Something scary is lurking in the melting Arctic permafrost, write Tim Radford & Oliver Tickell: 1,700 Gt of carbon. That's 53 years worth of current emissions, and if we let it melt the impact would cost the world $43 tn. Or act now, and we could preserve the Arctic ice for a seventh as much.
Mammoth Arctic carbon thaw would cost us $43 trillion Tim Radford | 23rd September 2015 News Arctic Climate Change Water Emissions Science mammoth-cut.jpg Something scary is lurking in the melting …
A wide-ranging academic study of civil wars in 69 countries from 1945 to 1999 finds that the likelihood of outside intervention increases when the country at war has large reserves of oil, and a potential intervener needs to secure oil imports on favourable terms to meet domestic demand.
… published in the Review of International Economics , found strong empirical evidence … . Petros Sekeris is Principal Lecturer in Economics at the University of Portsmouth. …
For the second year running CO2 emissions flatlined even as the global economy was growing at around 3%, writes Alex Kirby. But sharply rising temperatures show the need for further massive renewable energy deployment to actually bring emissions down.
… Climate Change Emissions Energy Renewables Economics USA China Un Science …
If we are ever to bring bovine TB under control in Britain's cattle herd, we must begin with the main disease reservoir, writes Tom Langton: the cattle themselves. The insistence on culling badgers has little to do with disease control, and everything to do with the short term economics of the beef and dairy industries, unwilling to sacrifice an iota of production in the interests of a real solution.
… and everything to do with the short term economics of the beef and dairy industries, …
In an open letter to the UK's political party leaders, Scientists for Global Responsibility urge those politicians to take the global threat of climate change seriously and to exploit science and technology to create jobs, tackle fuel poverty, and reduce local air pollution
Open letter to party leaders on climate change and the UK economy Dr Stuart Parkinson Dr Philip Webber Scientists for Global Responsibility | 13th June 2017 News Climate Change Politics Science …
There's a simple way to induce us to make good environmental choices, writes Cass R. Sunstein: make them the default setting. Whether it's selecting double sided photocopies or renewable electricity tariffs, defining easily-overridden 'green defaults' is by far the most efficacious means to influence consumer choices for the environment and the planet.
… and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law …
Britain's political, economic and media elites will be the last to turn against the neoliberal system that spawned them, writes Jonathan Cook - even as it impoverishes the country and endangers our fragile planet. Cheered on by the Guardian, most Labour MPs would rather destroy their own party than let Corbyn and his backers make it fit for its 21st century purpose.
Why Corbyn so terrifies the liberal elite Jonathan Cook | 22nd July 2016 Comment Politics UK Media Science corbyn-cut.jpg Britain's political, economic and media elites will be the last to turn …
Published in Nature today, a new cattle herd model shows how bTB infects cattle and how to halt its spread, writes Matt Keeling. Most effective is the slaughter of entire herds with even a single TB infection detected. Culling badgers has very little impact.
Culling badgers is no way to stop the spread of bovine TB Matt Keeling | 3rd July 2014 News Badgers Health Farming UK Science btb-graph-cut.jpg Published in Nature today, a new cattle herd model …
Just as long term research into the health impacts of the 'electrosmog' created by wifi and mobile phones is yielding its first results, it's at risk of sudden termination from President Trump's budget cuts, writes Paul Mobbs. But the cuts have little to do with saving money - and a lot to do with protecting corporate profit and economic growth from harsh truths, including evidence that electrosmog causes cancer in laboratory rats, and maybe humans too.
Cellphones, wifi and cancer: Will Trump's budget cuts zap vital ‘electrosmog' research? Paul Mobbs | 27th March 2017 Comment Radiation Media Science Technology electrosmog-cut-b.jpg Just as long term …
A wholesale corruption of science underlies the UK Government's insistence that gas from fracking offers a 'low carbon', low cost route to energy abundance, writes Paul Mobbs. On the contrary: it's expensive, over-hyped - and just as bad for climate change as coal.
Fracking 'as bad for climate as coal' - UK's dodgy dossier exposed Paul Mobbs | 30th May 2014 News Energy Fossil Fuels Fracking UK Climate Change Science fracking-bakken-ndakota-cut.jpg A wholesale …
The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa had everything to do with logging, deforestation and the disruption of traditional agro-forestry by large scale industrial agriculture, writes Rob Wallace. The only long term solution to this terrible disease may lie in forest conservation, the restoration of agroecological farming systems, and the exclusion of agribusiness investment.
