Articles on or after 3/19/2024: |
|
Organizations |
|
Organizations |
| Climate Change News - Energy,Climate Change News - Science,Economist,Eric Holthaus (The Correspondent),Grist Climate and Energy,Guardian - Climate Change,MIT - Climate,MIT - Greenhouse Gases,Washington Post - Climate and Environment,Scientific American - Climate,Technology Review - Climate Change,DeSmogBlog,New York Times - Climate Forward,New York Times - Climate Section,VOX -Environment |
|
Climate Change News - Science: |
|
What will it take to protect India’s angry farmers from climate threats? - Climate Change News - Science  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · Indebted farmers, facing falling yields and water scarcity, want legally guaranteed price support for more crops – but that may not fix their climate woes Deedar Singh (middle) sits with colleagues by the side of the road at the Shambhu border, between Punjab and Haryana, protesting the government's inaction in providing legal MSP guarantees on crops, February 27 2024 (Photo: Kanika Gupta) Indian farmers – struggling with erratic weather, shrinking water supplies and falling incomes – have quit their fields in a major new wave of protest, and plan to keep up the pressure on the government ahead of national elections starting on April ... | By Kanika Gupta Read more ... |
| New York Times - Climate Section: |
|
A New Law Would Remove Many Architectural Protections in Miami Beach - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 26) |
|
Mar 26 · Lawmakers say preservationists held too much power over decisions on whether buildings should be demolished and what should be allowed to replace them. The oceanfront Eden Roc Hotel is an icon of Miami Modernist architecture, a style that epitomized the postwar glamour and grandeur of Miami Beach. Two turquoise panels wrap the white facade. The oval canister perched atop the building resembles a cruise ship’s funnel. Crooners like Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, and Sammy Davis, Jr., stayed and played there. But a new Florida law could make it easier for hotels like the Eden Roc and other architectural icons along Miami Beach’s coastline to be demolished. The ... | By Julia Echikson Read more ... |
|
|
A New York Bill Seeks to Reduce Natural Gas Use. Here’s What to Know. - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 23) |
|
Mar 23 · Legislators and activists are rallying to squeeze the NY HEAT Act into the state budget by the April 1 deadline. Reporting from Albany, N.Y. A bill gaining traction in Albany aims to break New Yorkers’ reliance on natural gas in hopes that they will seek out greener alternatives. Efforts to shoehorn the NY HEAT Act into a packed state budget are underway, with supporters contending that swift action is necessary because of the pressures of climate change and opponents say the proposed law should be set aside and more carefully considered. The deadline to finalize the budget is April 1. But what does the bill propose, exactly? Here’s what to know. What ... | By Hilary Howard Read more ... |
|
|
America Is on Fire, Says One Climate Writer. Should You Flee? - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 22) |
|
Mar 22 · In “On the Move,” Abrahm Lustgarten predicts a massive demographic shift in response to an increasingly unlivable world. Jon Gertner’s most recent book is “The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey Into Greenland’s Buried Past and Our Perilous Future.” ON THE MOVE: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America, by Abrahm Lustgarten It’s happening already, of course. You can see it in the blazes in California, incinerating homes and forcing residents to escape the terror of wildfires. You can glimpse it in Arizona, where droughts have pushed farmers to give up on growing crops and sell their fields to developers. On the coasts, tides are rising, ... | By Jon Gertner Read more ... |
|
|
Barren Fields and Empty Stomachs: Afghanistan’s Long, Punishing Drought - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · In a country especially vulnerable to climate change, a drought has displaced entire villages and left millions of children malnourished. The countryside in Samangan Province in north-central Afghanistan, where water for agriculture, and even drinking, is scarce.Credit... Text by Lynsey Addario and Victoria Kim They awake in the mornings to find another family has left. Half of one village, the entirety of the next have departed in the years since the water dried up - in search of jobs, of food, of any means of survival. Those who remain pick apart the abandoned homes and burn the bits for firewood. They speak of the lushness that once blessed this corner of ... | By The New York Times Read more ... |
|
|
Berkeley Will Repeal Its Landmark Ban on Natural Gas in New Homes - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · The decision, which came after a legal challenge, throws into question the fate of dozens of similar measures across the United States. The city of Berkeley, Calif., has agreed to repeal a landmark climate rule that would have banned natural gas hookups in new homes, throwing into question the fate of dozens of similar restrictions on gas in cities across the country. Berkeley’s gas ban, which was the first of its kind when it passed in 2019, had been challenged in court by the California Restaurant Association and was struck down last year by a three-judge panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The city settled the lawsuit last week by ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ... |
|
|
Biden Administration Announces Rule Aimed at Expanding Electric Vehicles - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · The regulation would require automakers to sell more electric vehicles and hybrids by gradually tightening limits on tailpipe pollution. Coral Davenport has been covering the federal government’s efforts to fight climate change by regulating auto pollution since 2009. The Biden administration on Wednesday issued one of the most significant climate regulations in the nation’s history, a rule designed to ensure that the majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States are all-electric or hybrids by 2032. Nearly three years in the making, the new tailpipe pollution limits from the Environmental Protection Agency would transform the American ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ... |
