The role of newspapers and journalists is evolving as technologies and media markets change. Along with providing conventional coverage of the news, blogging, video reports and the like, media outlets are increasingly providing basic background on important enduring issues. The Times has put more effort recently into enriching and updating what are called topics pages — basic backgrounders on issues in the news. I recently had a go at our page on global warming. Here’s the introduction and a link to the full page. It’s followed by the steady feed of news articles and accompanied by links to other background. Henceforth, it’ll be a “living document,” with more features, links and content added as needed. I encourage you to identify any gaps and glitches. Our editors will keep track of the comments.
SCIENCE/ Topics / Global WarmingGlobal warming has become perhaps the most complicated issue facing world leaders. On the one hand, warnings from the scientific community are becoming louder, as an increasing body of science points to rising dangers from the ongoing buildup of greenhouse gases – mainly those produced by the burning of fossil fuels and forests. On the other, the technological, economic and political issues that have to be resolved before a concerted worldwide effort to reduce emissions can begin have gotten no simpler, particularly in the face of a global economic slowdown.
After years of preparation for climate talks to be held in Copenhagen starting on Dec. 7, 2009, President Obama and other leaders announced on Nov. 15 what had already become evident — that no formal treaty could be produced anytime soon. Instead, the leaders pledged to reach some sort of political accord calling for reductions in emissions and aid for developing nations to adapt to a changing climate.
This would in theory give the nations more time to work out their biggest disputes. Negotiators would then seek a binding global agreement in 2010, complete with firm emission targets, enforcement mechanisms and specific dollar amounts to aid poorer nations.
At the heart of the debate is a momentous tussle between rich and poor countries over who steps up first and who pays most for changed energy menus.
Within the United States, Congress is similarly fighting over legislation on climate change. The House in the summer of 2009 passed a bill outlining a cap-and-trade system that could, over the next few decades, lead to an early end to conventional use of coal and oil, fuels that have underpinned prosperity and growth for more than a century. But between stiff opposition from energy interests and the overwhelming distractions of health care reform and the economy, the legislation has been stalled in the Senate. And without backing from Congress, President Obama finds himself able to offer little to match his strong words on the subject.
In the meantime, recent fluctuations in temperature have intensified the public debate over how urgently to respond. The long-term warming trend over the last century has been well-established. But now passionate activists at both ends of the discourse are pushing ever harder for or against rapid action, while scientists immersed in studying the climate are projecting substantial disruption in water supplies, agriculture, ecosystems and along coastlines.
BackgroundScientists learned long ago that the earth’s climate has powerfully shaped the history of the human species — biologically, culturally, geographically. But only in the last few decades has research revealed that humans can be a powerful influence on the climate as well.
A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that the world’s climate is warming, primarily as a result of unfettered burning of fossil fuels and the razing of tropical forests. Such activity contributes to the atmosphere’s invisible blanket of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping “greenhouse” gases.
That conclusion has emerged through a broad body of analysis in fields as disparate as glaciology, the study of glacial formations, and palynology, the study of the distribution of pollen grains in lake mud. It is based on a host of assessments by the world’s leading organizations of climate and earth scientists.
In the last several years, the scientific case that the rising human influence on climate could become disruptive has become particularly robust.
Some fluctuations in the Earth’s temperature are inevitable regardless of human activity — because of decades-long ocean cycles, for example. But centuries of rising temperatures and seas lie ahead if the untrammeled burning of fossil fuels and deforestation continue unabated, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The panel shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore for alerting the world to warming’s risks.
Despite the scientific consensus on these basic conclusions, enormously important details remain murky. That reality has been seized upon by some groups and scientists disputing the overall consensus and opposing changes in energy policies. Read more….