2008 March: Climate
Anchor: Base Index
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and New Scientist's special report, which is continually updated.
Andrew Darby, Cold reality: ice shelf loses vast chunk, The Age, 2008 Mar. 27 (another Antarctic ice shelf, another bite out of it the size of a city, gone in a matter of days)
Richard Black, Arctic losing long-term ice cover, BBC, 2008 Mar. 18 (despite colder conditions, the Arctic is losing a lot of its old, stable ice, according to satellite data)
Glaciers suffer record shrinkage, BBC, 2008 Mar. 16 (the rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown)
Juliette Jowit, Melting glaciers start countdown to climate chaos, Observer, 2008 Mar. 16 (climate experts warn of effects of disappearing glaciers)
Juliette Jowit and Robin McKie, Glaciers melt 'at fastest rate in past 5,000 years', Observer, 2008 Mar. 16 (world's glaciers are melting faster than at any time since records began, threatening catastrophe for millions)
Famine, farm prices and aid: Food for thought, Economist, 2008 Mar. 29 (soaring prices for products like rice and wheat are causing headaches for aid agencies and politicians)
Rice and politics: Needed: a new revolution, Economist, 2008 Mar. 29 (how bad policies crimp exporters)
AFP, Biofuels threat to food supplies, The Age, 2008 Mar. 25 (increased use of crops such as wheat and corn to make biofuels is threatening global food supplies, the head of the world's biggest food group says)
Simon Ramsay, Working farmers keep prices in check, The Age, 2008 Mar. 8 (the drought is not the only culprit when it comes to food price rises)
Severin Carrell, World's first organic cod farm sinks into administration with £40m debt, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 6 (company's plight raises concerns about future of ethical whitefish farming)
John Gray, Those who control oil and water will control the world, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 30 (new superpowers are competing for diminishing resources as Britain becomes a bit-player; the outcome could be deadly)
David Suzuki, Blind date with disaster, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 12 (we are constantly warned by scientists that our planet is in big trouble, so why can't we change direction?; one of the world's leading ecologists, on how humans have lost the vital skill of foresight)
Ian Traynor, EU told to prepare for flood of climate change migrants, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 10 (global warming threatens to render a fifth of planet's population homeless, EU officials say)
Robin McKie, A lethal virus, humanity wiped out—then what?, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 9 (new book and documentary envisage the future of earth without humans; The World Without Us, Alan Weisman)
Clay Lucas, The car is doomed, scientist warns, The Age, 2008 Mar. 3 (car travel should be cut by 80%, road construction halted and public transport boosted if Australia is to meet carbon emission targets, energy experts have warned)
Rainforests: Racing to hug those trees, Economist, 2008 Mar. 29 (as UN efforts to save the forests grind on, a range of alternatives is on offer)
Ian Ferguson, Discount invective in polar positions on logging, The Age, 2008 Mar. 21 (two books, The Forest Wars, by Judith Ajani, and Saving Australia's Forests and Its Implications, by Mark Poynter, exemplify the polarisation of the debate on Australian forests, which is more bitter than that in any other developed country I am familiar with)
Forestry: Protected by bars, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (a groundbreaking computerised forest-protection system is up and running)
Oregon's forests: The wood and the trees, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (a dispute over logging obscures the real problem with Oregon's economy)
Vassili Papastavrou, Take cover by saving urban trees, BBC, 2008 Mar. 4 (stop felling urban trees and embark on a scheme to plant lots of fast-growing species that soon leave us in the shade)
Jason Steger, McEwan goes out on limb for Tasmania's trees, The Age, 2008 Mar. 4 (British novelist Ian McEwan has always liked to have his say—in his books and in public)
James Randerson and Nicholas Watt, Top scientists warn against rush to biofuel, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 25 (Brown intends to resist EU plans for increased biofuels quotas as doubts over their use multiply)
Please buy our dirty oil, Economist, 2008 Mar. 15 (an American law appears to prohibit American government agencies from buying crude produced in the oil sands of Alberta)
Ian Traynor, Climate change may spark conflict with Russia, EU told, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 10 (alert over scramble for control of energy resources in the Arctic)
