Bay & Environment: Fight global warming - move south

The 25 metro areas with the lowest combined energy demand are all in the Sunbelt, with the exception of Portland and Seattle in the balmy Northwest. The chilliest metro areas turn out to have much higher overall energy demand - heating apparently consumes a lot more energy than cooling does.

FRONTLINE: heat: old interview: dr. rajendra pachauri

I think what's also happened is that climate change has accelerated in recent years, and now we have much better observations on the basis of which we can see the direction in which we are going. So it's really coincidental that our knowledge has only revealed that things are probably going to be much worse than what we had expected earlier.

[Q]: You say that with a smile.

One has to be dispassionate about these things.
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I wouldn't say we're facing a crisis. We're certainly facing a very difficult challenge. Of that there's no doubt. And I think the sooner we realize that, the better. And if we don't meet that challenge, then certainly it could lead to crisis. ...
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If there is a huge amount of scarcity as far as energy use and access to energy is concerned, I think that's a reality that people have to take into account.
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...I think people in the U.S. have very short memories. If you go back in time to the period of the Depression, that was a pretty miserable period. What were consumption levels at that point of time? It's not as though it was a catastrophe. Yes, it was a very difficult period. But there were also a number of positive features that came out of human behavior at that point of time -- people helping each other, a much greater community feeling.
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The only reason why I was going back to the period of the Depression is that was a period of pain. But I think out of that experience, a lot of good things did come. And I think human beings are quite capable of going through a period like that and finding the positives, and then building on them appropriately. I'm sure if people had not been through the Depression, you possibly wouldn't have had the kind of growth, the enormous desire to succeed with economic activities that you found subsequently.

[Q:] So maybe what the world needs is a good depression.

A bit of a shock. Maybe.

October '08: UNSW: The University of New South Wales - Sydney Australia

Braving Sydney's unseasonable cold weather, 600 people filled the John Niland Scientia Building to hear Dr Pachauri reveal how the release of carbon emissions from the unrestrained burning of fossil fuels is causing global warming, melting glaciers, and causing sea level rises that could overwhelm planet Earth.

"A business as usual approach" of relying upon fossil fuels for energy, light, heating and transport is no longer viable, said Pachauri, who accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC with prominent environmental campaigner and former US Vice-President, Al Gore Jr.

Here's Pachauri's presentation (PDF).

Quite a few skeptical comments appear on Pachauri's blog here