|
|
Biden’s Climate Law Has Created a Growing Market for Green Tax Credits - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · New Treasury Department data shows companies have registered 45,500 projects for possible sale on a new tax-credit marketplace. Jim Tankersley covers economic policy from the White House. The climate law that President Biden signed in 2022 has created a large and growing market for companies to buy and sell clean-energy tax credits, new Treasury Department data suggests, creating opportunities for start-ups to raise money for projects like wind farms and solar panel installations. The market also provides new opportunities for large companies and financial firms to make money. Treasury officials will report on Tuesday that more than 500 companies have ... | By Jim Tankersley Read more ... |
|
|
Biden’s Climate Law Has Created a Growing Market for Green Tax Credits - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · New Treasury Department data shows companies have registered 45,500 projects for possible sale on a new tax-credit marketplace. Jim Tankersley covers economic policy from the White House. The climate law that President Biden signed in 2022 has created a large and growing market for companies to buy and sell clean-energy tax credits, new Treasury Department data suggests, creating opportunities for start-ups to raise money for projects like wind farms and solar panel installations. The market also provides new opportunities for large companies and financial firms to make money. Treasury officials reported on Tuesday that more than 500 companies had registered ... | By Jim Tankersley Read more ... |
|
|
Can Climate Cafes Help Ease the Anxiety of Planetary Crisis? - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · The groups, which allow people to talk through their emotions around environmental change, have sprung up across the country, including for therapists. Lola Fadulu reported from New York, and Emily Schmall from Chicago. In a small room in Lower Manhattan, a group of eight New Yorkers sat in a circle sharing kombucha and their climate fears against the background of pattering rain and wailing sirens. In Champaign, Ill., a psychotherapist facilitating a meeting for other therapists held up a branch of goldenrod, asking the half-dozen participants online to consider their connection to nature. And in Kansas City, Mo., a nonprofit that runs a weekly discussion on ... | By Lola Fadulu and Emily Schmall Read more ... |
|
|
Climate Change Made an Early Heat Wave in West Africa 10 Times as Likely - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 21) |
|
Mar 21 · Temperatures in the region rose above 40 degrees Celsius in February, with humidity pushing the heat index even higher. A remarkably early, record-breaking heat wave hit the southern part of West Africa in mid-February. Climate change made this extreme heat 10 times as likely, according to a new analysis by an international team of scientists. It also pushed the heat index about four degrees Celsius higher than it would have been without the extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Officials saw the unusual temperatures coming, and national weather agencies in Ghana and Nigeria issued warnings to the public. The Africa Cup of Nations soccer ... | By Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ... |
|
|
Energy Dept. Awards $6 Billion for Green Steel, Cement and Even Macaroni Factories - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 25) |
|
Mar 25 · Industries produce 25 percent of America’s planet-warming emissions but so far have proved very hard to clean up. The Biden administration is trying. Reporting from Washington The Biden administration plans to spend up to $6 billion on new technologies to cut carbon dioxide emissions from heavy industries like steel, cement, chemicals and aluminum, which are all enormous contributors to global warming but which have so far been incredibly difficult to clean up. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday that her agency would partially fund 33 different projects in 20 states to test methods for curbing emissions from a wide variety of factories and industrial ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ... |
|
|
Extreme Heat Wave Pushes South Sudan to Close Schools - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · Climate change already worsened floods and droughts in the young nation. Now, soaring temperatures are forecast for two weeks. Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya South Sudan has long been hit by climate change-exacerbated disasters like recurring droughts and floods. Now, extreme heat is forcing the world’s youngest nation to close its schools. The authorities have ordered schools across the country shuttered since Monday because of a wave of excessive heat that is expected to last at least two weeks. Temperatures are forecast to reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit, far above the 90-degree highs typically experienced in the dry season from December to March. Officials ... | By Abdi Latif Dahir Read more ... |
|
|
Germany’s Solar Panel Industry, Once a Leader, Is Getting Squeezed - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 25) |
|
Mar 25 · Domestic manufacturers are caught between China’s low prices and U.S. protectionist policies, even as demand increases. Reporting from Berlin Before China came to dominate the solar panel industry, Germany led the way. It was the world’s largest producer of solar panels, with several start-ups clustered in the former East Germany, until about a decade ago when China ramped up production and undercut just about everyone on price. Now as Germany and the rest of Europe try to reach ambitious goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the demand for solar panels has only increased. Some of the last remaining manufacturers in Germany’s solar industry are not ready to ... | By Melissa Eddy Read more ... |
