Here are the latest reports from The Washington Posts ‘Energy and the Environment’.
Why uncertainty about climate change is definitely not our friend
For a long time, there’s been one key part of the Earth system that, just maybe, could help us out a little bit with our global warming problem: Clouds. Clouds are central to the climate because their white surfaces reflect sunlight back to space, keeping the planet cooler than it would be otherwise. But they also trap […]
How wasting less food can help save the planet
The more scientists study the issue of food waste — and its worrying implications for both the environment and global food security — the clearer it becomes how much of a problem it is. Now, new research is giving us a few more reasons to clean our plates. A study just out in the journal Environmental […]
These islands just proposed creating the biggest marine reserve on Earth
A new proposal could result in the creation of the largest protected natural area on Earth. Inhabitants of the Austral Islands — the southernmost islands in French Polynesia in the South Pacific — have just presented a proposal to the government of French Polynesia calling for a new marine reserve in their waters. The protected […]
Tesla’s Model 3 orders are through the roof. Here’s what that means for the planet.
This story has been updated. It’s being hailed as simply extraordinary. Since introducing the Model 3 sedan — a far cheaper electric vehicle, aimed for broader consumption, than the Model S — Tesla saw a stunning 276,000 orders in just two days. Tesla aims to sell 500,000 electric vehicles per year by 2020 — an ambitious […]
It’s not just Antarctica — some experts fear Greenland could also melt faster than we thought
Last Wednesday, a blockbuster new study in the journal Nature changed our understanding of the forces affecting ice melt in Antarctica and significantly increased expectations of the ice sheet’s future contributions to sea-level rise. But the news may not stop there. Some scientists are saying that the standing predictions for Greenland — which is warming even faster […]
A rare conviction for the slaying of a Latin American environmentalist
Four men have been found guilty in Costa Rica for the killing of a sea turtle conservationist in 2013. The chief of a three-judge panel said the slaying of Jairo Mora Sandoval, who worked for a green group called Widecast, was tied to his activism in a war “between poachers and environmentalists on the beach.” In […]
Exoplanet oceans could flow in reverse, creating bizarre climates, scientists say
With the explosion of exoplanet discoveries in recent years, we are learning more and more about what the universe can produce — inevitably sparking a Saganesque mix of science and sheer imagination, as researchers try to apply what they know about the Earth’s workings to discern what’s possible elsewhere. The latest result of this line of inquiry […]
This huge region of Brazil is even more deforested than the Amazon
The Amazon has it bad, but the Cerrado may have it even worse. After all, at least you’ve actually heard of the Amazon. The Cerrado isn’t as big, but it’s still one of the largest and most important ecosystems in one of the largest and most environmentally rich countries on Earth — Brazil. It’s an enormous region of dry forests […]
As the climate changes, risks to human health will accelerate, Obama administration says
The Obama administration on Monday released a sweeping scientific report detailing what it has called one of the gravest threats to the nation in coming decades: the major health risks posed by climate change. The report, several years in the making, focuses on the many ways a changing climate could take a toll on Americans. Some involve direct effects, […]
Democrats and Republicans were prompted to recycle. You’ll be surprised what happened next
For some time in the energy policy world, there’s been a trend toward trying to use subtle techniques, often termed “nudges,” to change people’s behavior. For instance, if you learn that your neighbors use less electricity than you do, you might be promoted to act similarly, due to the strong power of social norms. Writ large, behavior […]
For years, we’ve had these key details about Greenland’s melting all wrong
Ice melt in Greenland is one of the biggest preoccupations for climate scientists today, mostly because of the ice sheet’s potential contributions to sea-level rise. But there’s still a lot we don’t know about the processes that contribute to melting, how they interact with one another and how fast they work. Now, researchers say they’ve […]
Bad news for bats: Lethal white-nose fungus is now in the Pacific Northwest
A hiker who noticed a little brown bat dying on a trail near the slopes of the Cascade Mountains in western Washington did what he could to save it. He took it to an animal health center, but within two days it was gone. The death in mid-March seemed unremarkable until a veterinarian who examined […]
As the planet flashes warning signs, U.S. and China pledge hasty signing of climate accord
Against a backdrop of troubling news from the planet — including a scientific upgrade of expectations for sea level rise because of faster melting of Antarctica — the U.S. and China on Thursday pledged to jump-start their climate action plans. The world’s two largest emitters issued a joint statement saying that they will sign the Paris climate agreement, negotiated […]
