Top StoriesFeds fail to use land for solar power.Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground. Associated Press Climate change puts China harvests at risk.Climate change could reduce key harvests in China by a fifth if the gloomiest scenarios prove true, according to a study on Wednesday. Agence France-Presse Facebook faces campaign to switch to renewable energy.In one of the web's fastest-growing environmental campaigns, Greenpeace international says at least 500,000 people have now protested Facebook's intention to run its giant new data centre mainly on electricity produced by burning coal power. London Guardian Researchers study link between climate, wildfire.Scientists from universities in Montana, Colorado and Idaho announced today the start of a 5-year, $3.85 million research project into how a changing climate will influence wildfires. Associated Press Can nuclear waste spark an energy solution?A new generation of nuclear power technology seeks to transform one of the industry’s most enduring problems - its radioactive waste - into an energy solution. National Geographic News Emissions impossible?The UN emissions trading scheme scheme is meant to be a virtuous circle, allowing rich countries to meet their climate targets at the lowest possible cost, while energy-hungry developing economies get an injection of capital to go green. But multiple failures have been pointed out by its critics. European Voice 'Go home, Texas oil companies!' LA mayor rebukes.Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday rebuked Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., which operate refineries in Wilmington, for bankrolling a measure that would effectively scuttle the state's efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Los Angeles Times Report: Climate change could wipe historic Jamestown off the map.Jamestown, Va., the site of the first permanent English colony in what became the United States, could be wiped off the map by climate change, researchers warned today. AOL News Overhaul of UN climate change body 'could lead to more mistakes.'A major overhaul of how the UN advises the world on climate change could lead to more mistakes on the impacts of global warming, an Oxford academic has warned. London Daily Telegraph Climate change gets wet.One of the most important gases affecting the global climate is both incredibly familiar and persistently mysterious—water vapor. Discover Salt Palace solar array paying off before it's built.A Salt Palace solar array that would outshine any other rooftop grid in the nation is brightening the Beehive State’s bottom line — even before the first panel is in place. Although the installation is months away, word of it helped Salt Lake County win a National Association of Home Builders convention. Salt Lake Tribune Hazy outlook for Shenandoah National Park.Hotter summers, fewer brook trout and duller fall colors will impact Shenandoah National Park over the next century because of climate change, states a report released Wednesday by two non-profit environmental organizations. Waynesboro News Virginian Burger King drops palm oil supplier linked to Borneo rainforest destruction.Burger King announced it would no longer source palm oil from Sinar Mas, an Indonesian conglomerate, after an independent audit showed one of the company's subsidiaries had destroyed rainforests and carbon-dense peatlands. Mongabay You're getting warmer.It’s pretty overwhelming to think about reducing humanity’s carbon footprint when all most of us really want is to get to work on time and make it home with a few groceries for dinner. Sacramento News and Review Will Texas oil firms succeed in undoing California greenhouse gas law?Texas oil firms are backing a ballot initiative that would repeal the state's landmark 2006 greenhouse-gas reduction law. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is rallying Hispanic groups against the initiative. Christian Science Monitor Financing said vital for world climate change deal.A global fund to help poorer countries switch to green industrial technology is vital in any new international pact to battle global warming, Switzerland's top climate change negotiator said on Wednesday. Reuters North Carolina on the Hudson next?For this summer, the Capital Region will register 14 days where highs hit 90 or greater, compared to the average of 9.6 days, according to the National Weather Service. If climate models are right, such weather could become more common in the Northeast in the coming years. Albany Times Union Report confirms rapid glacier melting.The United States Geological Survey, in its report published in collaboration with 39 international scientists, says that glaciers throughout the Asia region are retreating. Himalayan Times Charleston has hottest summer in 67 years.Think it's been awfully hot in Charleston this summer? You're right. West Virginia's capital city has recorded what appears to be the hottest summer in 67 years, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the National Weather Service. Charleston Gazette Ancient coral reef uncovered in South Pacific.New light on what may happen to coral when sea temperatures rise. BBC Dr Samar warns of devastating floods every year.Dr Samar Mubarakmand Wednesday warned that Pakistan might experience unprecedented floods every year because of global warming, adding that not building more dams and adopting precautionary measures could prove disastrous. Associated Press of Pakistan Warmer temperatures in China to reduce crop yields.With the climate set to get warmer from greenhouse gases, Chinese scientists have predicted that freshwater for agriculture will shrink further in China, reducing crop yields in the years ahead. Reuters Burrowing crayfish in hot water.For years the crayfish have