Feb 7, 2012
Don't put all eggs in one (geoengineered) basket
Should research efforts focus on single large-scale geoengineering schemes? Or...
Global emissions rebound to record levels after global financial crisis
Global carbon dioxide emissions increased by a record 5.9 per cent in 2010...
Nov 24, 2011
Conference deadline extends
The Planet Under Pressure management team is extending the oral presenters...
Tracking groundwater depletion
As water demand rises rapidly, some regions are withdrawing groundwater faster...
In the line of fire
Scientists who published the famous “hockey stick” graph experienced sustained attacks soon after the figure was incorporated in the 2001 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Now one of those scientists, Ray Bradley, has written a very personal account of his experience. He spoke to Owen Gaffney about his new book.
Learning from the past
When it comes to managing the environment, we rarely look beyond the past few years to inform decisions. John Dearing says this needs to change.
The promise and perils of creating markets to pay for public goods
Some payment mechanisms to support ecosystem services can be environmentally harmful, warn experts in...
IGBP research presented to Dalai Lama
Global-change researcher Diana Liverman presented IGBP's Great Acceleration graphs to the Dalai Lama...
Single-celled plankton reveal past climates
How do scientists reconstruct past climate conditions on Earth? One way of doing this is by culturing...
Is iconic UN index rewarding polluters?
He says that the UN’s annual Human Development Index (HDI), released earlier this month, is flawed because it fails to take into account sustainability. “Worse still, the index celebrates gas-guzzling developed nations. It is time this failure — hidden in plain sight — was exposed and corrected,” he says.
Professor Togtokh has recalculated the index to take account of per capita carbon emissions from each nation, alongside the UN’s traditional measures of health, education and income levels. He names his new metric the Human Sustainable Development Index (HSDI). The results are striking: Australia slides from 2nd place to 26th; the United States drops from 4th to 28th; and Canada falls from 6th to 24th.
“The HDI has shifted the target of development beyond the almighty dollar; the proposed HSDI would go one step further and change the role models for development,” he says. “My country is likely to become one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but the current HDI offers no encouragement for it to grow sustainably.
Supporting notes
The 2011 HSDI incorporated carbon dioxide emission per capita in addition to income, health and education and used the same 2011 UN methodology (Technical notes for 2011 HDR
). All four indicators carry equal weight. The incorporation of per capita carbon emissions was inverse: more emissions = lower environmental index value.
19th IHDP Scientific Committee Meeting
Mar 26 - Mar 29, 2012
Planet under pressure: new knowledge towards solutions
Global Change Magazine No. 77
In this issue you can debate the influence of climate on history, familiarise yourselves with the International Nitrogen Initiative, and find out how publishing the "hockey stick" graph changed life...
Global Change Magazine No. 76
Articles in this issue focus on a range of topics, including the UN's Global Sustainability Panel, South American palaeoclimate, Geoengineering and Ocean Acidification. The regulars include...
How green is my future?
UN panel foresees big growth in renewable energy, but policies will dictate just how big.
UK:
'The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time?'
Royal Society, Philosphical Transactions A