‘Boaty McBoatface’ became an Internet joke. Here’s why its research will be gravely serious
Last week, the Internet was obsessed over “Boaty McBoatface.” To make a long story short, in an online naming contest for a new ice-strengthened polar research vessel being built for the British Antarctic Survey, this proposed name was winning out over more, er, serious ones — like “RSS Henry Worsley” or “RSS David Attenborough.” On Wednesday, meanwhile, […]
Investigation broadens into whether Exxon Mobil misled public, investors on climate change
More than a dozen state attorneys general gathered in New York earlier this week, ostensibly to announce their support for President Obama’s efforts to combat global warming and to underscore their intention to collaborate on investigations involving climate-related issues. But the undercurrent of Tuesday’s public announcement, which included former vice president and climate activist Al Gore taking […]
The alarming science behind projections of much higher seas in this century
This story has been updated. For many scientists studying Antarctica, and particularly the vulnerable West Antarctic ice sheet, a major new study significantly increasing expectations for sea-level rise is the culmination of a large body of prior research — combined with alarming recent observations. The study, just published in Nature, is based on an improved understanding of past […]
Antarctic ice loss could double expected sea level rise by 2100, scientists say
This story has been updated. Sea levels could rise nearly twice as much as previously predicted by the end of this century if carbon dioxide emissions continue unabated, an outcome that could devastate coastal communities around the globe, according to new research published Wednesday. The startling findings, published in the journal Nature, paint a far grimmer picture than current […]
Even before they start breathing, babies can be harmed by air pollution, scientists say
Air pollution in the U.S. may be causing thousands of premature births each year, a new study suggests — costing the nation billions of dollars along the way. The study, published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, lends support to a growing body of research pointing to the grim health consequences of air pollution […]
Huge swaths of the Great Barrier Reef are seeing ‘severe’ coral bleaching, scientists say
Scientists have declared that key portions of the Great Barrier Reef — over a thousand miles long and the “largest living structure on the planet,” according to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority — are now seeing the worst coral bleaching in recorded history. “We’re seeing very severe bleaching in the northern part of the reef,” […]
What Florida’s ancient past tells us about sea-level rise today
The looming threat of sea-level rise is a cause for anxiety throughout much of the coastal United States, and Florida is one of the unlucky states most at risk. Miami, alone, is considered one of the most vulnerable cities in the nation — it’s already subject to frequent flooding and has plans to spend hundreds of millions […]
A really bad winter for Arctic sea ice just got even worse
First came January, when Arctic sea ice hit a record low monthly extent — the area of ice over the ocean was 1.04 million square kilometers lower than the average from 1981-2010, based on satellite observations. Then came February — and the very same story. The ice grew in comparison with January, as is typical of […]
The enormous carbon footprint of food that we never even eat
Discussions about how to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions frequently center on clean energy, more efficient transportation and sustainable agriculture. But research suggests that if we really want to pay attention to our carbon footprints, we should also be focusing on another, less-talked-about issue: the amount of food we waste each day. Food waste is already a hot topic in […]
Why this new solar market could be set to explode
Right now, there’s an odd thing about solar in the United States (and elsewhere). It’s either really big — at the scale of massive solar farms with the capacity to generate tens or hundreds of millions of watts of electricity — or pretty small: on your rooftop, with maybe as little as 5 kilowatts, or thousand […]
Maryland’s honeybees are being massacred, and the weapon might be in your house
In the end, Maryland lawmakers couldn’t ignore the same haunting story from beekeepers. “I go into winter with a really strong population, managed them to be fat and healthy, treated for mites, with plenty of food,” said Bonnie Raindrop, a keeper in Baltimore County. “But at the end of winter, you open your hives and […]
Clean energy is winning the race against fossil fuels — but the planet is still losing
A new United Nations report has found that 2015 set a slew of new records for global investment in clean energy — and furthermore, the bulk of investment was not in places like the United States or Germany but rather in the developing world. But the report also contained a grim punchline when it came to the impact […]
The Arctic is thawing much faster than expected, scientists warn
This story has been updated. Amid blowout warm temperatures in the Arctic this year, two new studies have amplified concerns about one of the wild cards of a warming planet — how quickly warming Arctic soils could become major contributors of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, causing still greater warming. In a major international study published last week […]
