Simon

Due to climate change our seas and oceans are getting warmer. And now scientists have confirmed that a warmer temperature in the waters will create stronger storms, such as Katrina in 2005 and the more recent hurricane Ike. "If the seas continue to warm, we can expect to see stronger storms in the future," James Elsner of Florida State University said. Satellite data has shown that during the last 25 years "strong cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons have become more frequent in most of the tropics". But according to the scientists, who published their findings in the journal Nature, the strength of weaker storms have not been "noticeably altered". "The researchers believe weaker storms are not affected so much because the factors that prevent them developing to their full potential, notably wind shear - abrupt changes in wind speed and direction that prevent the cyclone fuelling itself with ocean heat - are not related to ocean temperatures." But the scientists also calculated that only a 1C rise in sea surface temperature will increase the amount of strong storms by about one third. More controversial, some scientists warn that a warmer sea temperature will not just create stronger storms but also increase their numbers. Read more at BBC News and Reuters.

Rajendra Pachauri, who currently chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002 and who recently won the Nobel Peace Price along with Al Gore, said at a speech in London on Monday evening that "meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport" and that "changing diets is something one should consider". "The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions," he told BBC News. "So I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider." You can read more about this over at BBC News.

According to a new report released by Amory Lovins and Imran Sheikh nuclear energy is still dangerous, not cost-effective, and too expensive and will even worsen climate change. "A widely heralded view holds that nuclear power is experiencing a dramatic worldwide revival and vibrant growth, because it’s competitive, necessary, reliable, secure, and vital for fuel security and climate protection. That's all false. In fact, nuclear power is continuing its decades-long collapse in the global marketplace because it’s grossly uncompetitive, unneeded, and obsolete—so hopelessly uneconomic that one needn't debate whether it's clean and safe; it weakens electric reliability and national security; and it worsens climate change compared with devoting the same money and time to more effective options." Nuclear energy is a waste of money because it creates a pollution problem that lasts for thousands of years, money that would be better and more productively spent on renewable energy, the report says. The report will also depress the free market supporters as it says that "nuclear power plants are unfinanceable in the private capital market because of their excessive costs and financial risks and the high uncertainty of both." "During the nuclear revival now allegedly underway, no new nuclear project on earth has been financed by private risk capital, chosen by an open decision process, nor bid into the world’s innumerable power markets and auctions. No old nuclear plant has been resold at a value consistent with a market case for building a new one." Via DeSmogBlog.