battled urban, agricultural and forestry development. Now climate change poses new threats. Sydney ABC News 'Red list' alert for tiny crayfish.For years the crayfish have battled urban, agricultural and forestry development. Now climate change poses new threats. Sydney ABC News Climate change report says a meter of water would completely over Jamestown Island.As Virginia braces for a possible bashing by Hurricane Earl, two environmental groups on Wednesday released a report that suggests things may only get worse for low-lying areas in Hampton Roads, especially area National Parks. Newport News Daily Press Nanaimo Estuary has strong potential for carbon storage.The Nanaimo Estuary is one of the most important estuaries in the province for carbon storage, deemed critical for slowing climate change and absorbing spent carbon. Nanaimo News Bulletin Cheaper fuel ahead.The use of E85 - a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline - is about to get more exposure, as Valero Energy Corp. announced it will add E85 pumps to all its new Valero Corner Stores as they're built throughout its system, as well as to some existing stores when they undergo major renovations. San Antonio Express-News Exelon to buy Deere's wind power unit.Exelon, the US’s biggest nuclear generator, has announced it will buy John Deere Renewables for as much as $900m to gain a foothold in the wind power industry. London Financial Times First users of Oregon solar pilot program up and running.Jeff Ramp is the first PGE customer to generate electricity under a pilot program in which utilities pay homeowners for power produced from solar panels. Portland Oregonian Greenpeace wants Facebook center off coal fuel.Greenpeace said about 500,000 Facebook users have urged the world's largest online social network to abandon plans to buy electricity from a coal-based energy company for its new data center in the U.S. Associated Press Change of heart from climate sceptics.Two of the world's most influential climate sceptics appear to have had a change of heart. Sydney ABC News UN: Climate funds shouldn't divert poverty aid.The U.N.'s climate chief says poor countries are right to expect that any funding they receive to combat global warming be kept separate from development aid or poverty relief. St. Louis Post-Dispatch Stern warning for climate sceptics.One of the world's leading climate change experts, Sir Nicholas Stern, has warned that countries such as Australia will face future trade barriers unless they move to a low-carbon economy. Melbourne Age Climate panel must adapt to survive,A long-awaited report has recommended an overhaul of the IPCC. The proposals were met with a largely favourable response from climate researchers who are eager to move on after the media scandals and credibility challenges that have rocked the UN body during the past nine months. Nature Southern California panel to consider greenhouse gas targets.Officials with the planning agency that covers Riverside and San Bernardino counties projected earlier this year that the region could cut heat-trapping emissions from passenger vehicle travel by up to 6 percent by 2035. Riverside Press-Enterprise Paul makes Sebree visit.Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Rand Paul visited the Big Rivers Electric plant near Sebree Wednesday to "steadfastly oppose" any form of a "carbon tax" on coal. Evansville Courier & Press Senate candidates' responses on specific topics.Calif.—Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and Republican challenger Carly Fiorina fielded an array of questions during their first debate Wednesday night, some from a panel of journalists and others from Californians who appeared on video. Associated Press U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul tours plant to tout coal.Paul said recent climate legislation that would place a fee on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, sometimes referred to as cap-and-trade, would kill industry in Kentucky. Associated Press Local banks still shy to fund green projects: UN.Indonesian banks and financial institutions are reluctant to finance carbon trading projects, despite the government's drive to cut emissions and fight climate change, says a UN report. Jakarta Post Julia Gillard's high-risk embrace.A promise of action on climate change in return for support from Greens to govern. Sydney Australian Green groups urge next Australian government to deliver carbon price.A group of trade unions, environmental and religious groups have today released a joint statement calling for Australia to put a price on carbon. London Business Green United call for a price on carbon.Environmentalists, unions and major church groups have put aside their differences to call for the federal government to introduce a price on carbon in 2011. Australian Associated Press MPs urged to focus on carbon price.A new multi-party climate change committee has been urged to reach a carbon price quickly, but it might first have to deal with Labor's derided citizens' assembly. Australian Associated Press Pact could lead to tougher emissions scheme, says Brown.Any emissions trading scheme or carbon tax emerging from Labor and the Greens' new climate change committee could be tougher on Australia's polluting industries than the government's previous scheme, according to Bob Brown. Brisbane Times No fast-track for an emissions trading scheme.The Greens have signed a formal agreement to support a minority Labor government despite receiving no assurance from Julia Gillard that she would try to bring forward the introduction of an emissions trading scheme. Melbourne Age |
From the Daily Climate NewsroomEnterprise and investigative reporting by DailyClimate.orgClimate Clippings - The Brazos, weatherization, and disagreeing over agreeing.
