Category Archives: Climate change

Eight years

Posted on April 13, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’ve just realised that I started this blog eight years ago today. This past year has been relatively quiet, partly because it’s been a rather unusual year and I’ve not really felt all that motivated to write blog posts, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Personal, Philosophy for Bloggers | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Solar Radiation Management

Posted on March 31, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

It seems the latest controversy in the climate debate is whether or not we should be studying Solar Radiation Management (SRM). As Stoat points out, there is a new National Academy of Sciences report on Reflecting Sunlight, which seems to … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Policy, Research, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , | 48 Comments

‘Net zero’

Posted on March 3, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s been some recent debate about the term ‘net-zero’. Just to give some basic background, given that the zero emission commitment is close to zero (i.e., when we get anthropogenic emissions to zero, global surface temperatures should soon stabilise) means … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Environmental change, Policy | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Deferential?

Posted on February 3, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I was listening to a podcast interview with Steve Keen, whose work I’ve written about before. It was about his paper the appallingly bad neoclassical economics of climate change. I have a lot of sympathy with what he’s presenting. Some … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, economics, Environmental change, physicists, Policy, Scientists | Tagged , , , | 53 Comments

On baselines and climate normals

Posted on January 17, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Mike Hulme, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Cambridge, has a somewhat bizarre article published in Academia Letters called Climates Multiple: Three Baselines, Two Tolerances, One Normal. It’s basically a discussion of the recent World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Philosophy for Bloggers, Politics, Science | Tagged , , , | 91 Comments

Warming commitments

Posted on January 8, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s been quite a lot of recent discussion about warming commitments. It started with an article by Bob Berwyn called Net Zero Emissions Would Stabilize Climate Quickly Says UK Scientist, followed soon after by one saying [w]arming already baked in … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Climate sensitivity, Global warming, Research | Tagged , , , , , , | 40 Comments

Have CO2 emissions peaked?

Posted on January 2, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I noticed, as has Stoat, that Ken Caldeira and Ted Nordhaus have a bet about whether or not we’ve reached peak CO2 emissions. Specifically, the bet is Between 2021 and the end of 2030, annual fossil fuel emissions (excluding carbonation) … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ethics, Global warming, Philosophy for Bloggers | Tagged , , , , | 91 Comments

Where have all the STS’ers gone?

Posted on December 21, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s a recent paper in Science and Technology Studies by Jaron Harambam called The Corona Truth Wars: Where Have All the STS’ers Gone When We Need Them Most? The topic is, fairly obviously, the current coronavirus pandemic, and the abstract … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, Philosophy for Bloggers, Policy, Research | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments

Societal collapse

Posted on December 14, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

A couple of days ago, a letter was signed by a group of academics suggesting that People who care about environmental and humanitarian issues should not be discouraged from discussing the risks of societal disruption or collapse. I largely agree … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Global warming, Philosophy for Bloggers | Tagged , , , , , | 162 Comments

Climate change doesn’t work like that

Posted on November 17, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

A couple of years ago I wrote a post where I tried to explain why I thought climate change was a different kind of problem when compared to most of the other issues we might face today. I find it … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, ethics, Policy, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 72 Comments