How exploiting the Earth can fuel violent conflict
At the end of May, the U.N. Environment Assembly (UNEA) will convene for the second time ever in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and the environmental challenges facing today’s world. And it looks like one major theme to be addressed — one that’s a growing concern among world leaders and activists — is […]
This little flea — and its huge appetite — could ruin the Great Lakes
It’s just a flea, no bigger than a speck. But it eats like a hog. That’s a problem because what the invasive spiny water flea from Europe and Asia likes to eat most is one of the coolest and most beneficial life forms in the food chain of Lake Mendota, the Daphnia flea. The victim grazes on algae, and […]
This is the only type of climate change Donald Trump believes in
Give Donald Trump credit for consistency. The Republican presidential front-runner repeatedly has said he isn’t “a believer” that humans have played a significant role in the Earth’s changing climate. He said as much in an interview with talk show host Hugh Hewitt last year. He told Fox & Friends earlier this year that climate change […]
We had all better hope these scientists are wrong about the planet’s future
This story has been updated. An influential group of scientists led by James Hansen, the former NASA scientist often credited with having drawn the first major attention to climate change in 1988 congressional testimony, has published a dire climate study that suggests the impact of global warming will be quicker and more catastrophic than generally envisioned. […]
This newly discovered Alaskan butterfly may hold clues to climate change
Researchers discovered a possible new butterfly species in Alaska and believe it could tell us more about the pace of climate change. The Tanana Arctic, or Oeneis tanana, likely evolved from a rare hybrid when two butterflies species mated before the last ice age, according to a study published last week in the Journal of Research on the […]
The incredible planetary consequences of a vegetarian diet
A striking new study — but one that is bound to prove controversial — has provided a calculation of both the health benefits and the reductions in planetary greenhouse gases that might be achieved if the world shifted away from meat-based diets. The results, while theoretical in nature, certainly make a strong case for treating the food system, […]
Ecuador just designated a huge new Galapagos marine reserve — around Darwin island
This story has been updated. More than 180 years after Charles Darwin first set foot on the Galápagos islands, where his observations would help fuel many of his revolutionary ideas about biology and evolution, new protections will be enforced around the island that bears his name. On Monday, the government of Ecuador announced the creation of […]
What we’re doing to the Earth has no parallel in 66 million years, scientists say
If you dig deep enough into the Earth’s climate change archives, you hear about the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM. And then you get scared. This is a time period, about 56 million years ago, when something mysterious happened — there are many ideas as to what — that suddenly caused concentrations of carbon dioxide in the […]
This huge change in how we get energy is coming much faster than expected
A recent forecast by from the U.S. Energy Information Administration contains a stunning punchline: This year, natural gas is expected to supplant coal as the No. 1 source of electricity in the United States. Gas will supply 33.4 percent of power, and coal will contribute 32 percent, the EIA projected in the March installment of its Short-Term […]
Why more than 200 planned new dams will be a disaster for the Amazon rainforest
Continued dam-building across Amazonia could threaten dozens of species with extinction, says a new paper published this month in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation. With 191 dams already dotting the Amazon basin and nearly 250 more planned, scientists say the region’s unique freshwater ecosystems are at serious risk. Major changes will be required from the Amazonian […]
Why it’s so hard to eat fish and avoid mercury
Women who eat as much seafood as the FDA recommends for people who are pregnant — or who eat slightly more — may be exposing themselves to unsafe levels of mercury depending on the kinds of fish they’re eating, says a new study just published by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The report calls for more […]
The troubling thing that Flint and Zika have in common
BALTIMORE — “PLEASE DON’T PUT GARBAGE HERE,” says a sign in a rundown alley in the Sandtown-Winchester/Harlem Park neighborhood, where more than a third of the homes stand abandoned. It doesn’t seem to be working. Nearby, a barking stray dog guards an enormous, sprawling pile of trash, featuring everything from an old mattress and dresser to soda cans […]
The vast, shrinking northern glaciers that we never even talk about
We all know that Greenland is losing a lot of ice. If you take NASA’s word for it, it’s currently losing ice mass to the tune of 287 billion tons per year, enough to raise sea levels the better part of a millimeter annually. Overall, it contains enough ice to potentially raise sea levels by as […]
It’s not just Flint. Lead taints water across the U.S., EPA records show
