Topics tagged with 'Science'

Giant blades snatch energy from the air
9 Feb 2016
Science can now make energy by building immense wind turbine blades and filtering carbon from the air, but the challenge is commercial viability.

How human impacts fuel weather extremes
9 Feb 2016
Researchers show that floods and droughts often happen at least in part because of human-induced influences on the climate, and not just from natural causes.
Many Brits can't be bothered, survey shows
9 Feb 2016
Half the people worried about climate change are not willing to make any changes to their lives to prevent it, a new study suggests.

Why post-Paris businesses must get moving
2 Feb 2016
Emissions Trading Scheme measures protecting industries from the full impact of carbon pricing have had their day, says an organisation representing a trillion dollars worth of investments.

Sick seas paint picture of how our future could be
2 Feb 2016
For billions of years, life on Earth remained relatively simple. Only single-celled organisms that could live with little or no oxygen were able to survive in the seas.

How planning helps these farmers to beat the climate
2 Feb 2016
South Africa’s Western Cape plays an important role in the agricultural economy, but is particularly vulnerable to a changing climate.
Ancient plankton give up secrets to science
2 Feb 2016
Scientists have for the first time determined how and when more than 2000 species of ancient marine plankton became extinct, and a potential indicator for which current species might be vulnerable to rapid climate change.
Sydney makes a plan to win the climate war
25 Jan 2016
Sydney has announced a series of measures to help the city to cope with soaring temperatures, worsening storms and rising sea levels.

Carbon capture technology needs urgent help
25 Jan 2016
Call for governments to give financial backing for technology that could help to save the world from overheating by preventing CO2 escaping into the atmosphere

The last time it was this hot hippos lived in Britain
25 Jan 2016
It’s official: 2015 was the warmest year on record. But those global temperature records only date back to 1850 and become increasingly uncertain the further back you go.

Out-of-touch traffic modelling drives policy madness
25 Jan 2016
According to all the data, urban car use has peaked, but official traffic modelling forecasts a remarkable reversal.
America's politics of climate unlikely to change
18 Jan 2016
In an American lection year, with two parties dug in on opposite sides of the climate issue, perhaps only extreme weather will roil the debate.

The current economic system is looking pretty tired
18 Jan 2016
It’s increasingly clear that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way humans run the world. There are many contradictions experienced daily that prove this: the widening social gaps between rich and poor, the paradox of obesity next to starvation, and the ongoing destruction of the planet for short-term private profit.

UK must balance food farming impacts
18 Jan 2016
The UK could reduce its emissions by converting farmland to absorb more carbon dioxide − but risks increasing climate change effects abroad.
Treaty emerges from battle of the verbs
15 Dec 2015
Under the Paris Agreement there should be no net addition of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere sometime in the second half of this century.

Hansen: Why global ‘carbon fee’ system will work
7 Dec 2015
Former NASA climate scientist James Hansen has called for a global “carbon fee” in which fossil fuels are taxed when they are produced or imported, rather than when they are consumed.

Corporate sustainability won’t solve climate change
7 Dec 2015
In the run-up to the COP21 international climate summit in Paris, business leaders worldwide have shown substantial support for action on greenhouse gases.

Energy game-changers look to future
7 Dec 2015
Innovative new research into clean energy technology shows there are viable alternatives to fossil fuels – provided there is enough political will and investment.

Can eating less meat really tackle climate change?
30 Nov 2015
With the food system accounting for up to a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, anything that reduces its impact will make a big difference to the climate.

Just what is solar thermal electricity, anyway?
30 Nov 2015
A large solar thermal electricity plant will soon begin operating near Ouarzazate, Morocco, which will reportedly bring energy to a million people when fully complete.
How climate change has taken a turn for the worse
23 Nov 2015
The world is now in abrupt climate change, says a New Zealander who was one of the first scientists in the world to talk about human-induced climate change.

The Big Apple puts bite on all corporations
23 Nov 2015
In a move that is potentially transformative, the New York attorney general is investigating Exxon for financial fraud.

How to ensure nations stick to Paris commitments
23 Nov 2015
New Zealand is proposing in Paris a climate agreement that is not legally binding. PETER NEWELL, Professor of International Relations at the University of Sussex, explains why legally binding agreements don't work.

How we see ourselves in the year 2100
23 Nov 2015
Most books report on what has already happened. John O’Brien has written one that describes the future.

Business picking up the pace ahead of Paris summit
16 Nov 2015
Twelve Australian companies last week committed to strong measures to tackle climate change at the Australian Climate Leadership Summit in Sydney.