Energy: Down and dirty, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (if geothermal energy, which exploits underground heat reserves, is to become widespread, it will have to work outside volcanic areas; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Energy: A bag full of sunshine, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (a combination of flexible solar cells and low-energy lighting provides a way to bring electric light to isolated communities; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Case history: In search of the perfect battery, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (researchers are desperate to find a modern-day philosopher's stone: the battery technology that will make electric cars practical; here is a brief history of their quest; part of a Technology Quarterly)
European energy: Neelie's deal, Economist, 2008 Mar. 8 (why E.ON, Germany's biggest power company, made an unexpected U-turn saying it would sell its German electricity-transmission grid, plus about 20% of its local generating capacity, in exchange for an end to the antitrust investigation)
Jill Treanor, US biofuels flooding European market, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 7 (subsidised biofuels from America threaten to destroy Europe's domestic refining market, D1 Oils warned as its shares lost a third of their value)
Peter Weekes, Under the pump, The Age, 2008 Mar. 2 (as the oil price soars, the effects are tipped to flow far and wide, forcing people to change their lifestyles and pushing households closer to the edge)
Fran Walker, Vale the has-beans—the growing cost of alternative fuels, The Age, 2008 Mar. 2 (the cost of baked beans is rising as farmers join the ethanol boom)
Ethanol and water: Don't mix, Economist, 2008 Mar. 1 (new reasons to be suspicious of ethanol)
Jo Chandler, Global warming's next wave, The Age, 2008 Mar. 15 (the stress climate change is placing on Australia's developing neighbours, such as sinking Pacific islands, will in turn place stress on Australia as the region struggles to accommodate environmental refugees)
Ian Traynor, EU told to prepare for flood of climate change migrants, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 10 (global warming threatens to render a fifth of planet's population homeless, EU officials say)
Peter Christoff, Share the burden on climate change, The Age, 2008 Mar. 5 (a Pacific pact will help poorer countries that will bear the brunt of global warming)
Douglas McDougall, Time runs out for islanders on global warming's front line, Observer, 2008 Mar. 30 (rising sea levels threaten to flood many of the islands in the fertile Ganges delta, leading to an environmental disaster and a refugee crisis for India and Bangladesh)
Richard Black, Fish key to reef climate survival, BBC, 2008 Mar. 20 (a healthy fish population could be the key to ensuring coral reefs survive the impacts of climate change, pollution, overfishing and other threats)
Darren Gray, Build more dams, farm lobby urges, The Age, 2008 Mar. 27 (new dams should be built in Victoria to catch climate-change-related downpours and give better water security to all, according to the Victorian Farmers Federation)
Catherine Deveny, If my family can do their bit, so can everyone else, The Age, 2008 Mar. 26 (our efforts sometimes seem futile when governments and McMansion-dwellers don't care)
Mark Kinver, Property plan's 'low carbon' goal, BBC, 2008 Mar. 14 (reducing buildings' energy use in North America is the quickest and cheapest way to cut emissions, a study says)
Clay Lucas, Urban expansion a 'climate threat', The Age, 2008 Mar. 12 (containing urban sprawl and lowering greenhouse emissions by reducing car dependency have emerged as key issues in Professor Ross Garnaut's first paper on transport and urban planning)
Chee Chee Leung, Unlocking the memories of islands' tides of change, The Age, 2008 Mar. 21 (a scientist is to document the trail of climate change that is threatening to bring trouble in paradise)
John Vidal, Government figures hide scale of CO2 emissions, says report, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 17 (Britain's climate change emissions may be 12% higher than officially stated, investigation finds)
Map sheds light on hothouse world, BBC, 2008 Mar. 7 (a reconstruction of how the oceans looked in the past could help model future changes, a study says)
Kenneth Davidson, Tunnel could save the dying Murray, The Age, 2008 Mar. 31 (the Murray is dying; the $10 billion plan won't stop this; the best bet is the $300 million Great Divide tunnel, which, because it was surveyed in 1961, could be up and running in a year if work started now)
Misha Schubert and Peter Ker, $1bn Murray breakthrough, The Age, 2008 Mar. 27 (the $10 billion rescue plan for the Murray-Darling river system will go ahead after Victoria ended its 15-month boycott of the plan in return for $1 billion for irrigation funding and keeping control over its water allocations)
Chee Chee Leung, Heatwave in March breaks state record, The Age, 2008 Mar. 21 (record books have been rewritten across Victoria this month by the sustained heatwave in southern Australia)
Late start on pipline, The Age, 2008 Mar. 21 (work on the controversial north-south pipeline will begin at least one month later than planned, Melbourne Water has conceded)
