Climate 411

We Can Do It, and at Moderate Cost

By / Bio / Published: May 7, 2007

Lisa Moore, today’s guest blogger, is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program.

On Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a summary of its third report [PDF] (see our explanation of the IPCC). The first two reports focused on the science [PDF] and the impacts [PDF] of climate change. Now the IPCC has tackled the all-important question: What can we do about it?

The great news is that there is "high agreement" and "much evidence" that there are many ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions (see our post on how to get us there), and every economic sector can make a difference. For a cautious, consensus-driven group like the IPCC, that’s strong language.

Just as encouraging is the conclusion that fighting global warming isn’t going to destroy economies.

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Posted in Economics / Read 4 Responses

U.S. emissions up, EPA calls that 'results'

By / Bio / Published: April 17, 2007

Lisa Moore is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program.

The EPA just released its most recent estimate of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which shows that our global warming pollution continues to climb. Since 1990, emissions are up more than 16 percent. But the EPA is casting this as a victory. How?

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Posted in News / Read 3 Responses

Military experts: climate change a threat

By / Bio / Published: April 17, 2007

Lisa Moore is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program.

Bill Chameides is out of the office, but science, policy and news about global warming keep coming in. Yesterday, a group of military experts declared that climate change threatens national security (registration required). Their report [PDF] says:

Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national security challenges for the United States…. The increasing risks from climate change should be addressed now because they will almost certainly get worse if we delay.

Posted in News / Read 2 Responses

Flood risk up close and personal

By / Bio / Published: April 16, 2007

Lisa Moore is a scientist in the Climate and Air Program in Environmental Defense’s New York office. Along with principal author Jennifer Kefer, colleague Tim Searchinger and the National Wildlife Federation’s David Conrad, she is a co-author of the new report “America’s Flood Risk is Heating Up.”

This weekend’s monster nor’easter prompted flood warnings and evacuations from the Carolinas to Maine. And what ironic timing: last week, as the storm wreaked havoc in the South, Environmental Defense and the National Wildlife Federation released a report detailing how the Army Corps of Engineers’ flood-control program needs to be completely re-vamped [PDF], especially in light of climate change.

While helping draft the report, I was struck by two things in particular.

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Posted in Extreme Weather / Read 2 Responses