Articles on or after 4/19/2024: New York Times - Climate Section
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'Discomfort May Increase’: Asia’s Heat Wave Scorches Hundreds of Millions - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 22) |
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Apr 22 · April is typically hot in South and Southeast Asia, but temperatures this month have been unusually high.
Saif Hasnat reported from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Mike Ives from Seoul.
Hundreds of millions of people in South and Southeast Asia were suffering on Monday from a punishing heat wave that has forced schools to close, disrupted agriculture, and raised the risk of heat strokes and other health complications.
The weather across the region in April is generally hot, and comes before Asia’s annual summer monsoon, which dumps rain on parched soil. But this April’s temperatures have so far been unusually high.
In Bangladesh, where schools and universities are ... | By Saif Hasnat and Mike Ives Read more ...
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Biden Earth Day Event Will Try to Reach Young Voters, a Crucial Bloc - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 22) |
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Apr 22 · At a national park in Virginia on Monday, the president will point to investments in clean energy and appear with future members of his American Climate Corps.
Reporting from Washington
President Biden will travel to a national park in Virginia on Monday, Earth Day, to spotlight his clean energy investments, with an eye on bolstering support among young voters disillusioned with their choices for the 2024 election.
Against the backdrop of the park, Prince William Forest, Mr. Biden will announce $7 billion in grants to fund solar power for hundreds of thousands of homes in primarily disadvantaged communities, according to the White House. He will be joined by future ... | By Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Brad Plumer Read more ...
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Biden Shields Millions of Acres of Alaskan Wilderness From Drilling and Mining - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · The administration has blocked a proposed industrial road needed to mine copper in the middle of the state, and has banned oil drilling on 13 million acres in the North Slope.
The Biden administration expanded federal protections across millions of acres of Alaskan wilderness on Friday, blocking oil, gas and mining operations in some of the most unspoiled land in the country.
The Interior Department said it would deny a permit for an industrial road that the state of Alaska had wanted to build through the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in order to reach a large copper deposit with an estimated value of $7.5 billion. It also announced it would ban drilling ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
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Breaking Down New Rules About 'Forever Chemicals’ - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 24) |
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Apr 24 · Lisa Friedman, who covers climate change, discussed the fight to regulate toxic chemicals found in nearly half of America’s tap water.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
Cookware. Dental floss. Shampoo.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, can be found in those items and hundreds of other household products. Nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they do not fully degrade, PFAS are resistant to heat, oil, grease and water. (One of the first uses of PFAS chemicals was as a nonstick agent in Teflon cookware in the 1940s.) But exposure to PFAS has been ... | By Josh Ocampo Read more ...
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Carbon Dioxide Levels Have Passed a New Milestone - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 20) |
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Apr 20 · The chart shows monthly numbers of carbon dioxide molecules per million molecules of dry air. Because of seasonal differences, levels are higher in May than in August.
Carbon dioxide acts like Earth’s thermostat: The more of it in the air, the more the planet warms.
In 2023, global levels of the greenhouse gas rose to 419 parts per million, around 50 percent more than before the Industrial Revolution. That means there are roughly 50 percent more carbon dioxide molecules in the air than there were in 1750.
As carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere, it traps heat and warms the planet.
The chart shows the change in global surface temperature relative to ... | By Aatish Bhatia Read more ...
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Chinese Export Surge Clouds U.S. Hopes of a Domestic Solar Boom - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · The decision by a Massachusetts solar company to abandon plans to build a $1.4 billion U.S. factory highlights the risks amid a flood of Chinese clean energy exports.
Reporting from Washington
Less than a year ago, CubicPV, which manufactures components for solar panels, announced that it had secured more than $100 million in financing to build a $1.4 billion factory in the United States. The company planned to produce silicon wafers, a critical part of the technology that allows solar panels to turn sunlight into electrical energy.
The Massachusetts-based company called the investment a “direct result of the long-term industrial policy contained within the ... | By Alan Rappeport Read more ...
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Climate Doom Is Out. 'Apocalyptic Optimism’ Is In. - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 21) |
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Apr 21 · Focusing on disaster hasn’t changed the planet’s trajectory. Will a more upbeat approach show a way forward?
Credit...Photo Illustration by Doug Chayka
The philanthropist Kathryn Murdoch has prioritized donations to environmental causes for more than a decade. She has, she said, a deep understanding of how inhospitable the planet will become if climate change is not addressed. And she and her colleagues have spent years trying to communicate that.
“We have been screaming,” she said. “But screaming only gets you so far.”
This was on a morning in early spring. Murdoch and Ari Wallach, an author, producer and self-proclaimed futurist, had just released their new ... | By Alexis Soloski Read more ...
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Energy Dept. Aims to Speed Up Permits for Power Lines - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
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Apr 25 · The Biden administration has expressed growing alarm that efforts to fight climate change could falter unless the electric grids are quickly expanded.