Lead contamination in drinking water is a problem that reaches far beyond the disaster in Flint, Mich., and threatens children’s health nationwide. On Thursday, USA Today reported that “hundreds of schools across the nation” have lead-tainted water, exposing children to “excessive amounts of an element doctors agree is unsafe at any level.” The story relied on […]
Obama just took a big step toward powering New York with offshore wind
In a surprising about-face Tuesday, the Interior Department pulled back plans to allow oil drilling off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Citing concerns from the Pentagon and also from coastal communities in these states, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said, “It simply doesn’t make sense to move forward with any lease sales in the […]
In this tiny Arctic town, dramatic warmth threatens everything
FORT YUKON, Alaska – It may sound strange to someone from the Lower 48, but in interior Alaska, 2 degrees Fahrenheit in early March is balmy. This winter’s record-setting warm temperatures are just the latest in an ongoing string of environmental changes for the indigenous Gwich’in village of Fort Yukon, ten miles north of the […]
The economy is growing, but carbon emissions aren’t. That’s a big deal
Roughly a year ago, the International Energy Agency announced a wonky yet nonetheless significant development. Looking at data for the year 2014, the agency found that although the global economy grew — by 3.4 percent that year — greenhouse gas emissions from the use of energy (their largest source) had not. They had stalled at about 32.3 […]
Why people who watch a lot of TV might really need to get a new one
The United States is a country of 323 million people — and, as of 2013, some 338 million televisions, according to one estimate. We are, to put it bluntly, highly entertained, and we use a lot of electricity in the process. Four to five percent of total household power gets zapped into these devices, according to the Department of Energy. […]
Temperatures are spiking. Can we keep global warming in the ‘safe’ range?
February 2016 was a stunningly warm month. According to NASA data, it was the most anomalously hot month the Earth has seen since record keeping began — fully 1.35 degrees Celsius (2.43 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the average from 1951-1980. In the context of international climate policy, February is ominous as well. If you go back further in […]
Obama pulls plans to allow oil drilling off southern Atlantic coast
The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it is dropping its year-old plan to allow companies to search and drill for oil and natural gas in the Atlantic Ocean off of four southeastern states. Department of Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement that objections from the Pentagon and strong opposition from nearly a hundred coastal […]
Antarctica’s ice is being carved up from below
Two years ago, a pair of scientific studies documented that the glaciers of West Antarctica, which hold back over 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) of potential sea level rise, are melting and retreating from below. The cause? It appears that these glaciers, which are perched on the seafloor deep below the ocean surface, are being lapped at by […]
Obama’s Atlantic oil drilling plan takes friendly fire — from the Pentagon
The Obama administration is reworking its plan to open the southern Atlantic Coast to offshore oil exploration because of strong opposition from the Pentagon, which says the activity could hurt military maneuvers and interfere with missile tests the Navy relies on to protect the coast. Early this week, Interior Department officials from the Bureau of […]
How cleaner air could actually make global warming worse
A significant amount of the climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions in the past century has been hidden from us, scientists say — by another type of pollution that actually cools the climate and temporarily cancels out some of the warming. Two new studies, both released today in the journal Nature Geoscience, address the […]
Why your tweets could really matter during a natural disaster
As Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast in late 2012, people in its path fired off millions of tweets that included words such as “stay safe,” “no power,” “frankenstorm,” “flooding” and “blackout.” Such a collective blast of social media activity, it turns out, might one day help point officials find and assess the most severe damage caused […]
It’s official: We can now say global warming made some weather events worse
From Hurricane Katrina to Superstorm Sandy, to last year’s devastating heat wave in India, the question never ceases to arise: Did global warming cause this? That question has long made scientists squirm. They know the atmosphere is a complicated place. They know weather events are the result of a huge array of factors — like, […]
The more we learn about Antarctica’s past, the scarier the present looks
For the second time in a month, leading scientists have closely tied the ancient history of the vast Antarctic ice sheet to a key planetary parameter that humans are now controlling — the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Last month, new research showed that during the Miocene era, some 14 to 23 million years ago, […]
United Airlines is flying on biofuels. Here’s why that’s a really big deal.