Daily Climate's weekly compilation of news tidbits. This week: Lost love - er, carbon - on the Brazos; $120 million for weatherization efforts; and two books look why consensus on climate policy is so elusive. Americans' sense of energy savings? Small change.Quick – what's the most effective way for you to save energy? If you're like many Americans, you'd say turn out the lights or turn up the AC's thermostat. And, like many Americans, you'd miss the mark. Improving the efficiency of our cars, appliances and home would take the biggest chunk out of our energy footprint. more Climate Clippings - Tropical ice, fuel cells, and a new chair.Daily Climate's weekly compilation of climate snippets: Disappearing ice in the tropics; power from water and air; a battery break-through; and an invisible, immaterial chair. Climate Clippings - Cell phones, farmers and Hawaiian surf.Daily Climate's weekly compilation of climate tidbits: Spreading climate news in rural countries, a new approach to large-scale ag investments, and Hawaii's offshore power potential. Climate Clippings: Ice fields, ENSO trouble and high fashion.Today TDC launches weekly feature offering snippets of new and noteworthy developments. This week: A truly "emerging" field, a dispute over El Niño data, and an attempt to marry solar energy and haute couture. Spread of disease linked to warming climate.A deadly infectious disease once thought to be exclusively tropical has gained a toehold in the Pacific Northwest, and health experts suspect climate change is partially to blame.
Last week the CDC issued a report warning U.S. doctors to be alert for patients showing signs of a cryptoccocal infection.
Climate scientist Steve Schneider dies at 65.Stanford climate scientist Stephen Schneider, one of the pre-eminent voices in the climate debate, who argued with wit and passion about the limits of climate science and the need for an aggressive response, died Monday of an apparent heart attack while en route to London from a scientific conference in Stockholm. He was 65.
Over the course of his 40-year career, Schneider built the case that the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has dire consequences for the globe.
Opinion: The world lost a great man.We honor Steve Schneider by caring about the strange and beautiful planet on which we live, by protecting its climate, and by ensuring that our policymakers do not fall asleep at the wheel. Steve Schneider epitomized scientific courage. He was fearless. The pathway he chose - to be a scientific leader, to be a leader in science communication, and to fully embrace the interdisciplinary nature of the climate change problem - was not an easy pathway. more New conservation model emerges in Canada's north country.
An unprecedented drive to protect Canada's northern forests, tundra and bogs is changing how land managers view their stewardship, civic leaders approach economic growth and companies view their bottom line. And for the first time, some of the protections have a climate component. Preserving wildlife, notably migratory birds and the iconic woodland caribou, is the paramount purpose. But climate change mitigation is part of the equation: Canada's peat bogs and forests, if left undisturbed, store a tremendous amount of carbon - 233 billion tons, according to some estimates, or almost one third of the carbon stored in the Earth's atmosphere. More than 80 percent of that is stored within the country's boreal region, and politicians are beginning to write protections for that carbon into the law. more Locking in our future.Welcome to the Anthropocene. Decisions made today about planet-warming emissions will influence climate impacts not just for decades but for centuries and perhaps even millennia, a panel from the National Academy of Sciences warned Friday. Given the longevity of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, these scientists said, these decisions effectively lock humanity in for a range of impacts, some of which can be "very severe." more Warming waters add new pressures to an ancient livelihood.Regulators have traditionally reacted to falling fish stocks by putting additional curbs on fishing. That approach may not work as larger changes such as global warming alter the seas and their inhabitants.
The debate over how to manage depleted stocks has been hotly contested in New England ever since the Georges Banks fishery collapsed in the mid-90s.
Climate change: Hazardous to your health.From heat stress to sewage overflows, climate change promises to bring extreme weather that can throw our nation's ill-prepared public health infrastructure 'back to the 1890s,' according to experts.
The United States - to say nothing of the developed world - is unprepared for such conditions predicted by myriad climate models and already being seen today, warn climate researchers and public health officials.
Climategate scientist cleared in inquiry, again.
A Penn State investigation has found no substance behind allegations of academic misconduct by climate researcher Michael Mann, one of the central figures in the so-called 'Climategate' e-mail scandal.
It is the third formal inquiry to clear scientists involved in the scandal. The Penn State findings, released Thursday by a unanimous panel of five senior faculty, concluded Mann never participated in research or other scholarly activity that "deviated from accepted practices within the academic community."
A nuclear paradox.
The nation's first uranium mill in 25 years promises to bring good jobs and a stable economy – amid a history of health impacts, environmental harm and unstable prices – to a region still struggling in the wake of the industry's last bust. Both sides recognize that the proposed Piñon Ridge mill - fed by ore from up to 41 nearby mines - could transform this quiet corner of Colorado into the fountainhead of the nuclear fuel industry. more Uranium's revival alters the West.