Go-it-alone action can break climate gridlock
9 Nov 2015
Researchers say the way to establish fair levels for everyone on global emissions reduction is for one of the major powers to stand up and set the benchmark.

Cash is key to success at Paris climate talks
9 Nov 2015
A former key figure in UN climate change policy-making says economists now see that development without destroying the environment is the only way forward.

Industrial waste could offset climate emissions
9 Nov 2015
More than a billion tonnes of potentially toxic, bleach-like waste is produced and piled in landfills every year, with often devastating effects. And yet most people haven’t even heard of these ‘alkaline wastes’.

Why we need a world agreement on agri emissions
2 Nov 2015
Pushing for a global agreement on agricultural emissions could benefit the climate and trade, says one of our leading climate scientists.
Best not to mess with agriculture yet, says NZ First
2 Nov 2015
Agriculture should be left out of the Emissions Trading Scheme until other countries act on biological emissions, says New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
How to build a city fit for 50deg heatwaves
2 Nov 2015
The Persian Gulf is already one of the hottest parts of the world, but by the end of the century increasing heat combined with intense humidity will make the region too hot for habitation, according to research published in Nature Climate Change.
Solar can cut our bills and still be good for utilities
2 Nov 2015
The cost of solar energy continues to fall, so it is no surprise that more people are adopting solar.

Hurricanes wreak economic havoc as world warms
27 Oct 2015
Analysis of insurance data convinces environmental economists that climate change is pushing up the cost of dealing with the disastrous effects of extreme weather events.
Big emitters shift burden to poorer nations
27 Oct 2015
Researchers say emissions reduction targets set by China, the US and Europe place harsh demands on the rest of the world, and could cast a pall over the Paris climate summit.
Wages set to fall unless warming is tackled
27 Oct 2015
Researchers say the economic costs of failing to take action on climate change will be much greater than previously thought – with average global incomes cut by almost a quarter.

A new era of migration ... and not just for people
19 Oct 2015
The world is watching as refugees flood into a Europe unprepared for the new arrivals.

Worried health workers call for climate action
12 Oct 2015
Tens of thousands of New Zealand health workers are calling for New Zealand to take urgent action on climate change, which they say is a critical health issue.

It's time for the hard work to begin
12 Oct 2015
Recent trips by President Obama highlight the costs of adapting – or responding – to climate change that we are paying today and will pay tomorrow.

Scientists push boundaries to find alternative energy
12 Oct 2015
From algae to alloys, ingenuity in the world’s laboratories is fuelling experiments to find new ways of providing viable sources of clean energy.

France has a soil plan – and it’s not just about wine
12 Oct 2015
French wine lovers have always taken their soil very seriously. But now the country’s government has introduced fresh reasons for the rest of the world to pay attention to their terroir.

Climate threatens Pacific with seesaw sea levels
5 Oct 2015
Scientists say coasts and communities in the Pacific region face more extreme weather hazards as climate change magnifies the devastating El Niño effect.

Safer battery could spark investment in renewables
5 Oct 2015
Researchers have developed a battery that uses a common food additive to enable abundant solar and wind power to be stored cheaply and safely in homes and offices.

Elephant grass could offer viable alternative to coal
5 Oct 2015
By adapting a tropical grass to grow in the British climate, scientists hope to be able to replace coal in power stations with biofuel.

How low-tech farming can help African farmers
28 Sep 2015
Politicians and the Pope are not the only ones calling for action on climate change these days. Farmers are observing changes in rainfall, temperature and other patterns in weather that have spurred them into shifting their farming methods.

Let’s take the market out of conservation
21 Sep 2015
For years, scientists and environmentalists have debated the best ways to conserve and protect natural resources from pollution and over-exploitation.

India in disarray over strategy on global warming
21 Sep 2015
Researchers in India say its action on climate change is suffering because, unlike China, it has not developed the institutions needed to co-ordinate policy.
Smart modelling to help with aquifer management
7 Sep 2015
Smart modelling techniques will provide the horsepower behind a range of new methods to improve the management of New Zealand’s aquifers.
Scientists to probe ocean acidification
7 Sep 2015
NIWA scientists are carrying out a major research project to determine how New Zealand’s marine ecosystems are faring under climate change.
The green-tech future is a flawed vision of sustainability
31 Aug 2015
What does your vision of a sustainable future look like? Some people imagine a scenario whereby technology solves the world’s most pressing environmental problems.
Hurricane Katrina: what have we learned?
31 Aug 2015
Two academic papers inspired a media firestorm, polarising popular opinion and scientists, on whether global warming was in some way responsible for Hurricane Katrina.