On Friday, United Airlines will launch a new initiative that uses biofuel to help power flights running between Los Angeles and San Francisco, with eventual plans to expand to all flights operating out of LAX. It’s the first time an American airline will begin using renewable fuel for regular commercial operations, and the occasion is part of […]
This mind-boggling study shows just how massive sea level rise really is
As our planet continues to warm, coastlines worldwide will retreat inland — in the long run, maybe by a lot. That means some coastal cities, in places like Florida — where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debated precisely this topic on Wednesday night — stand to lose quite a lot of land where people currently live […]
How European settlers ate the storm barrier that could have saved New York
New York’s settlers worked up quite an appetite building what became one of the largest cities in the world. They ate oysters in the harbor like they were going out of style. They picked oysters from their reefs by hand in Raritan Bay starting in the 1600s. Subsequent generations kept at it, with rakes and […]
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are showing a startling increase
Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have spiked more in the period from February 2015 to February 2016 than in any other comparable period dating back to 1959, according to a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory. The change in average concentrations from February of last year to February of this year was 3.76 […]
The hidden driver of climate change that we too often ignore
Humans are making global warming worse, all right — but in more ways than you think. That’s the result of an important new study in Nature, which finds that the Earth’s land “biosphere” — defined as all the plants, animals and microorganisms living on the surface of the Earth (excluding the oceans) — is now a “net source” […]
Before his tragic death, nature photographer shot ‘iconic’ images of climate change’s threat
Posted by Gary Braasch on Monday, May 11, 2015 A bush plane buzzed through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and landed on a river bank, leaving environmental photographer Gary Braasch and his then-13-year-old son, Cedar, to try to tell a story. The pair planned to photograph the diverse wildlife — caribou, polar bears, gray wolves — to show how oil drilling could impact […]
Clinton and Sanders agree on many environmental issues. But not this one
When Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debated Sunday night in Flint, Mich., their similarities often seemed larger than the differences. Both are outraged by the Flint water crisis. Both agree that climate change is one of the biggest threats that we, as a global society, face. However, a significant difference persists between the two Democratic candidates on […]
This dolphin-like reptile swam the seas for 150 million years. Then the climate changed
What happened to the dinosaurs and other ancient animals that roamed the Earth alongside them is a question that has fascinated scientists for centuries. While experts have solid theories for some of the most major extinction events in Earth’s history (an asteroid hitting the planet about 65 million years ago is a popular scapegoat, for […]
Ted Cruz’s favorite argument about climate change just got weaker
Few of the remaining Republican presidential candidates seem very gung-ho about fighting climate change. But as we’ve written before, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has probably made the most detailed, scientific argument for why we shouldn’t worry about it. He has repeatedly argued that climate warming is, basically, on pause — and that futhermore, this relative lack […]
These ancient shipwrecks hold a hidden message about climate change, scientists say
Studying shipwrecks helps researchers investigate the relationship between hurricanes and climate change.
