Tag Archives: Paris Agreement

Earth Day 2023

 (Source: Houston Arboretum) This is obviously not my first blog titled Earth Day. Just put the title in the search box and start investigating. The day is unique for me on two levels: it celebrates our physical environment and commitments … Continue reading

Posted in Electricity, Energy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Role of Oil Companies in the Energy Transition

In last week’s blog, I included a citation from Nicholas Kusnetz’s article, “What Does Net Zero Emissions Mean for Big Oil?” which pointed out: Most glaring is that none of the companies has committed to cut its oil and gas … Continue reading

Posted in Energy, IPCC, Russia/Ukraine, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Math of the American Commitment

A short entry appeared in the Scientific American journal in the middle of the COP26 meeting: “Doing the Math on Biden’s Climate Pledge.” The author was trying to explain how the Biden administration—only three months after assuming control from an … Continue reading

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Conclusions From COP26

This semester, I am teaching two courses directly related to climate change. I start both with an exploration of the basic science involved. It’s a multidisciplinary topic that requires using first principles to address the overlap of the physical, natural, … Continue reading

Posted in Climate Change, Economics, Energy, Sustainability, UN | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The End of Oil?

The UN COP26 is almost here: The latest round of global climate talks will take place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom. Thousands of government delegates and people from civil society, business and the media … Continue reading

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Breaking With Business as Usual

My last three blogs focused on our collective attempts to limit anthropogenic global warming to an increase of 1.5oC in global temperature or, failing that, no more than 2oC. The series of blogs started with a detailed road map recently … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, Anthropogenic, Climate Change, IPCC, Sustainability, US | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

From Commitments to Penalties: Measuring Carbon Emissions

  Since President Biden’s inauguration, I have looked a lot at carbon emissions and what we are doing to minimize them. As an educator and a New York City resident, I am especially invested in this change. Not only do … Continue reading

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The American Jobs Plan

I started to write this blog a day after President Biden presented his infrastructure plan in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The location’s symbolism was obvious; this was the same city where President Trump announced his withdrawal from the Paris Agreement: I was … Continue reading

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Production Gap: Actual Emissions vs. Paris Promises

Figure 1 – Relative country contributions to total global carbon emissions and percentages of emissions over time, 2017 The new administration and the accompanying new leadership of many federal offices have strongly signaled a renewed and strengthened dedication to confront … Continue reading

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Green Taxonomy

On December 27, 2016, I posted a blog, “Impact Assessment: Self-Inflicted Genocide and the Toronto Principle.” I cited an Op-Ed from Benjamin A. Franta: Last December, a committee at the University of Toronto released a report on the issue of divestment, drawing … Continue reading

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