacques Aigrain and Goldman Sachs's Mark Tercek discuss the global political, economic and financial risks associated with climate change

A discussion with Emma Duncan, Deputy Editor of The Economist;

“We need to think about climate change maybe as individuals think about insuring their houses: you spend maybe 1% of your annual income insuring your house not because you think it's going to burn down, but because if by any chance it did burn down, the consequences for you would be disastrous.”