China vowed to peak carbon emissions by 2030. It could be way ahead of schedule
In November 2014, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands on a historic agreement to control greenhouse gas emissions in both countries. The United States pledged to bring national emissions at least 26 percent below their 2005 levels, while China vowed to put a peak on its growing carbon dioxide emissions by the year […]
How protecting the environment changes human nature
Establishing nature preserves and other types of protected areas is one of the most common conservation strategies — and its benefit to the environment is clear. What’s less obvious, though, is how these protected areas affect the human communities nearby. It’s an important question to consider, not only from a social standpoint, but from a […]
Scientists just found a surprising factor that’s speeding up Greenland’s melt
A new scientific study released Thursday has delivered yet another burst of bad news about Greenland — the vast northern ice sheet that contains 20 feet of potential sea level rise. The ice sheet is “darkening,” or losing its ability to reflect both visible and invisible radiation, as it melts more and more, the research finds. […]
Supreme Court backs EPA this time, refuses to block controls on toxic mercury
A month after it hobbled the Obama administration’s signature regulation on climate change, the Supreme Court declined Thursday to block a different air-pollution rule that seeks to cut toxic emissions from the nation’s power plants. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. rejected a request to stay the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards rule, adopted by […]
Food scarcity caused by climate change could cause 500,000 deaths by 2050, study suggests
The effects of climate change on food production around the world could lead to more than 500,000 deaths by the year 2050, according to a grim new study. Climate-related impacts on agriculture could lead to an overall global decline in food availability, the research suggests, forcing people to eat fewer fruits and vegetables and less […]
The ‘ridiculously’ warm Arctic just set an ominous new record
Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the warmth of the Arctic this year — featuring temperature departures many degrees Celsius above normal — had scientists floored. In my post, they used words such as “absurdly” or “ridiculously” to describe how the temperature has increased in the region this year. That warmth has major consequences for key […]
Solar energy is poised for an unforgettable year
New statistics just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration suggest that in the coming year, the booming solar sector will add more new electricity-generating capacity than any other — including natural gas and wind. EIA reports that planned installations for 2016 include 9.5 gigawatts of utility-scale solar — followed by 8 gigawatts (or 8 billion […]
Yellowstone National Park is 144-years-old today, and still hot as ever
Happy birthday, Yellowstone. It’s been 144 years since Ulysses S. Grant established the United States’ first national park at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River in Wyoming, “For the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Yellowstone is still one of the largest national parks in the world, certainly the largest in the United States, […]
Supreme Court ends challenge to the Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan
The Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to the Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan, the largest attempt by the federal government and states to rid the pollution from a body of water and to restore its health. The high court’s decision Monday ends an attempt by the American Farm Bureau Federation to stop the […]
With Fukushima’s fifth anniversary approaching, we can probably start to relax about radioactive seafood
March 11 will mark the five-year anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, a series of nuclear meltdowns, triggered by a devastating earthquake-induced tsunami, that released massive amounts of radioactive material and resulted in the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Since then, the plant’s damaged drainage system has continued to leak radioactive water into the environment, […]
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscars speech was about climate change, which could be worse than we thought
On Sunday night while accepting a long-anticipated Oscar for best actor, for his role in “The Revenant,” Leonardo DiCaprio seized the moment to highlight the plight of the planet. “Making “The Revenant” was about man’s relationship to the natural world,” DiCaprio said. “A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed […]
What humanity’s ancient past says about why we’re still damaging the environment today
An international team of researchers have made some tantalizing discoveries on an African island that may help inform our understanding of how humans have shaped the natural world throughout the ages. Fossils recovered from a cave on the island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, have given scientists a rare look into not only […]
Unprecedented scientific report says bees and other pollinators are in dire need of help