… documenting the ways and means by which the economics of the egg sector is driving … disease dynamics, land use and global economics, routinely suffers at the expense of …
We must begin a deep and profound transformation towards a progressive, sustainable and zero-carbon future.
Beyond a climate of comfortable ignorance Kevin Anderson Isak Stoddard | 8th June 2020 News Climate Science And Systems Zero Carbon Systems Science 46669336332_5fe6764d18_k.jpg We must begin a deep …
The Bovine TB conference in London last week was disrupted by media reporting of scientific conflict over badger culling studies, writes ecologist Tom Langton. But the real story is the collapse of confidence in the Randomised Badger Culling Trials, used to justify the mass killing of badgers; and the emergence of reliable new TB tests. The simple solution: stop the cull, and spend the money on gamma interferon cattle TB testing.
… or the environment and long term cost. And economics were also apparent at the previous …
Haydn Washington and John Cook’s work has wise words for climate change activists and deniers alike, says Jeremy Williams
… our libertarian politics, or our free-market economics, or our consumer lifestyle. … REVIEW The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddhist Economics for the 21st Century Combining a …
After a succession of the hottest years and months ever recorded, climate is a hot topic, writes Liz Hutchins. But BBC1's 'Big Questions' climate change debate last Sunday completely missed the point. Instead of debating the only real question - how should we respond? - the BBC ran yet another repeat of the so-over 'believers versus deniers' ding-dong. Why do they still not get it?
There's only one real climate change debate, BBC: what should we do about it? Liz Hutchins Friends of the Earth | 22nd March 2016 Comment Climate Change Media Science Politics UK cyclists-cut.jpg …
A new report from leading physicians published today reveals the excess mortality caused by UK air pollution, writes Vanessa Amaral-Rogers. The Government has already been found in breach of the EU's Air Quality Directive, but its policies remain weak. Will it finally step up to prevent early deaths from this silent killer?
40,000 air pollution deaths a year, say doctors Vanessa Amaral-Rogers | 23rd January 2016 News Health Pollution UK EU Law Science pollution-london-cut.jpg A new report from leading physicians …
The first ever global life-cycle assessment of clean energy sources shows that a renewable system could supply the world's entire electricity needs by mid-century, writes Tim Radford.
Renewables can supply 100% of world's power by 2050 Tim Radford | 15th October 2014 News Energy Renewables Science Mining hydropower_site_at_holbuvatnet_sunndal_2013-cut.jpg The first ever global …
Nanotechnology has the power to affect every aspect of life on the planet. Here, the Ecologist presents the many claims of its promoters and outlines some of the major developments taking place now or in the near future. In response, some of it’s leading critics analyse the risks that nanotechnology poses in their various fields of expertise.
Promising the World, or Costing the Earth? The Ecologist | 1st May 2003 News Nanotechnology Science Technology Military Nanotechnology Science And Technology investigates.jpg Nanotechnology has the …
The exclusion of fishers from the design of management plans for the vaquita, driven by conservation groups and implemented by the government, has led to polarized opinions and a large divide between communities and conservation agencies, writes Andrew Frederick Johnson. To save the vaquita, this needs to be replaced with a close collaboration.
Plan to save Mexico's vaquita porpoise won't work without fishers' engagement Andrew Frederick Johnson University of California San Diego | 1st November 2016 Comment Cetaceans Mexico Fishing Oceans …
Lord Lawson was invited onto the BBC Radio 4 Today programme to debate the risk of climate change. Scientists, former BBC journalists and politicians have all questioned the wisdom of this decision. BRENDAN MONTAGUE reports
Lawson's climate denial met with 'rapid, referenced and robust' debunking Brendan Montague | 14th August 2017 News Climate Change Denial Science BBC Today unknown.jpeg Lord Lawson was invited onto …
Golden rice was once hailed as the wonder crop that 'could save a million kids year', writes Glenn Stone. But in the 15 years since that bold prediction, the carotene enhanced GMO has been held back by persistent 'yield drag' and inconclusive nutrition outcomes. It now appears unlikely ever to fulfill its early promise.
… of Golden Rice'. Agricultural and Resource Economics Update , Vol. 17, No. 3, Jan/Feb, …
Following the retraction of the Seralini et al scientific paper which found health damage to rats fed on GM corn, over 100 scientists have pledged in this Open Letter to boycott Elsevier, publisher of the Journal responsible.
… Xiulin GU PhD Agricultural and Resource Economics 1999 Univ Hawaii USA , Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming, CHINA Julian Haffegee M … PhD, Fairfield, UNITED STATES Daniel Mejia Economics drug policy, Universidad de los …