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Category: Climate Change

Protecting indigenous lands protects the environment. Trump and Bolsonaro threaten both

Protecting indigenous lands protects the environment. Trump and Bolsonaro threaten both

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Deb Haaland and Joênia Wapichana write: On Tuesday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will meet with President Trump at the White House. Both administrations are pushing a host of policies that are detrimental to the rights of indigenous people. As two of the first female indigenous members of Congress in the United States and Brazil, respectively, we are concerned about these policies and the mounting threats facing our communities. We must stand up against toxic rhetoric and brutal attacks on the…

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I am an immigrant. Someday you might be one, too

I am an immigrant. Someday you might be one, too

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Laila Lalami writes: Like other species on this planet, human beings are a migratory type. When they suddenly find themselves in desperate need of physical safety or economic opportunity, they leave home and start over somewhere new. It has always been this way. The earliest stories we tell ourselves are stories of displacement: Adam’s fall from Eden, Moses’ flight from Egypt, Muhammad’s hegira to Medina. Trying to stop this process through the building of walls strikes me as both ineffective…

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‘No Planet B’: Tens of thousands join global youth demo for climate

‘No Planet B’: Tens of thousands join global youth demo for climate

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We face the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced: climate change. Today, I had the honor of introducing my daughter, one of the organizers of the student climate strike. ✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/skNjgWQjd7 — Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) March 15, 2019 AFP reports: Tens of thousands of young people skipped school across the globe on Friday to march through the streets for an international day of student protests aimed at pushing world leaders into action on climate change. Classrooms in capitals…

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Wettest winter on record in U.S. is a ‘glimpse of the future under climate change’

Wettest winter on record in U.S. is a ‘glimpse of the future under climate change’

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Joe Romm reports: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported Wednesday that “coast-to-coast extreme weather” from December to February resulted in the wettest winter on record in the United States. Wetter winters are precisely what scientists have predicted as climate change intensifies, Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe told ThinkProgress in an email. Similarly, climatologist Kevin Trenberth pointed out, “a consequence of global warming is that the extremes around the world increase.” NOAA reported that despite some frigid weather…

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Climate change: Rain melting Greenland ice sheet ‘even in winter’

Climate change: Rain melting Greenland ice sheet ‘even in winter’

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BBC News reports: Rain is becoming more frequent in Greenland and accelerating the melting of its ice, a new study has found. Scientists say they’re “surprised” to discover rain falling even during the long Arctic winter. The massive Greenland ice-sheet is being watched closely because it holds a huge store of frozen water. And if all of that ice melted, the sea level would rise by seven metres, threatening coastal population centres around the world. Precipitation usually falls as snow…

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Donald Trump ‘has become an agent of climate change’

Donald Trump ‘has become an agent of climate change’

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Think Progress reports: The Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to weaken or dismantle climate efforts would increase CO2 emissions by more than 200 million tons annually, taking a severe toll on public health, according to a new report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at New York University’s (NYU) law school. Sectors responsible for nearly half of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are benefiting from rollbacks and weakened regulations at the expense of U.S. residents, according…

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Global warming has already raised the risk of more severe droughts in Cape Town

Global warming has already raised the risk of more severe droughts in Cape Town

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Cape Town residents queuing for water during the water crisis. Shutterstock Mark New, University of Cape Town; Friederike Otto, University of Oxford, and Piotr Wolski, University of Cape Town Between 2015 and 2017 South Africa’s South Western Cape region experienced three of its lowest rainfall years on record. This led to the progressive depletion of water supply reservoirs and by the summer of 2017/18 there was a real danger that – without drastic reductions in water use – the region,…

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The climate change lawsuit that could stop the U.S. government from supporting fossil fuels

The climate change lawsuit that could stop the U.S. government from supporting fossil fuels

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60 Minutes reports: Of all the cases working their way through the federal court system none is more interesting or potentially more life changing than Juliana v. United States. To quote one federal judge, “This is no ordinary lawsuit.” It was filed back in 2015 on behalf of a group of kids who are trying to get the courts to block the U.S. government from continuing the use of fossil fuels. They say it’s causing climate change, endangering their future…

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Heatwaves sweeping oceans ‘like wildfires’, scientists reveal

Heatwaves sweeping oceans ‘like wildfires’, scientists reveal

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The Guardian reports: The number of heatwaves affecting the planet’s oceans has increased sharply, scientists have revealed, killing swathes of sea-life like “wildfires that take out huge areas of forest”. The damage caused in these hotspots is also harmful for humanity, which relies on the oceans for oxygen, food, storm protection and the removal of climate-warming carbon dioxide the atmosphere, they say. Global warming is gradually increasing the average temperature of the oceans, but the new research is the first…

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With climate science on the march, an isolated Trump hunkers down

With climate science on the march, an isolated Trump hunkers down

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The New York Times reports: New efforts by President Trump and his staff to question or undermine the established science of climate change have created a widening rift between the White House on one side, and scientific facts, government agencies, and some leading figures in the president’s own party on the other. The president’s senior advisers are exploring the idea of creating a panel aimed at questioning the National Climate Assessment. According to a White House memo, the group would…

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The 2020 election now has a climate-action candidate

The 2020 election now has a climate-action candidate

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  In January, The Atlantic reported: If there is a new Democratic president come 2021, he or she will get pulled in all sorts of policy directions. [Washington State Governor, Jay] Inslee [who announced his presidential candidacy today] says he has one priority: global warming. It’s not theoretical, or a cause just for tree huggers anymore. Putting off dealing with it for a year or two or kicking it to some new bipartisan commission won’t work, he says. He plans…

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The ocean is running out of oxygen, scientists warn

The ocean is running out of oxygen, scientists warn

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Laura Poppick writes: Escaping predators, digestion and other animal activities—including those of humans—require oxygen. But that essential ingredient is no longer so easy for marine life to obtain, several new studies reveal. In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive—an alarming trend that is linked to climate change, says Andreas Oschlies, an oceanographer at the Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel in Germany, whose team tracks ocean oxygen levels worldwide. “We were surprised by the intensity of…

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Concrete is tipping us into climate catastrophe. We need to tax it, now

Concrete is tipping us into climate catastrophe. We need to tax it, now

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John Vidal writes: Cement, the key component of concrete and one of the most widely used manmade materials, is now the cornerstone of global construction. It has shaped the modern environment, but its production has a massive footprint that neither the industry nor governments have been willing to address. Because of the heat needed to decompose rock and the natural chemical processes involved in making cement, every tonne made releases one tonne of C02, the main greenhouse warming gas. Including…

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A world that neglects to save its children can’t hope to be saved by its children

A world that neglects to save its children can’t hope to be saved by its children

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  The New York Times reports: It’s complicated being Greta. Small, shy, survivor of crippling depression, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish girl skipping school to shame the world into addressing climate change, drew a parade of fans one Friday in February on a frozen square in Stockholm. Six Swiss students had traveled 26 hours by train to seek her support for their petition for a tougher Swiss carbon emissions law. An Italian scientist told her she reminded him of his…

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Feedback loop between global warming and cloud loss may push Earth’s climate past a disastrous tipping point

Feedback loop between global warming and cloud loss may push Earth’s climate past a disastrous tipping point

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Natalie Wolchover writes: Clouds currently cover about two-thirds of the planet at any moment. But computer simulations of clouds have begun to suggest that as the Earth warms, clouds become scarcer. With fewer white surfaces reflecting sunlight back to space, the Earth gets even warmer, leading to more cloud loss. This feedback loop causes warming to spiral out of control. For decades, rough calculations have suggested that cloud loss could significantly impact climate, but this concern remained speculative until the…

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