Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Interview with Peter Read
- Noticeboard
- Announcements
- Conferences
- Courses
- Mailing lists
- Climate treaty
- Latest news
- Secretariat
- National reports
- IPCC
Action point
Jim Salinger describes his priority for action on global warming. You can play the low bandwidth or the high bandwidth version
Featured sites
Plan B, from the Earth Policy Institute, details how to rescue a planet under stress by cutting carbon emissions 80 per cent by 2020.
The e-newsletter from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat provides a comprehensive overview of major news and announcements regarding the climate negotiations.
The OzoneAction Education Pack provides primary school teachers with practical, hands-on and entertaining curricula material to educate their students about ozone depletion.
The Youth Climate Pledge is a collaborative plan of action that young people can sign on to and get others to commit to.
And finally,
The United Nations Paint for the Planet exhibition features paintings by child artists on the theme of climate change.
About Newswatch
Tiempo Climate Newswatch is a weekly on-line magazine with news, features and comment on global warming, climate change, sea-level rise and development issues. It is edited by Mick Kelly and Sarah Granich and maintained by Mick Kelly and Mike Salmon. The cartoons are created by Lawrence Moore.
The news stories carried by Newswatch are updated weekly. Comment, features, interviews and other sections of the magazine are updated on a weekly to monthly basis.
Newswatch automatically scans a number of news sites once an hour, searching for a set of keyphrases. The raw news feed can be accessed in standard or PDA format.
Part of the Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary, Tiempo Climate Newswatch is hosted by the Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia.
The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary is a co-production of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the International Institute for Environment and Development, sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
While every effort is made to ensure that information on this site, and on other sites that are referenced here, is accurate, no liability for loss or damage resulting from use of this information can be accepted.
 |
Peter Read discusses the potential of bioenergy and the broader role of the biosphere in controlling the composition of the atmosphere. He also comments on George Monbiot's critique of biomass as a fuel source. |
|
Find out about Peter Read's global warming priority (low or high bandwidth streaming video) |
|
To listen to the streaming audio or video files, you will need RealPlayer or Real Alternative, both free downloads |
|
|
Streaming audio |
|
|
What is the potential of bioenergy? |
|
|
You're advocating a holistic approach to the carbon cycle in responding to global warming. Just what do you mean by a holistic response? |
|
|
Can you give an example of this approach? |
|
|
Is this an approach the Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change, the IPCC, with its rather technocentric approach to the climate problem, would advocate? |
|
|
Are there any potential drawbacks to the widespread use of bioenergy? |
|
|
The commentator George Monbiot has described the adoption of biofuels as a humanitarian disaster, committing land to energy rather than food production. What do you think of his critique? |
|
|
Should governments in the North be adopting this approach? |
|
|
And what of the South? |
|
|
On the Web |
|
In the Policy Debate on Global Biofuels Development, various authors debate George Monbiot's controversial view that the adoption of biofuels would be a humanitarian and environmental disaster (0.5Mb download). |
|
Biography |
|
Peter Read is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Applied and International Economics at Massey University in New Zealand. He was awarded a PhD in Engineering at Cambridge University and worked in Whitehall on energy policy, before emigrating to New Zealand in 1980. He is author of "Responding to Global Warming", published by Zed Books. |
|
Contact information |
|
Peter Read, Department of Applied and International Economics, Massey University, Private Bag 11 222, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Fax: +64-6-3505660. Email: p.read@massey.ac.nz. Web: econ.massey.ac.nz. |
Bright Ideas
Offsetting air travel with atmosfair buys solar mirrors that provide energy for the preparation of thousands of meals daily in India
Dow Building Solutions has prepared a short information sheet covering the construction of green roofs
The fabric in Asics Commitment range of sportswear is woven from bamboo yarn
SolidNav has developed electric propulsion units for small water craft and sailboats
WATT, a nightclub in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has a dancefloor that generates electricity and toilets that flush with rainwater
During play, the Energy Merry-go-round generates electricity that is transferred to a battery and 220V invertor for use in the classroom
Waste Management provides home recycling kits for compact fluorescent bulbs, batteries and electronics
Norwegian music festivals, Canal Street and Hove, have joined the Climate Neutral Network
The PlayPump water system doubles as a water pump and a merry-go-round for children
Honda is leasing the hydrogen-powered fuel cell FCX Clarity to private individuals in southern California
TIDE, in southern India, markets energy-efficient stoves that reduce fuelwood use by as much as 30 per cent
Curitiba's BioCity Program (0.3Mb download) aims to halt the rapid rate at which cities develop and reduce biodiversity loss
Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Updated: November 16th 2008