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Climate distilled: A perfect storm: Haiyan raises fears of “hypercanes”
In the weeks following the landfall of Typhoon Haiyan, the role of climate change has dominated public discourse. Is a changing climate to blame for the devastation? This is a weighty accusation, and one that forces us to re-examine our positions on climate action and related debates.On November 8, Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines claiming 5,598 lives and displacing another 3.8 million. With winds of up to 195 mph, it was one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded and, according to USAID, the US government has sent nearly $60 million in relief funds.
“Tropical cyclone,” “hurricane” and “typhoon” refer to the same type of storm. These systems generally form in waters warmer than 80 degrees, through a combination of warm surface water and air, low pressure and the force of the Earth’s rotation. Additionally, tropical cyclones are generally “triggered” by a thunderstorm or similar event—most of the Atlantic hurricanes that hit our east coast, for example, start out as thunderstorms on the west coast of Africa.
Recently some scientists have started investigating the possible effects of climate-warmed oceans on cyclones. One of these researchers is world-renowned atmospheric scientist Dr. Kerry Emanuel of MIT, who, incidentally, is currently on sabbatical here at Bowdoin.
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Climate distilled: $10/ton: Costs of offsetting your carbon guilt
If you could pay someone to erase your carbon footprint, would you do it?
Let me rephrase that: would you pay someone to erase your carbon footprint, even if you weren’t sure that it would work?
This is the fascinating, if contentious, promise of the carbon-offsetting industry.
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Climate distilled: On climate change: sustainability is not enough, but it is a good start
Going to lectures on climate change might not be everyone’s ideal way to start the weekend. And while I wouldn’t call last Friday’s lecture a mood booster, I’m glad that I attended.
The keynote speaker for the President’s Science Symposium presented to a crowded Kresge audience during last week’s Common Hour. The speaker, Dr. Daniel Schrag, is both a professor of geology and the director of the Center of the Environment at Harvard University. Climate change, as Schrag described it, is a massive experiment on the order of nothing ever before seen by the hominid species. Our planet is likely to experience its residual effects for tens—if not hundreds—of thousands of years. The planet’s “recovery time” will hinge on how much longer we prolong fossil fuel combustion.
According to the scenarios presented by Schrag, our options for a clean-energy future are: highly efficient use of all forms of energy; exclusive use of zero-carbon (both renewables and nuclear) power sources, and large-scale CO2 sequestration. Schrag believes that a realistic zero-net-carbon future must include all three.
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Climate distilled: Climate change now more certain, according to IPCC
In the chaos accompanying the start of the academic year (not to mention the recent uproar over the shutdown of our federal government), you may have missed the news that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) just released its 2013 assessment report on—you guessed right—climate change.
The report is essentially a condensed version of all the significant climate science research that’s been published in the past few years, and an updated one is released every five to seven years. It’s meant to provide apolitical recommendations that set a baseline for decision-making on climate change.
Created in 1988, the IPCC is a collection of the world’s leading climate scientists who also have the power to act as delegates for their respective governments. As neither a solely scientific nor political body, the IPCC does not conduct original studies, but instead evaluates recent climate research and digests it into one very long report, the first of which was released in 1990.