Climate


entering unchartered waters

Human civilization developed on Earth under certain climate conditions. Over the last 150 years, however, we have released so much carbon into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels that the climate is changing — and not for the better. Rising sea levels mean devastating storm surges for low-lying farmlands and cities. Disappearing glaciers mean less water for vast areas of India, China, and the American West. Shifting climate zones mean many plants and animals will no longer survive where they've been — and may not be able to survive in new areas.

Climate change is real — the scientific debate on has long been over. What remains is to build the political will to do something about it.

videos

Ask Bill McKibben Anything: What do you say to skeptics of climate change?

length: 3:00   credit: The Daily Beast

A reader asks Bill McKibben: What do you say to skeptics of climate change?

See answers from Bill to other questions including - "Is it too late to adequately prevent climate change?", and "How would you prepare your children and grandchildren for a worst-case scenario?".

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associated fellows

latest related publications

Water – and Us – in the “Anthropocene”

Sandra Postel    Jun 07, 2013   

Numerous species of fish and other life forms face extinction due to human actions in this planetary time scientists propose to call the Anthropocene. Missions Media/National Geographic In late … >>

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Governance in the Long Emergency

David Orr    May 15, 2013   

This is Chapter 26 of the new WorldWatch State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible? report. It is reproduced here with permission. The first evidence linking climate change and … >>

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REPORT: Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Shale Gas Compared to Coal: An Analysis of Two Conflicting Studies

David Hughes

A recent series of studies and rebuttals have debated the greenhouse gas impacts of shale gas production as compared to coal. Post Carbon Institute Fellow David Hughes, author of the … >>

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ENERGY: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth

Daniel Lerch Richard Heinberg Bill McKibben David Fridley David Hughes Gloria Flora Wes Jackson

Edited by Tom Butler and George Wuerthner, Introduction by Richard Heinberg. 

ENERGY takes an unflinching look at the environmental devastation created by our thirst for … >>

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