Reporter Nathan Rice explores the hopes and fears of the West's nuclear renaissance in this two-minute slideshow. He finds that local residents are mostly hopeful that the revival could bring good jobs and a stable economic base. But some are wary of uranium's legacy of health problems, environmental impacts and unstable prices. more Shades of hope for uranium's forgotten victims.
The days of unregulated production and government secrecy are gone. But as the uranium industry revives in the West, health problems from the last boom still plague communities, and victims are still fighting for recognition.
To date, the federal government has spent more than $7 billion compensating people made sick by the government-run nuclear program that fueled the Manhattan Project and the Cold War arms race.
New England's stately oaks and hemlocks give way as the region warms.Spring did not come for the oaks of Martha's Vineyard. In the denuded branches, scientists see a fingerprint of climate change - and a pattern of things to come. Farther north and west, scientists are studying the devastation of regal hemlocks. In both cases, bugs may have delivered the deadly blow, but they were fostered by a warming and changing climate. more Green design missing some hues, group says.The gold standard for certifying "green" buildings fails to place enough emphasis on human health and needs to be upgraded, according to a new report that argues LEED standards are weighted too heavily toward energy conservation.
"They have to be given great credit for work on energy conservation. And there clearly are environmental quality and health benefits that will accrue from conservation efforts," said John Wargo, professor of risk analysis and environmental policy at Yale University and a lead author of the report, released in May.
The incubators.Local efforts to trim emissions, change economies and alter behavior are serving as idea labs where mistakes can be made and novel approaches honed in preparation for setting national climate and energy policy. And they can have a powerful influence in the climate debate, policy experts say. Within the recently released climate bill are many lessons learned in these local laboratories. more Five local ideas influencing national policy.Here are five ideas coming out of local governments that promise to shape the national debate on climate change and energy reform. Surprising common ground emerges in climate policy.A full-page ad in Friday's New York Times was the latest example of diverse groups rallying together on climate policy. Organizations from across the political spectrum, from hunters to retirees to evangelical Hispanics, are finding common ground on an issue that has polarized the Capitol. Those building these coalitions say that climate and energy policy is an easy sell once they connect the dots from climate change or energy reform to self-interest for different constituents. more Power to the revolution.Utilities are spending billions to make the grid more reliable, efficient, and green. In the process, they will drastically change how they do business. To shrink the electricity sector's carbon footprint, the nation needs to build thousands of miles of new transmission lines over the next 20 years. A 21st-century "smart grid" will also have to balance fluctuating power flows from alternative and distributed sources. And it must be interactive. more Two paths to profits.The utility of the future has two contrasting business models: One focused on selling power, the other aimed at selling high-value "energy services." They will either focus on operating the grid and delivering electricity, or they will find a way to make money by helping customers maximize energy use at the lowest possible cost. more Blue climate message.The Blue Man Group, famous for building shows around themes such as information overload and innocence, has taken on climate change with a two-minute YouTube clip warning against inaction. As of Saturday 3.5 million viewers have watched.
The group has long colored shows with various themes.
Green investments spur growth, emissions cuts.Green investments are spurring significant growth across the U.S economy while decreasing industry's overall emissions per dollar of goods and services, according to two reports released Wednesday by the federal government.
Meanwhile households have replaced industry as the country's largest source of carbon dioxide emissions, according to government data.
Opinion: It's not the weather.
Our planet is under unsustainable stress and its recovery can only begin when public attitudes toward energy generation, consumption, and conservation advance. So why is the media missing this story? I see in this the results of a carefully executed campaign by fossil fuel executives to dissuade the public appetite for energy reform. By shrewdly peddling deceptive information to confound and confuse the public's understanding of what is already a complicated subject, the intellectual exchange of ideas has been compromised, and Americans' tentativeness toward climate action has, regrettably, increased. more Green economy grows despite policy vacuum.
The green economy continues to show almost remarkable signs of vitality, business leaders say, despite the near-total collapse of global talks, stalemate in Washington, D.C., and polls showing decreased urgency to tackle global warming. Driving the industry, investors say, are consumer interest in the environmental and economic benefits of energy efficiency, corporate sustainability mandates and essentially a bet that at some point there will be a price on carbon emissions. more As whales head north, Arctic biologists play catch-up on climate change.
The season of migration has come again to the warm waters of the Baja Sea. But 6,000 miles away, gray whales' Arctic feeding grounds are being transformed as the planet warms, and scientists are scrambling to understand the impacts on creatures in the region. Little is known of the Arctic food chain. Even less is known of how it will shift as the climate changes. And that represents a worrisome gap in basic science, say scientists. more Hunters, anglers call for adaptation efforts.
