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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 6, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1993

PERIODICALS...
GENERAL INTEREST AND POLICY

Item #d93oct63

"The $1.5 Billion Question: Can the U.S. Global Change Research Program Deliver on Its Promises?" R. Monastersky, Science News, 158-159, Sep. 4, 1993.

Despite increased funds budgeted by the Clinton Administration, a growing number of critics warn that the research program appears headed for failure unless fundamental changes are made. The question posed is: in contrast to the recent National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, can the program can be modified to provide the information needed to develop sound policy in a timely manner?

Item #d93oct64

Two opposing views from New Scientist:

"How Science Fails the Environment," B. Wynne, S. Mayer, 33-35, June 5. If politicians don't like uncertainties and scientists often conceal them, how can we make policies that deal with the vagaries of the world around us? The onus is still on environmentalists to prove that a threat exists. Discusses the ideal characteristics of a "greener" science than is generally practiced.

"The Perils of Green Pessimism," A. Milne, 34-37, June 12. An industrial chemist argues that if scientists advise on environmental policy before all of the evidence is in, the best scientific practice is undermined. Extensively criticizes the precautionary principle, an increasingly popular notion in environmental policy making, and the philosophy of the organization Greenpeace (the affiliation of the second author of the previous article).

Item #d93oct65

"Beyond the Politics of Blame," J. Beyea, EPRI J., 14-17, July-Aug. 1993 (Electric Power Res. Inst., POB 10412, Palo Alto CA 94303).

A chief scientist with the National Audubon Society calls for the industrial and environmental camps to forgo finger pointing, discuss their real goals, and start cooperatively crafting a vision of the future. Hardened adversarial stances are self-defeating for both sides.

Item #d93oct66

"Processes of International Negotiation," B. Spector, IIASA Options, 4-12, June 1993 (Intl. Inst. Applied Systems Analysis, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria).

A collection of several features relating to the IIASA project Processes of International Negotiation. Includes discussion on post-Rio negotiations, global energy and climate change, and the Global Environment Facility.

Item #d93oct67

"Carbon Diplomacy in Europe Derails," J. Rose, Environ. Sci. Technol., p. 1752, Sep. 1993. The demise of the EC's SAVE initiative on energy efficiency and its impasse on a carbon tax do not bode well for any future attempt to secure a world-wide framework for reducing CO₂ emissions.

Item #d93oct68

"Britain's Fridges: Too Hot to Handle," D. MacKenzie, New Scientist, 14-15, Sep. 4, 1993. Better refrigerators could cut pollution, global warming and electricity bills, but Britain and Germany are opposing tough new standards for Europe.

Item #d93oct69

"Carbon Dioxide's Taxing Questions," F. Pearce, ibid., 12-13, June 1993. Discusses the political prospects for industrial nations to meet the Rio deadline for stabilizing CO₂ emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000, and the possible role of a carbon tax.

Item #d93oct70

"Pioneering Greenhouse Policy," D.M. Roodman, World Watch, 7-8, July-Aug. 1993 (Worldwatch Inst., 1776 Mass. Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036). Denmark and the Netherlands are leading the large industrial nations through their policies on energy production and energy use.

Item #d93oct71

World Clim. Rev. (Dept. Environ. Sci., Univ. Virginia, Charlottesville VA 22903).

Each 20-page issue of this quarterly research review has a section comparing recent temperature trends with climate model forecasts, and summarizes several papers from the recent research literature. The Summer 1993 issue includes an article on the possible benefits of increased levels of CO₂; the Spring issue includes staff testimony for Congress on global warming.

Item #d93oct72

"Green Designs on Supersonic Flight," T. Patel, New Scientist, 35-37, Aug. 14, 1993.

While aerospace manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. press ahead with development of the next generation of supersonic jetliners, atmospheric scientists have discovered that the effects of emissions on the ozone layer could be a much bigger problem than expected. Discusses competition between the two continents for the market for supersonic travel.

Item #d93oct73

"The Pentagon's Green Flag of Convenience," V. Kiernan, ibid., 12-13.

American submarines, spy planes and satellites are starting to become available for the peaceful pursuit of science, but there are restrictions, and some scientists think the money could be better spent on wholly civilian projects. The Russians are being far more accommodating, even to American scientists, than is the U.S. Navy to scientists collecting data from submarines.

Item #d93oct74

"The High Cost of Carbon Dioxide," F. Pearce, ibid., 26-29, July 17, 1993.

An extensive examination of carbon sequestration, a whole new waste-disposal industry the oil and gas concerns are trying to invent. Gives the pros and cons of the three major approaches under discussion: frozen CO₂ stored in insulated masses above the ground; storage of liquid CO₂ beneath the ocean; and storage of carbon in biomass. One version of the latter, tree planting, is most likely to bring about agreement between the engineers and environmentalists.

Item #d93oct75

"Air Repair," O. Davies, Omni, 62-67, 92, 94, June 1993.

Scientists are starting to discuss "geoengineering" schemes to counteract the effects of global air pollution. They range from fertilizing oceanic plankton to increase their uptake of CO₂, to spreading dust in the upper atmosphere to act as a global sunshade. A National Academy of Sciences study recently reviewed the topic.

Item #d93oct76

"A Second Environmental Science: Human-Environment Interactions," P.C. Stern, Science, 1897-1899, June 25, 1993. (See Global Climate Change Digest, p. 102, July-Aug 1993.)