Kenneth Davidson, Being the 'lucky country' won't save us from climate change, The Age, 2008 Mar. 20 (the Rudd Government must resist pressure to delay action on emissions)
Ben Doherty and Peter Ker, Think tank says a dam far cheaper than desal, The Age, 2008 Mar. 19 (water from Victoria's proposed desalination plant is likely to cost nearly three times the price Melburnians currently pay for their household water, a report by the Institute of Public Affairs has found)
Nick Lenaghan, Climate change clouds outlook for insurers, The Age, 2008 Mar. 14 (insurance premiums may rise if insurers decide the spate of recent storms are the result of a permanent change in weather patterns)
Peter Ker, State fails to raise rural water quality, The Age, 2008 Mar. 13 (country Victorians remain second-class citizens in terms of water supply, after the Brumby Government conceded yesterday it had failed to improve the state's poorest-quality drinking supplies for the third consecutive survey)
Peter Ker, Murray laws months from flow-on effect, The Age, 2008 Mar. 3 (it was unveiled with fanfare on Australia Day last year, but when former prime minister John Howard's plan for the future of the Murray-Darling Basin becomes law this morning, it will resemble the three-legged horse he was determined to avoid)
Chris Hammer, Water for the birds as SA farmers left high and dry, The Age, 2008 Mar. 26 (the Murray-Darling Basin Commission has announced the purchase of 11,000 megalitres of water to help flood wetlands in the Narran Lakes system in northern NSW, about 100 kilometres south of the Queensland border)
Chee Chee Leung, Climate change seen as last nail in coffin for native fauna, The Age, 2008 Mar. 25 (some of Australia's most vulnerable native animals could die out as climate change take its toll on their already fragile existence)
John Elder and Winston Tan, Population spike—march of the echidnas ends up in the city, The Age, 2008 Mar. 2 (drought and development are driving echidnas south)
Kenneth Davidson, Tunnel could save the dying Murray, The Age, 2008 Mar. 31 (the Murray is dying; the $10 billion plan won't stop this; the best bet is the $300 million Great Divide tunnel, which, because it was surveyed in 1961, could be up and running in a year if work started now)
Peter Ker, Home filters could ease rural crisis, The Age, 2008 Mar. 26 (the drinking water crisis in rural Victoria could be solved more cheaply using domestic water purifiers, an independent report will tell the State Government this week)
Peter Ker, To drink or not to drink: Victoria's great divide, The Age, 2008 Mar. 26 (a report into drinking water standards in Victoria revealed this month that breaches of quality standards were rampant throughout the north-west and north-east)
Chris Hammer, Murray lakes could be opened to the sea, The Age, 2008 Mar. 20 (a meeting of state and federal water ministers in October appears likely to consider drastic options for the freshwater lakes near the mouth of the Murray River, including abandoning them as a source of irrigation or opening them to sea water)
Ben Doherty and Peter Ker, Think tank says a dam far cheaper than desal, The Age, 2008 Mar. 19 (water from Victoria's proposed desalination plant is likely to cost nearly three times the price Melburnians currently pay for their household water, a report by the Institute of Public Affairs has found)
Chris Hammer and Chee Chee Leung, Farmers pay for heatwave, The Age, 2008 Mar. 18 (the heat has had a devastating effect on South Australia's farming sector and raised serious doubts about the sustainability of irrigation in the lower Murray River)
Water rows in the South: Take them to the river, Economist, 2008 Mar. 15 (Georgia opens a northern front in its battle with drought)
Peter Ker, Tasteless, odourless. But for how long?, The Age, 2008 Mar. 15 (it's claimed to be the best tasting drop in the land, but Melbourne's tap water is about to change)
Marc Moncrief, Water restrictions to stay, The Age, 2008 Mar. 4 (Melburnians can expect water restrictions to remain for several years until massive infrastructure projects are completed)
Chris Hammer, Torrential rains up north bring no trickle-down effect to Victoria, The Age, 2008 Mar. 4 (flooding rains in Queensland and above average summer rainfall in upper Murray River will provide little or no relief for Victorian irrigators, Murray-Darling Basin Commission warns)
Chee Chee Leung, Mercury rises for mad March, The Age, 2008 Mar. 11 (officially, it's autumn but someone forgot to tell the weather; just when everyone thought summer was over, Melbourne has recorded one of its warmest starts to the new season)
Caroline Davies, Travel chaos alert as storm heads for UK, Guardian, 2008 Mar. 9 (the strongest storm to batter Britain this winter is expected to bring winds of up to 80mph)
Melissa Kent, Dying for a drink, trees take the fall, The Age, 2008 Mar. 9 (as Melbourne revels in the prolonged summer heat, the city's drought-stricken trees are telling another story)