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DER SPIEGEL
Global Warning
Heat waves, sinking cities, droughts and disappearing polar ice caps -- the effects of climate change are catastrophic. Despite the consequences, human activity continues to belch greenhouse gases while a rising tide of activists questions the science behind prevailing data.
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 21, 2012Poland is addicted to coal. That is the message the country has been sending both domestically and internationally as Warsaw prepares to host the global climate summit next year. In Europe, the Poles are isolated in their fight for looser emissions reduction goals and against fixes to the EU's cap-and-trade system.
By Joel Stonington more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 14, 2012Massive UN climate summits have been held for years, but accomplished little. Believing there is almost no chance of securing a global deal on reducing emissions, experts now want to ditch the current system and try something new.
By Axel Bojanowski more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 07, 2012In 1972, environmental guru Dennis Meadows predicted in his seminal study "The Limits to Growth" that the world was heading toward an economic collapse. Forty years on, he tells SPIEGEL ONLINE that nothing he has seen since has made him change his mind.
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SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 07, 2012The next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts won't be released until late 2013. But insiders say that thanks to faster computers and better models, the report will offer more precise predictions and adjust anticipated changes in sea levels and precipitation.
By Olaf Stampf more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 06, 2012As the United Nations climate change conference in Doha wraps up, many environmentalists are feeling hopeless about the lack of progress. But in a SPIEGEL interview, German government advisor Kai Konrad says that Berlin and Europe are taking the wrong approach to motivating others.
more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 05, 2012President Obama's comments in the wake of the Hurricane Sandy disaster raised hopes across the world that the US was finally willing to act on climate change. But America's refusal to make concessions at the Doha climate talks shows just how little its position has really budged.
By Jörg Schindler more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 04, 2012Can the world's climate still be saved? Many have already given up hope due to steadily climbing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. But the battle has not yet been lost -- and there are reasons for optimism.
A guest commentary by the British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Daveymore... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 03, 2012The planet must not be allowed to warm beyond 2 degrees Celsius, according to the official targets at the Climate Change Conference in Doha. But a new study shows the goal is far from realistic. Current human activity is set to increase the temperature by some 5 degrees, and the consequences will be dire, scientists warn.
By Christoph Seidler in Doha, Qatar more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - December 03, 2012Children's books are the second largest segment in Germany's billion-euro book industry. But publishers' profits are coming at the expense of rainforests in Asia, according to a new report from the WWF. Nearly 30 percent of German children's books use pulp from rainforest wood harvested in Sumatra and elsewhere in the region.
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SPIEGEL ONLINE - November 26, 2012The United Nations Climate Change Conference beginning in Doha this week is turning into a farce. While negotiators are sticking to the goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, even climatologists admit that the project has failed.
By SPIEGEL Staffmore... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE - November 26, 2012In the search for a negotiated agreement to combat global climate change, US domestic politics play an outsized role. But even if President Barack Obama unexpectedly pushes emissions reduction legislation through Congress, the resulting treaty would still have to be ratified. Such a process would take too much time -- and it is time we don't have.
A Commentary by Oliver Geden more... [ Forum ]