Environmental

Recent Posts

Penguin decline may turn on presence or absence of krill, not the loss of sea ice per se
Posted on 11 Sep 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Researchers have been following the penguin population off the tip of the West Antarctic Peninsula since the 1970's. Winter air temperatures in the region have climbed a significant 5 to 6 degrees Celsius in recent decades with a concomitant loss... Read More

Early European explorers of North America may have indirectly triggered the Little Ice Age by exposing the local population to new diseases
Posted on 17 Oct 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

By the end of the 15th century, between 40 and 80 million people are thought to have been living in the Americas. Many of them burned trees to make room for crops, leaving behind charcoal deposits that have been found in the soils of Mexico, Nicaragua... Read More

Smoke from fires can travel thousands of miles impacting weather, climate, and air quality
Posted on 4 Apr 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Prior posts have noted the impact of fires in Southeast Asia on air pollution throughout the region. While it has been known for decades that large wildfires can create or enhance thunderstorm clouds, leading to what are called pyrocumulonimbus clouds... Read More

Area from Massachusetts to North Carolina Faces Accelerating Sea Level Increase
Posted on 25 Jun 2012 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Climate change has, on average, raised the surface of the world's oceans in recent decades by melting glaciers and causing seawater to expand as it warms. But the rise has not been uniform, just like the increase in ocean temperature. As noted in... Read More

Data from crop trials demonstrates threat climate change poses to crops
Posted on 27 Mar 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Serendipity has helped more than a few scientists with insights and discoveries. Researchers were chatting, and realized that data from work one of them was focused upon various crop trials spread across southern and eastern Africa, if correlated with... Read More

Climate Crisis: Insurers Tell Weather Like It Is
Posted on 2 Aug 2012 by Dianne Saxe

By Dianne Saxe, Ontario Environmental Lawyer The Canadian federal government does not like to talk about climate change, so the Insurance Bureau of Canada has released a hard hitting report on the damage that climate change is already causing in... Read More

Because some ships may be less carbon intensive than others, customers can influence emissions
Posted on 16 Dec 2010 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

"If the shipping industry were a country, it would be the sixth-biggest industrial carbon emitter in the world. Whereas big countries have plans for cutting emissions, shipping does not. The UN climate talks in Cancún are unlikely to change... Read More

UN Climate Change Leaders Seek Cooperation, Creativity And Compromise
Posted on 3 Dec 2010 by E. Lynn Grayson

By E. Lynn Grayson , Partner, Jenner & Block Executive Director of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Christiana Figueres, opened the conference saying "You are gathered in Cancun to weave together the elements of a... Read More

Penguin decline may turn on presence or absence of krill, not the loss of sea ice per se
Posted on 11 Sep 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Researchers have been following the penguin population off the tip of the West Antarctic Peninsula since the 1970's. Winter air temperatures in the region have climbed a significant 5 to 6 degrees Celsius in recent decades with a concomitant loss... Read More

Sulfur Masking Global Warming?
Posted on 15 Jul 2011 by Patrick Greissing

By Patrick Greissing, Alston & Bird LLP A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences states that despite the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from 1998 to 2008, global surfaces temperatures have leveled... Read More

Another potential sign of global warming: Crabs are invading the shallow waters of the Southern Ocean
Posted on 12 Mar 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Numerous past posts have noted that evidence for global warming can be found in the numerous reports on specific environmental conditions and events around the globe (for example, the migration of corals around Japan, the trend in lakes around the world... Read More

Some aircraft designers think outside the box to improve efficiency
Posted on 24 Mar 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

Concern has been expressed in recent years over the contribution of aircraft to GHG emissions. Some airlines have gotten favorable publicity for experimenting with bio-derived fuels. But, what if aircraft were to target reducing fuel consumption by half... Read More

UN Launches Climate Change Funding Website
Posted on 3 Dec 2010 by E. Lynn Grayson

By E. Lynn Grayson, Partner, Jenner & Block The UN announced yesterday the launch of a website to help developing countries make sense of the multiple funds available to finance climate change-related needs. It estimates that developing countries... Read More

Decline of Western Aspen trees swells population of rodents that carry the deadly sin nombre virus
Posted on 12 Jan 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

As noted in prior posts, Aspen trees in the West have been dying. There appears to be no single cause. However, drought in the 1990's and early 2000's probably made the trees more susceptible to cankers, fungi, and other maladies. The result is... Read More