Articles by Joseph Romm

Bush underfunds efficiency

While Bush talks a good game on energy security, he doesn't back the rhetoric up with action. That is especially true when it comes to his own budget, as made clear in a press release from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy:

Be afraid

According to the IPCC's Fourth Assessment (PDF), "discernible human influences now extend to other aspects of climate, including ocean warming, continental-average temperatures, temperature extremes and wind patterns."

The increases in oceanic temperature are particularly worrisome: "Observations since 1961 show that the average temperature of the global ocean has increased to depths of at least 3000 m and that the ocean has been absorbing more than 80% of the heat added to the climate system."

Be afraid

There is a bombshell buried in the middle of the IPCC report. So far, it hasn't received the attention it deserves. In a bullet point on the bottom of page twelve, the report says that dangerous feedback mechanisms are a ticking timebomb, and require dramatic action now.

Translated into plain English, they are saying that we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions far more than previously expected -- up to 27% more -- or else it will be impossible to deal with global warming because of feedback mechanisms. This is one of the central premises of my book Hell and High Water, and there was little indication it was going to be in the report. It is a meaningful addition.

The key bullet from the report (bottom of page 12):

The report may pass over some of the worst dangers

The report hasn't even been released yet, but one of the big stories around this Friday's release by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the conservative edge to the final product, which does not fully account for the melting of the Greenland and/or Antarctic ice sheets.