A coalition of hunting and fishing groups outlined Monday more than 50 conservation projects to help game and fish adapt to climate change, warning that billions of dollars are needed to prevent 'catastrophic' environmental and economic loss.
The document targets fishers and hunters, but everyone should be concerned, said Steven Williams, President of Wildlife Management Institute.
Global cooling is bunk, draft NASA study finds.
Global warming has neither stopped nor slowed in the past decade, according to a draft analysis of temperature data by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The analysis, led by senior scientist Jim Hansen, attempts to debunk popular belief that the planet is cooling. It finds that global temperatures over the past decade have "continued to rise rapidly," despite large year-to-year fluctuations associated with the tropical El Niño-La Niña cycles. more Saving carbon by burning forests.
By now everyone knows that forests sequester carbon and that forest fires pump enormous amounts of that stored carbon skyward. But researchers are now coming to a somewhat contrary conclusion: Carefully controlled burns can help reduce forest carbon emissions.
The most recent study, from the National Center of Atmospheric Research and Northern Arizona University, looked at dry forests of the western United States and discovered that prescribed burns can reduce carbon fire emissions by nearly a quarter throughout the West – and by as much as 60 percent in some forests.
Opinion: Translating science.
Do researchers have an obligation to help the general public understand the relevance of their work? One academic thinks so – despite sporting scars from his effort.
I've had threats, and I've had police escorts. I've dealt with people who were trembling with rage and with others who took swings at me.
Cyber bullying rises as climate data are questioned.
The e-mails come thick and fast every time NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt appears in the press. Rude and crass e-mails. E-mails calling him a fraud, a cheat, a scumbag and much worse.
To Schmidt and other researchers purging their inboxes daily of such correspondence, the barrage is simply part of the job of being a climate scientist. But others see the messages as threats and intimidation – cyber-bullying meant to shut down debate and cow scientists into limiting their participation in the public discourse.
Ethanol's contrasting carbon footprints.
The federal government last week concluded corn-based biofuels help reduce emissions; California regulators say they don't. Who's right? Oddly enough, both may be.
Regulators and policy experts insist there's no conflict: Both rules match the science; it's simply a matter of what year you start counting emissions.
US loses opportunity with home energy efficiency.
Despite EPA gains with its Energy Star program, some 99 percent of American houses remain "sick" – damp, drafty, expensive to heat and cool – and could be made at least 30 percent more energy-efficient with "highly cost-effective, tried-and-true" improvements, according to experts.
Those experts add that economics and regulations are the root of the problem: Mortgages are structured in ways that fail to recognize efficiency's benefits, while a patchwork of inconsistent and ill-enforced energy codes provides conflicting signals to industry.
Stern: Copenhagen Accord 'best way to make progress.'
Lead U.S. climate negotiator Todd Stern said Thursday the Copenhagen Accord represents the best way forward for a binding global climate deal but that success likely rests with a smaller group of countries working outside the unwieldy, multi-national United Nations process.
In his first public remarks since the conclusion of the United Nations climate talks in December, Stern said the Copenhagen Accord – despite its shortcomings – included "significant breakthroughs in a number of respects."
Disappearing options.
Climate policy has a tipping point. Failure to set and meet strict emissions targets over the next 40 years puts long-term goals – such as limiting planetary warming to 2ºC by 2100 – permanently out of reach, according to a study published Monday.
The study establishes the notion of "feasibility frontiers," the point at which end-of-century goals become unobtainable or increasingly unlikely unless specific mid-century benchmarks are met.
Top environmental health stories of 2009.In 2009, the team at Environmental Health News hand-selected and posted 71,143 stories that were published in the worldwide media. Here's a list of those we consider the year's most important. 2009 offered a trove of climate stories.
Journalists worldwide produced more than 32,000 stories on climate change last year, but the coverage failed to garner a spot on a map showing major news events of 2009.
Those articles were written by some 11,000 different reporters, columnists and editorial boards, based on an analysis of DailyClimate.org's archives. Reuters led the pack, publishing at least 2,550 different articles on the topic last year – the equivalent of seven stories a day. The Associated Press had 1,600.
One planet, different worlds.
All eyes in Copenhagen were on China and President Barack Obama Friday night, but nothing captured the discord, distrust and distance separating all sides at these climate talks better than a pair of press conferences held simultaneously at the Bella Center earlier in the afternoon.
In the main room, refusing to cede the stage to other dignitaries, Venezuela' Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Juan Evo Morales railed against the developed world's inability to accept responsibility for previous emissions obligations and the role it has played in warming the atmosphere.
Cities pushing nations toward deeper cuts.