Around the world, the animals that pollinate our food crops — over 20,000 species of bees, butterflies, bats and many others — are the subject of growing attention. An increasing number of pollinator species are thought to be in decline, threatened by a variety of mostly human pressures, and their struggles could pose significant risks for global food […]
These scientists say Congress is ‘legislating scientific facts’ — and wrong ones, too
A group of forest scientists, ecologists and climate researchers has sent a strongly worded letter to the U.S. Senate, arguing that pending bipartisan energy legislation incorrectly claims that burning trees for energy is carbon neutral. “Legislating scientific facts is never a good idea, but is especially bad when the ‘facts’ are incorrect,” say the researchers, led by Phil […]
We’ve reached the point where we need these bizarre technologies to stop climate change
Tempe, AZ — From the rooftop of Klaus Lackner’s seven-story building on the Arizona State University campus, photovoltaic panels seem to glisten in every direction. The school claims to have more solar installed than any other university in America – part of a plan to offset the carbon emissions of this institution of more than 80,000 students. But the […]
California gas leak was the worst man-made greenhouse-gas disaster in U.S. history, study says
The massive leak that vented millions of pounds of natural gas from a Los Angeles storage facility now appears to have been the worst accidental discharge of greenhouse gases in U.S. history, scientists concluded in an analysis released Thursday. The 112-day leak at the Aliso Canyon facility released about 5 billion cubic feet of methane […]
These states are adding tons of wind energy – and suing over Obama’s climate plans
On Tuesday, the American Wind Energy Association posted a very interesting list of new records being set by U.S. wind energy this month. For instance, in the power grid for the state of Texas — known as ERCOT, or the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas — wind generated 14,023 megawatts (or million watts) of electricity at one point on […]
Top scientists insist global warming really did slow down in the 2000s
You could be forgiven for not being able to keep up with whether scientists do, or don’t, think global warming “paused” during the early 2000s. First, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told us, in a definitive 2013 report, that there had been a real slowdown of global warming over the past 15 years. It […]
The secret power of your most boring home appliance
New research suggests that in the future, one of the most lowly, boring, and ubiquitous of home appliances — the electric water heater — could come to perform a surprising array of new functions that help out the power grid, and potentially even save money on home electricity bills to boot. The idea is that these water heaters […]
‘Salamander devourer,’ a mass killer of amphibians, is likely headed to the U.S.
A known killer is on its way to the United States, and government officials recently put out a warning to alert the public. When the feared virus known as Bsal lands on the backs of newts and salamanders destined for the pet trade, lots of wild salamanders are expected to die. This isn’t some unfounded […]
A shocking one-third of Americans believe this Zika conspiracy theory
Fear and misinformation about the Zika virus still abound, according to a new survey just released by the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. Most notably, the survey finds that more than a third of respondents incorrectly believe that genetically modified mosquitoes have caused the spread of the disease. The survey, which was conducted […]
Bill Gates: ‘We need an energy miracle’ to prevent catastrophic climate change
Bill Gates thinks it may take a miracle to find the kind of cheap, clean energy source needed to safely power the planet through the next century. But he believes governments and businesses aren’t doing nearly enough to discover one. In a letter issued by his foundation on Tuesday, the billionaire philanthropist repeated his plea […]
Why the Earth’s past holds a worrying lesson about Antarctica
In two new studies, scientists say that the vast ice continent of Antarctica seems to have given up tremendous volumes of ice — even sprouting considerable plant life — during an era over 10 million years ago when concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide don’t seem to have been all that much higher than they are now. That […]
Seas are now rising faster than they have in 2,800 years, scientists say
A group of scientists says it has now reconstructed the history of the planet’s sea levels arcing back over some 3,000 years — leading it to conclude that the rate of increase experienced in the 20th century was “extremely likely” to have been faster than during nearly the entire period. “We can say with 95 […]
Despite the Supreme Court, here’s why the White House says we’ll cut carbon anyway
The Supreme Court stay on the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan came as a shock to the White House. After all, the president had unveiled the plan in August 2015, calling it “the single most important step America has ever taken in the fight against global climate change.” But on Monday administration officials took advantage […]
Science confirms it: Denial of climate change is all about the politics