Reporting from Washington
The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a rule meant to speed up federal permits for major transmission lines, part of a broader push to expand America’s electric grids.
Administration officials are increasingly worried that their plans to fight climate change could falter unless the nation can quickly add vast amounts of grid capacity to handle more wind and solar power and to better tolerate extreme weather. The pace of construction for high-voltage power lines has sharply slowed ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ...
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Five Things to Know About Biden’s New Power Plant Rules - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
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Apr 25 · The Biden administration released a major climate regulation aimed at virtually eliminating carbon emissions from coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and a driver of global warming.
The Biden administration has effectively moved to end the use of coal to keep the lights on in America. On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency released four major regulations designed to slash multiple forms of toxic and planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation’s dirtiest source of electricity.
The most consequential of the new rules is aimed at nearly eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from the coal plants. The other three rules would cut the emission ... | By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman Read more ...
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Is Online Shopping Bad for the Planet? - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 22) |
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Apr 22 · In theory, getting deliveries can be more efficient than driving to the store. But you may still want to think before you add to cart.
Credit...Naomi Anderson-Subryan
Dionne Searcey is part of a rotating cast of Climate reporters and special guest writers who will answer your burning climate questions.
The convenience of online shopping is hard to beat. But it uses a lot of energy and resources and can lead to more waste.
Transportation needed for online shopping spews greenhouse emissions. Three billion trees are cut down every year to produce packaging for all kinds of things, e-commerce included, according to some estimates. The data centers needed to ... | By Dionne Searcey Read more ...
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New Biden Climate Rules Could Shutter Remaining American Coal Plants - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
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Apr 25 · Limiting power plant pollution is the last major climate rule expected from President Biden. Donald J. Trump has already vowed to “cancel” it if re-elected.
The Biden administration on Thursday placed the final cornerstone of its plan to tackle climate change: a regulation that would force the nation’s coal-fired power plants to virtually eliminate the planet-warming pollution that they release into the air or shut down.
The regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency requires coal plants in the United States to reduce 90 percent of their greenhouse pollution by 2039, one year earlier than the agency had initially proposed. The compressed timeline was welcomed by ... | By Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport Read more ...
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R.F.K. Jr.’s Environmental Colleagues Urge Him to Drop Presidential Bid - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · Nearly 50 leaders and activists who worked with Mr. Kennedy at an environmental nonprofit group will run ads calling on him to “Honor our planet, drop out.”
As an independent candidate for the White House, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims he would be the “best environment president in American history,” drawing on his past as a crusading lawyer who went after polluters in New York.
But dozens of Mr. Kennedy’s former colleagues at the Natural Resources Defense Council are calling on him to withdraw from the race, in full-page advertisements sponsored by the group’s political arm that are expected to appear in newspapers in six swing states on Sunday.
Separately, a dozen ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
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Scotland Made Big Climate Pledges. Now They’re 'Out of Reach.’ - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 19) |
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Apr 19 · Despite significant progress, Scotland was falling short on cutting vehicle emissions, switching to heat pumps and even restoring peatland, the government said.
Climate promises are hard to keep. Scotland is the latest, perhaps most surprising example.
Scotland, an early industrial power and coal-burning behemoth, was also an early adopter of an ambitious and legally binding government target to slow down climate change. It had promised to pare back its emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gases by 75 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
This week, its Net Zero minister, Màiri McAllan, said that goal was now “out of reach.” She said Scotland, which operates ... | By Somini Sengupta Read more ...
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Three Places Changing Quickly to Fight Climate Change - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 22) |
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Apr 22 · Paris is becoming a city of bikes. Across China, people are snapping up $5,000 electric cars. On Earth Day, a look at a few bright spots for emission reductions.
Glaciers are shrinking, coral reefs are in crisis and last year was the hottest on record. Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, have passed a dangerous new threshold as people continue to burn fossil fuels. Is anyplace making progress on climate change?
The short answer is: It’s complicated, but yes.
In South America, one country has pivoted in less than a decade to generating almost all its electricity from a diverse mix of renewables. In China, an electric car that costs ... | By Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ...
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Your most pressing climate questions - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 23) |
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Apr 23 · Subscriber-only Newsletter
Climate Forward
Introducing Ask NYT Climate, where we’ll explore how climate intersects with your everyday life.
I’m the new editor of the Climate Forward newsletter.
Are traffic circles better for the environment than four-way stops? Will the oceans be too hot for fish to survive? Is green hydrogen a thing?
Over the past few years, we here at the Climate desk have received hundreds of smart, often highly specific, questions from our readers about what they can do in their daily lives to affect climate change. To answer some of these questions, this week we’ve launched “Ask NYT Climate,” which is dedicated to exploring how ... | By Ryan McCarthy Read more ...
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