Mayors of some of the world's largest cities flexed their muscle at the United Nations climate talks Wednesday, warning that "billions of people" are prepared to cut emissions far beyond whatever agreement world leaders may ink this week. "We at the local level have too much to lose," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. more Samsø cuts the cord.
Steve Chu and a host of foreign energy ministers announced Monday a $350 million initiative to boost renewable technologies worldwide. But out here on windswept Samsø, a remote rural island in Denmark, residents have already transited to the carbon-free world these ministers envision. They did so without the new technology or fancy investments envisioned by the ministers. Their secret? The residents themselves. And their desire to make a buck. more Copenhagen talks start minus a key player.
No one at the Copenhagen climate talks is filling the role of the late Phil Clapp, director of the former National Environmental Trust and considered by some to be the most influential campaigner the United States offered.
Clapp – Harvard-educated chain-smoker, fluent in French, an expert on British royalty and an accomplished pianist – died of pneumonia in September 2008 while vacationing in Amsterdam. He was 54.
For clean energy, Britain looks out to sea.
England has placed a big bet on offshore wind power to cut emissions radically by 2050 and is driving hard to get projects built. The government has shown a willingness to intervene heavily in energy markets and overrule local concerns.
"Offshore wind is going to be the greatest special use of the seas around the U.K. in a short period of time, which can be scary," said Victoria Copley, a senior energy specialist with the advocacy group Natural England. "But a lot of research has been done, and we're in a much better place than we were three years ago."
Special Report: 'New' economy rolls forward.
The low-carbon economy has arrived on the prairie north of Denver. Vestas is building the West's largest turbine factory, a $700 million investment in what Gov. Ritter calls a "new energy economy." Some say these efforts – not the Copenhagen talks – provide the most promising solutions to climate change.
Vestas isn't the only company spending millions of its capital. Several utilities are investing some $1 billion on an industrial-scale carbon capture and storage tests at coal plants in Wisconsin, West Virginia and Oklahoma. The race to perfect the batteries that will power the next generation of automobiles and buses has manufacturers in Europe, the United States and China scurrying to build plants and research centers.
Special Report: The escape route.
Failure to confront hard decisions about emissions puts humanity in a box. But we have a way out. Call in the geoengineers.
The idea of tinkering with planetary controls is not for the faint of heart. Even advocates acknowledge that any attempt to set the Earth's thermostat is full of hubris and laden with risk.
Special Report: Busting emissions in the 'Boulder bubble.'
Amid increasing gloom that the Copenhagen talks will produce a global climate accord, state and local leaders pushing their own reductions efforts in the United States see only one choice: Proceed.
The number of cities and regional governments undertaking this transition to a low-carbon economy is growing. These efforts, leaders vow, will continue whatever the outcome of political debates in Copenhagen, Brussels or Washington, D.C.
Special Report: An 'all-in' bet for the planet.
This is the consequence of failure at Copenhagen: A marked shift in scientific effort from solving global warming to adapting to its consequences, a hodge-podge of uncoordinated local efforts to trim emissions – none of which deliver the necessary cuts – and an altered climate.
Climate experts, scientists and negotiators say that, absent international agreement, the children and grandchildren of those living today will negotiate a world where planetary geo-engineering is a part of daily life, sea-walls defend coastal cities, the world's poor are hammered by drought, floods and famine and our planet is heading toward conditions unseen for the last 100 million years.
Rapid change threatens foundations of human health - report.
Rapid changes already underway to the Earth's climate, ecosystems and land cover threaten the health of billions, undermining key human life-support systems and threatening the core foundations of healthy communities worldwide, according to a new report released Wednesday. The disruption represents the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century and leaves poor populations mostly in developing nations most vulnerable – even though they contribute the least to many of the problems. more A day built around a data point goes viral.
Organizers of 350 Day aim to stabilize the climate and prevent disaster. Turns out many more are paying attention than they expected. Organizers credit the increasing inter-connectedness of Web, cellular and social networks for the spread, saying such random and organic growth would have been impossible even two years ago. more Forest's death brings higher temps, researchers suspect.
Forests of dead beetle-kill pine could be speeding regional climate change, increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfalls across the American West. "The local impacts where the forest has been destroyed will be fairly dramatic," said Peter Harley, an associate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. "The big question is how much of an impact will this have?" more A man, a plane, a very big picture.
From his Cessna, Bruce Gordon provides politicians, reporters and others with an eye-opening view of an American West increasingly fractured by energy and resource development. That awareness of scale, over both time and vast distances, is what gives Gordon - and his many passengers – the ability to piece together a startling and disturbing picture. Whether it's clear-cut forests in the Pacific Northwest, coal bed methane development in Wyoming, pine beetle blight across the Western Slope of Colorado, giant open pit gold mines in Nevada, scars from a decades-long natural gas boom in New Mexico or melting Montana glaciers, his vantage point connects the disparate dots that reveal a tattered Western tapestry. With video. more Green shoots rise from brownfields.
Uncle Sam looks to eliminate the biggest hurdle to expanding renewable energy – the need for suitable sites to place commercial-scale wind and solar farms – by reusing hundreds of old mines, landfills and industrial sites. Using already disturbed lands would help avoid conflicts between renewable energy developers and environmental groups concerned about impacts to wildlife habitat. These conflicts have stalled some high-profile projects despite the fact that renewable energy sources do not produce heat-trapping emissions of carbon dioxides, the primary greenhouse gas driving global warming. more Op-ed: The fate of our civilization.
Forget about protecting the Earth. It's the underpinnings of our civilization that climate change most endangers. If I had one thing to impart to our leaders and opinionmakers, it would be this: Start worrying instead about the fate of human civilization. The Earth will survive the assault of the modern era. The urgent question is whether the Earth will remain a place that can support a complex, interconnected global civilization like our own. more Altered climate shifts Andes culture.
For ages Qoyllur Rit'i pilgrims have hauled themselves ever upward to celebrate the glaciers' life-giving waters. As that world rapidly melts, the Andes' Quechua-speaking farmers face a profound change in their relationship with their environment.
While governments seek technical solutions to climate-related problems, farmers in the Andes are struggling to understand events that are altering their livelihood. Drip irrigation and water reservoirs are only a partial response.
Op-Ed: One giant leap ... on Earth.
Our continued focus on economic growth makes clear that we remain seriously mistaken about the geography of the future. This radical experiment with the Earth's metabolism is our predicament, the unifying force of our planetary era. The greatest challenges of the 21st century will not be those of the space age, but rather urgent earthly ones in a new planetary era that arrived in the second half of the 20th century. If any single event marked this profound watershed in the human journey, it was the sudden appearance of a yawning hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica first reported in May 1985. With the explosive, exponential expansion of modern industrial civilization following World War II, human activity reached a scale great enough to disrupt essential, but invisible planetary systems, in this case, the ozone layer which shields the Earth from deadly ultraviolet radiation. The human enterprise had become agent of risky global change. more Seeking change in human behavior.
Frustrated by society's inability to tackle pressing environmental dilemmas, Stanford ecologist Paul Ehrlich has launched a new endeavor aimed at changing human behavior.
Called the Millennium Assessment of Human Behavior, or MAHB (pronounced "mob"), the venture seeks to change human activities to better confront issues threatening humanity's future – among them climate change, declining food security, loss of biological diversity, water shortages, pollution, land use changes.
Rising acidity erodes Alaska's fisheries.
New research suggests Alaska's marine waters are particularly susceptible to acidification, with potentially dire consequences to the state's rich crab and salmon fisheries.
"Everything is acting in unison on the environment – it's not just the ice loss or the warming or the acidification," said UAF chemical oceanographer Jeremy Mathis. "The Arctic is taking a multilateral hit."
Op-Ed: The return of the population bomb.No driver of environmental deterioration is more obvious than population growth, and none has been more taboo to talk about. A collapse of civilization now seems ever more likely than it did back in 1968, when the Population Bomb was written. The role of population growth and related issues (especially patterns of rising consumption) as drivers of some of our most serious problems has been largely ignored. That makes a collapse of civilization now seem ever more likely than it did back in 1968, when the Population Bomb was written. more Climate change solution: one billion emitters.
A new framework for reducing carbon emissions takes a crack at the knottiest dilemma confronting a global climate solution: how to divvy cuts between rich and poor nations. The study, published Monday, attempts to sidestep the rancor, finding that virtually every country has a class of individuals – the so-called "high emitters" - enjoying a rich, carbon-intensive lifestyle. If those individuals, no matter their locale, are forced to take responsibility for their emissions, a great swath of countries become participants in the climate effort, the study claims. more Calling for action, White House underscores climate impact.
A report showing that climate disruption is already leaving deep imprints on every sector of the environment and that the consequences of these changes will grow steadily worse in coming decades was released Tuesday by the Obama Administration. The 196-page report crisscrosses the United States and finds that global warming has touched every corner: Heavier downpours, strengthened heat waves, altered river flows and extended growing seasons. more Climate change hitting poor in U.S. hardest.
Climate change is disproportionately affecting the poor and minorities in the United States – a "climate gap" that will grow in coming decades unless policymakers intervene. Everyone, the researchers say, is already starting to feel the effects of a warming planet, via heat waves, increased air pollution, drought, or more intense storms. But the impacts – on health, economics, and overall quality of life – are far more acute on society's disadvantaged, the researchers found. more Drought, conflict and tension in Andes.
Rapid disappearance of Andean glaciers is already producing conflicts in the region and is likely to force major human migrations in the relatively near future. With cities growing and agriculture expanding throughout South America, experts predict that climate change will exacerbate water scarcity, increasing conflicts between competing users, pitting city dwellers against rural residents, people in dry lands against those in areas with abundant rainfall, Andean mining companies against neighboring farm communities, and eucalyptus plantation operators on the Argentinian and Uruguayan plains against farmers who say the trees are sucking the water table dry. more The Andes' triple bottom line.
Climate change is hitting South America with a triple whammy: More water stress, more migration, more disease.
Rising temperatures can change the way diseases behave, while collateral effects — from the retreat of glaciers that provide vital drinking and irrigation water to more frequent, intense storms and flooding — increase the burden on developing economies.
Andes at risk: Slideshow.
Climate change is further straining Peru's already stressed public health system. Two minute slideshow. Cherry growers, deciphering models, find uncertainty.
A novel interdisciplinary effort strives - and struggles - to give Michigan's $44 million tart cherry industry a roadmap for a warmer future. Their work provides insight on the promises and pitfalls of what researchers and policy makers agree is an urgent task of climate science: translating the global problem to backyard consequences. more First fruits of cap-and-trade.
Some of the first workers on energy efficiency programs are now hitting the streets with salaries paid by proceeds of the cap-and-trade program started by 10 Northeast States. The initiative may or may not be a good model for the Obama Administration, but it already has raised millions for efficiency programs. And there is little dispute the program is achieving one main goal, to finance an aggressive expansion of energy efficiency programs. The first reductions of carbon dioxide allowances raised $262 million for the programs, just the beginning of a steady stream of funds being funneled to the 10 participating states. more California takes on King Corn.
California regulators, trying to assess the true environmental cost of corn ethanol, are poised to declare that the biofuel cannot help the state reduce global warming.
As they see it, corn is no better – and might be worse – than petroleum when total greenhouse gas emissions are considered.
Valley fever blowin' on a hotter wind.
Harsher weather conditions – hotter temperatures and more intense dust storms fueled by global warming – are spreading the transmission of valley fever, a fungal disease endemic to the southwestern United States. Forecasts of rising temperatures and moisture levels and alternating hot-dry and wet periods create a hospitable environment for the disease, and researchers believe climate change may impact it more than other infectious ailments. more Steep cuts avert the worst problems - study.
Drastic, economy-changing cuts to greenhouse gas emissions will spare the planet only half the trauma expected over the next century as the Earth warms. And that’s the good news. Because a failure to significantly curb these planet-warming gases will truly transform our world in less than 100 years. more All tapped out.
All farming depends on the weather, but few foods are more dependent on a specific climate than maple syrup. And change underway in New England suggests the region's sugar country faces a bitter future.
After all, for the sugar maple's sap to run at all requires cooperative weather — freezing nights followed by warmer days.
Clean fuels are a social panacea - EPA.
Shifting the United States to clean-burning renewable fuels has the potential to solve long-standing social ills across the entire spectrum of American life, from manufacturing to national security to clean water, the country’s top environmental cop said on Wednesday.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said weaning the country from fossil fuels remains a top priority of the Obama administration because it offers such a broad suite of solutions across all aspects of American life: rewarding innovation, discouraging pollution, investing in jobs and encouraging energy independence.
Climate change comes to your backyard.
A standard gardening reference – the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map – is about to make very clear how much rising temperatures have shifted planting zones northward. By injecting climate change into one of America’s favorite pastimes, the revised USDA map could become an important public education tool, experts say. “Hopefully the new map will clear up a lot of confusion about what’s happening to the climate,” said Charlie Nardozzi, a National Gardening Association horticulturist. more Changing climate ups West Nile threat in U.S.
The higher temperatures, humidity and rainfall associated with climate change have led to increased outbreaks of West Nile Virus infections across the United States in recent years, according to a study published this week.
One of the largest surveys of West Nile Virus cases to date links warming weather patterns and increasing rainfall – both projected to accelerate with global warming – to outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease across 17 states from 2001 to 2005.
Climate science: A call to think big - and think policy.
Researchers question whether our scientific institutions can solve the climate dilemma, arguing that daunting pressures require a new degree of political cooperation - from the county commission up to the United Nations. Without a fundamental shift in emphasis, they caution, the scientific infrastructure so painstakingly erected to identify the problem will find itself impotent to ensure that global warming will be mitigated and civilization will adapt. more |
