Latest Talking Point articles
Talking Point articles RSS feedIce2sea: firming up the role of the ice sheets
May 9, 2013
As the Ice2sea project nears completion, David Vaughan gives an update on the latest thinking in sea-level rise.
Eating on an interconnected planet
May 7, 2013
Graham MacDonald looks at the food security issues raised by Fader et al's paper in ERL.
Greenland: an integrated approach
Apr 22, 2013
Researchers team up to investigate ice sheet's future
Advancing agricultural greenhouse-gas quantification
Feb 20, 2013
Lydia Olander, Eva Wollenberg, Francesco Tubiello and Martin Herold introduce the ERL Focus Issue
Are we heading for 6° temperature rise?
Feb 6, 2013
Climate scientist Kevin Anderson believes scientists at the interface of climate and policy may have used naive assumptions when modelling for a 2°C target
Telling better stories: strengthening the story in story and simulation
Jan 30, 2013
Eric Kemp-Benedict gives his take on Vanessa Schweizer and Elmar Kriegler's analysis in ERL of the IPCC's Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES)
Rethinking wedges
Jan 9, 2013
In 2004 Pacala and Socolow argued that using existing technologies to deploy seven "stabilization wedges" could solve the climate problem. In light of the delay in major action, Steven Davis, Long Cao, Ken Caldeira and Martin Hoffert now reckon that at least 19 wedges, each ultimately representing 1 Gigatonne of saved carbon emissions each year, will be required, involving a "fundamental overhaul of the global energy system"
Is journalism failing on climate?
Nov 28, 2012 1 comment
Stefan Rahmstorf discusses the latest study in ERL
Greenland plays a large role in the gloomy picture painted of probable future sea-level rise
Nov 21, 2012
Edward Hanna discusses the latest study in ERL
Sustainable development is not dead
Nov 14, 2012
But it’s in need of “revitalization from the base”, heard delegates at the Cardiff International Conference on Sustainable Place Making
Global warming threatens agricultural productivity in Africa and South Asia
Nov 2, 2012
Benjamin Sultan discusses the latest study in ERL
Sociable zebra fare better against lions
Oct 3, 2012
The solitary behaviour of Grévy's zebra leaves the animals more vulnerable to lion attack, explains Daniel Rubenstein of Princeton University
Healthy ecosystems boost wellbeing
Sep 24, 2012
Carolyn Stephens details her work on the health of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest, the problems with the concept of ecosystem services, and more
Doing well by doing good: a scientist frames climate solutions in business terms
Sep 17, 2012 1 comment
Evan Mills finds value in Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs by Jonathan Koomey
Small volcanic eruptions and the stratospheric sulphate aerosol burden
Sep 10, 2012
David Pyle examines how remote sensing of the eruption of Nabro in 2011 led to new knowledge about sulphate emissions
Keeping the lights on after 2100
Aug 23, 2012
Paul Michael Grant reviews Robert Laughlin's Powering the Future
Art project leads to balloon-borne science
Jul 27, 2012
Giles Harrison of the University of Reading, UK, explains how attaching video cameras to weather balloons inspired new developments in balloon-borne sensors
Limits to the availability of groundwater in Africa
Jun 26, 2012
W Mike Edmunds discusses the recent ERL paper that provided the first estimate of Africa's groundwater resources
The case of the missing wheat
Jun 19, 2012
David Lobell explains why global agriculture is running to stand still
Snow: a reliable indicator for global warming in the future?
May 18, 2012 1 comment
There's much to discover about the relationship between snow and global climate, according to H-W Jacobi