Category Archives: Global warming

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

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

A little domain knowledge can go a long way

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

A rather bizarre paper has been published in Scientific Reports (yes, that Scientific Reports) claiming that [an] earth system model shows self-sustained melting of permafrost even if all man-made GHG emissions stop in 2020. One immediate problem is that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Global warming, The philosophy of science, The scientific method, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 24 Comments

Understanding methane

Posted on September 26, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

There was a recent Conversation article about methane called Climate explained: methane is short-lived in the atmosphere but leaves long-term damage that caused a bit of a stir on Twitter. One way people assess the significance of different greenhouse gases, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Global warming, Policy, Research, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , , , | 41 Comments

Extreme precipitation events

Posted on July 5, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

This post is partly motivated by something I think I either heard Michael Shellenberger say, or write, but I can’t find it anymore. I have tried reading some of the articles again, and listening to some of the podcasts again, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Environmental change, Global warming | Tagged , , , , , | 36 Comments

Extreme event attribution and the nature-culture duality

Posted on June 19, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’ve been reading a paper by Shannon Osaka and Rob Bellamy called Weather in the Anthropocene: Extreme event attribution and a modelled nature–culture divide. I’ve written about event attribution before, and I’m largely in favour of the storyline approach; given … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Environmental change, Global warming, Philosophy for Bloggers, Severe Events, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 139 Comments

Outgoing longwave radiation

Posted on April 30, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Something that often strikes me is that when I think I understand something quite well, there often turns out to be an aspect that I haven’t understood particularly well. I sometimes think that this is can be an important thing … Continue reading →

Posted in Global warming, Greenhouse effect, Philosophy for Bloggers, The philosophy of science, The scientific method, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 38 Comments

Chanting to the choir?

Posted on April 22, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Before I head off to the office (or, more correctly, go from watching the news in the living room, to the dining room table) I thought I would briefly mention a recent paper that has analysed blog comments. It’s by … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, ClimateBall, Global warming, Philosophy for Bloggers, Scientists | Tagged , , , , , | 70 Comments

A couple of highlights

Posted on March 8, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Since I haven’t had much chance to write anything recently, I thought I would briefly advertise a couple of papers that may be of interest to my regular readers. One is by Clare Marie Flynn and Thorsten Mauritsen and is … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Climate sensitivity, Global warming, Research, Science | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments