Browsed by
Category: Climate Change

Jimmy Carter might have saved the climate, if the country had let him try

Jimmy Carter might have saved the climate, if the country had let him try

Dave Levitan writes: It’s an old and well-worn story, of course. On June 20, 1979, President Jimmy Carter stood in front of 32 newly installed solar panels on the White House roof, and announced a set of recommendations he sent to Congress regarding a grand new solar strategy. “Today, in directly harnessing the power of the Sun, we’re taking the energy that God gave us, the most renewable energy that we will ever see, and using it to replace our…

Read More Read More

To escape extreme heat, farmers and fisherfolk worldwide are adopting overnight hours

To escape extreme heat, farmers and fisherfolk worldwide are adopting overnight hours

Modern Farmer reports: Every morning, for years, Josana Pinto da Costa would venture out onto the waterways lining Óbidos, Brazil, in a small fishing boat. She would glide over the murky, churning currents of the Amazon River Basin, her flat nets bringing in writhing hauls as the sun ascended into the cerulean skies above. Scorching temperatures in the Brazilian state of Pará have now made that routine unsafe. The heat has “been really intense” this year, said Pinto da Costa…

Read More Read More

The Sunbelt’s growing population faces increasing climate hazards

The Sunbelt’s growing population faces increasing climate hazards

Inside Climate News reports: Counties across the southern half of the U.S., especially those with large and socially vulnerable populations, will be much more exposed to wildfire, drought and extreme heat than other parts of the country as the region’s climate warms in the coming decades, according to new research from the U.S. Forest Service and Resources for the Future. The report, “Changing Hazards, Exposure, and Vulnerability in the Conterminous United States, 2020–2070,” builds on the Forest Service’s 2020 Resources…

Read More Read More

How the renewable energy boom is remaking the American West

How the renewable energy boom is remaking the American West

Inside Climate News reports: Local conservationist Patrick Donnelly drove east along the Loneliest Road in America, a ribbon of pavement in north central Nevada that deserves its name. Before him, sprawling in every direction, was a green-gray sagebrush basin so large you could probably plop Las Vegas in it and still have room to spare. Save for a stiff wind and the occasional cow bleat, a heavy silence sat on the valley. Not much moved aside from skittish grouse and…

Read More Read More

The state of the Arctic: High temperatures, melting ice, fires and unprecedented emissions

The state of the Arctic: High temperatures, melting ice, fires and unprecedented emissions

NBC News reports: The Arctic just experienced its second-hottest year on record. And concerningly, the region’s tundra has transitioned from being a sink for carbon to a source of emissions as permafrost melts to release methane. That will only amplify the amount of heat-trapping gases that enter the atmosphere, paving the way for further warming. The findings, shared Tuesday in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Arctic report card, show how climate change is scrambling ecosystems and shape-shifting the landscape…

Read More Read More

Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check

Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check

Andrew Dessler writes: One of the most important concepts in climate science is the idea of committed warming — how much future warming is coming from carbon dioxide that we’ve already emitted. Understanding the extent of committed warming is vital because it informs our current climate situation. If there is a significant amount of committed warming already “locked in,” then we have much less ability to avoid the levels of warming that policymakers judge as dangerous. In a previous post…

Read More Read More

New powder that captures carbon could be ‘quantum leap’ for industry

New powder that captures carbon could be ‘quantum leap’ for industry

The Guardian reports: An innocuous yellow powder, created in a lab, could be a new way to combat the climate crisis by absorbing carbon from the air. Just half a pound of the stuff may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can, according to early tests. Once the carbon is absorbed by the powder, it can be released into safe storage or be used in industrial processes, like carbonizing drinks. “This really addresses a major problem in the…

Read More Read More

Reality check on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the air

Reality check on technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the air

MIT News reports: In 2015, 195 nations plus the European Union signed the Paris Agreement and pledged to undertake plans designed to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Yet in 2023, the world exceeded that target for most, if not all of, the year — calling into question the long-term feasibility of achieving that target. To do so, the world must reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and strategies for achieving levels that will…

Read More Read More

As climate change melts permafrost, microbes that we have never been exposed to will emerge

As climate change melts permafrost, microbes that we have never been exposed to will emerge

Valerie Brown writes: The popular image of the Arctic is as a “frozen North,” which it was for all of human history until a couple of centuries ago. In that view, intrepid explorers and scientists clatter over tundra and ice roads in dogsleds and decrepit trucks, risking everything to bring back important samples and wild tales of howling winds. But this vision is growing passé. The Arctic is warming four times as fast as the global average. While there are…

Read More Read More

Huge election year worldwide sees weakening commitment to act on climate crisis

Huge election year worldwide sees weakening commitment to act on climate crisis

The Guardian reports: An unprecedented year of elections around the world has underscored a sobering trend – in many countries the commitment to act on the climate crisis has either stalled or is eroding, even as disasters and record temperatures continue to mount. So far 2024, called the “biggest election year in human history” by the United Nations with around half the world’s population heading to the polls, there have been major wins for Donald Trump, the US president-elect who…

Read More Read More

Trump 2.0: This time the stakes for climate are even higher

Trump 2.0: This time the stakes for climate are even higher

Michael Gerrard writes: The November 5 election was the worst-case outcome for climate regulation. The return of Donald Trump to the Oval Office and Republican control of the Senate and the House of Representatives will halt federal progress and lead to a reversal of most of the climate initiatives undertaken by the Biden administration. Such a rollback occurred after Trump first won election in 2016, but this time the stakes are even higher. Trump has promised to halt spending under…

Read More Read More

Human-caused ocean warming intensified recent hurricanes

Human-caused ocean warming intensified recent hurricanes

Yale Climate Connections reports: Human-caused climate change boosted the wind speeds of recent Atlantic hurricanes, making them more damaging and costly, according to a pair of scientific reports released today. Research published in the journal Environmental Research: Climate, “Human-caused ocean warming has intensified recent hurricanes,” found that between 2019 and 2023, the maximum sustained winds of Atlantic hurricanes were 19 mph (31 km/h) higher because of human-caused ocean warming. And a parallel report by Climate Central, a nonprofit scientific research…

Read More Read More

Trump picks ally Lee Zeldin as environment chief and vows to roll back rules

Trump picks ally Lee Zeldin as environment chief and vows to roll back rules

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump has picked Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), vowing the appointment will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions” by the regulator. Trump, who oversaw the rollback of more than 100 environmental rules when he last was US president, said that Zeldin was a “true fighter for America First policies” and that “he will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to…

Read More Read More

Musk believes in climate change. Trump doesn’t. Will that change?

Musk believes in climate change. Trump doesn’t. Will that change?

The New York Times reports: Elon Musk has described himself as “pro-environment” and “super pro climate.” But he also threw himself wholeheartedly into electing as president someone who has dismissed global warming as a hoax. Now, as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to enter the White House, one big question is how much sway — if any — Mr. Musk’s views on climate change and clean energy might have in the new administration. During the campaign, Mr. Trump noticeably softened…

Read More Read More

Despite climate concerns, young voter turnout slumped and its support split between the parties

Despite climate concerns, young voter turnout slumped and its support split between the parties

Inside Climate News reports: For 19-year-old Carson Carpenter, voting for Donald Trump was a “no-brainer.” Carpenter, who grew up in Prescott, Arizona, and was president of Arizona State University’s College Republicans until this week, said he was mainly influenced by concerns about the economy, particularly affordability. He also strongly believes in environmental protection, and he feels that progress on the environment will continue under Trump. “I think that people that say Trump is bad for the environment, they would be…

Read More Read More

The U.S. is about to make a sharp turn on climate policy

The U.S. is about to make a sharp turn on climate policy

Casey Crownhart writes: Voters have elected Donald Trump to a second term in the White House. In the days leading up to the election, I kept thinking about what four years means for climate change right now. We’re at a critical moment that requires decisive action to rapidly slash greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, transportation, industry, and the rest of the economy if we’re going to achieve our climate goals. The past four years have seen the US take climate…

Read More Read More