Dozens of surveys and studies have attempted to figure out which factors most heavily influence individuals’ beliefs about climate change and their support for climate-friendly policies. But because there have been so many published recently, scientists argue that it’s been difficult to keep up with the overall trends these studies have been revealing. Now, some […]
Scientists just found yet another reason to worry about Arctic permafrost
Worries about thawing permafrost, and the carbon emissions it produces as it warms, have become a standard in conversations about climate change — but scientists are quick to point out that there’s a lot they still don’t understand. And one of the biggest questions has to do with some of the tiniest inhabitants of the […]
This could be a big problem for the booming marijuana industry
As legal marijuana markets continue to expand in the United States, some experts are arguing that growers have both the need and the opportunity to make their operations, well, greener. A new report, published by data analysis firm New Frontier, highlights the huge energy footprint of marijuana cultivation and outlines strategies to make production more […]
Scientists are floored by what’s happening in the Arctic right now
New data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggest that January of 2016 was, for the globe, a truly extraordinary month. Coming off the hottest year ever recorded (2015), January saw the greatest departure from average of any month on record, according to data provided by NASA. But as you can see in […]
Why the U.S. is cutting carbon emissions no matter what happens with the Supreme Court
Last week, the Supreme Court threw U.S. and international climate policy into turmoil by freezing President Obama’s Clean Power Plan while it is being challenged before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. But matters took a turn over the weekend with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, whose absence from the high […]
Scientists just found out where the Earth is most sensitive to climate swings — and the news isn’t good
New research published Wednesday in the journal Nature reaffirms that key regions of the globe that have been a source of major climate worry to researchers — such as the Amazon rainforest and the forests of the global north — are exquisitely sensitive to swings in climate. And it also identifies some new and similarly […]
Warming oceans are turning sea stars to goo and killing lobsters, scientists say
Warming waters in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans have increased the prevalence of diseases that are turning sea stars to mush and killing lobsters by burrowing under their shells and causing lesions, two new studies say. The outbreaks are so lethal, according to a biologist involved in both studies, that at least one species of […]
An underground fire is burning near radioactive waste. Don’t worry, EPA says.
Her first clue that something was wrong came as she ran her hands through her baby boy’s hair. “My child was losing his hair in clumps,” Meagan Beckermann recalls. A doctor traced the problem to alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that can be triggered by environmental factors. A frantic search for a likely source ended when […]
Scientists just found another major problem for global food security
With the world’s population expected to exceed 9 billion people by the year 2050, producing enough food for everyone is a top concern for global policymakers. And now, scientists have pointed out another threat to global food security. In a new study in Nature Communications, a group of researchers concluded that the world’s grasslands are going […]
This could explain all those strange happenings in Alaska’s waters
New research is shedding light on how far toxic algae blooms have spread in Alaska, and surprised scientists are saying this is just the beginning. A study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest fisheries center found domoic acid and saxitoxin – algae-produced neurotoxins that are deadly in high doses — in 13 marine […]
Over half the world’s population suffers from ‘severe’ water scarcity, scientists say
Alarming new research has found that 4 billion people around the globe — including close to 2 billion in India and China — live in conditions of extreme water scarcity at least one month during the year. Half a billion, meanwhile, experience it throughout the entire year. The new study, by Mesfin Mekonnen and Arjen Hoekstra of […]
The hidden health consequences of how we design our homes
The way we design and build our houses could have a surprising impact on a tiny, but important, aspect of our personal lives: the microscopic organisms that share those homes with us. A groundbreaking study published Friday in the journal Science Advances finds that certain aspects of a house’s design could have an influence on the […]
With 3 new monuments, Obama creates world’s second-largest desert preserve
President Obama declared three national monuments in Southern California on Friday, creating the world’s second-largest desert preserve and nearly doubling the amount of land he has unilaterally protected while in office. The new Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains national monuments cover more than 1.8 million acres of land and include sand dunes, Native American petroglyphs and one of […]
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