|
|
He’s Got a Plan for Cities That Flood: Stop Fighting the Water - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 28) |
|
Mar 28 · A landscape architect in China has a surprising strategy to help manage surges of water from storms supercharged by climate change. Cities around the world face a daunting challenge in the era of climate change: Supercharged rainstorms are turning streets into rivers, flooding subway systems and inundating residential neighborhoods, often with deadly consequences. Kongjian Yu, a landscape architect and professor at Peking University, is developing what might seem like a counterintuitive response: Let the water in. “You cannot fight water,” he said. “You have to adapt to it.” Instead of putting in more drainage pipes, building flood walls and channeling rivers ... | By Richard Schiffman Read more ... |
|
|
How Elon Musk Became 'Kind of Pro-China’ - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · Mr. Musk helped create China’s electric vehicle industry. But he is now facing challenges there as well as scrutiny in the West over his reliance on the country. When Elon Musk first set up Tesla’s factory in China, he appeared to have the upper hand. He gained access to top leaders and secured policy changes that benefited Tesla. He also got workers accustomed to long hours and fewer protections, after clashing with U.S. regulators over labor conditions at his California plant. The Shanghai factory helped make Tesla the most valuable car company in the world and Mr. Musk ultrarich. But Tesla is now struggling. Mr. Musk helped create his competition, Chinese E.V. ... | By Mara Hvistendahl Read more ... |
|
|
How Toyota, a Laggard on Electric Cars, Got Its Fight Back - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 22) |
|
Mar 22 · The auto giant lobbied hard against tougher pollution rules. This week, the E.P.A.’s new rules proved favorable to hybrid technology, an area that Toyota dominates. The breakfast at Toyota’s annual dealership gathering in Las Vegas last fall was an exclusive, invite-only affair, where attendees were told to cover their cellphone cameras with red stickers. Speaking was Stephen Ciccone, Toyota’s top lobbyist. He said the industry was facing an existential crisis - not because of the economy or fuel prices, but because of stronger tailpipe pollution limits being proposed in the United States. The rules were “bad for the country, bad for the consumer, and bad for the auto ... | By Hiroko Tabuchi Read more ... |
|
|
In France, the Future Is Arriving on a Barge - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 26) |
|
Mar 26 · The Seine is becoming a test case for a European plan to cut carbon emissions by turning rivers into the new highways. A barge filled with items for Franprix supermarkets in Paris made its way along the Seine, not far from the Eiffel Tower.Credit... Photographs and Video by James Hill Reported and photographed along the Seine, between Le Havre and Paris. As pale morning light flickered across the Seine, Capt. Freddy Badar steered his hulking river barge, Le Bosphore, past picturesque Normandy villages and snow-fringed woodlands, setting a course for Paris. Onboard were containers packed with furniture, electronics and clothing loaded the night before ... | By Liz Alderman Read more ... |
|
|
In France, the Future Is Arriving on a Barge - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 26) |
|
Mar 26 · The Seine is becoming a test case for a European plan to cut carbon emissions by turning rivers into the new highways. A barge filled with items for Franprix supermarkets in Paris made its way along the Seine, not far from the Eiffel Tower.Credit... Photographs and Video by James Hill Reported and photographed along the Seine, between Le Havre and Paris. As pale morning light flickered across the Seine, Capt. Freddy Badar steered his hulking river barge, Le Bosphore, past picturesque Normandy villages and snow-fringed woodlands, setting a course for Paris. Onboard were containers packed with furniture, electronics and clothing loaded the night before ... | By Liz Alderman Read more ... |
|
|
Inside the Republican Attacks on Electric Vehicles - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 21) |
|
Mar 21 · President Biden’s new rule cutting emissions from vehicle tailpipes has deepened a partisan battle over automotive technology. Credit...Pete Kiehart for The New York Times Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman have covered climate change policy and politics and Jack Ewing has covered the automobile industry for nearly two decades. The electric vehicle, a breakthrough achievement in automotive technology, has driven into this year’s presidential election, inflaming partisan fights that have come to define much of American culture. One reason is that President Biden has made electric vehicles central to his strategy to combat climate change. This week, his ... | By Coral Davenport, Lisa Friedman and Jack Ewing Read more ... |
|
|
It’s a Golden Age for Shipwreck Discoveries. Why? - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 23) |
|
Mar 23 · More lost shipwrecks are being found because of new technology, climate change and more vessels scanning the ocean floor for science or commerce. Some were fabled vessels that have fascinated people for generations, like Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ship that sank in the Antarctic in 1915. Some were common workhorses that faded into the depths, like the Ironton, a barge that was carrying 1,000 tons of grain when it sank in Lake Huron in 1894. No matter their place in history, more shipwrecks are being found these days than ever before, according to those who work in the rarefied world of deep-sea exploration. “More are being found, and I also think more people ... | By Michael Levenson Read more ... |
|
|
Making the Case for Capitalism - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · Subscriber-only Newsletter Climate Forward A new book argues that short-term profit incentives can deliver long-term changes to benefit the climate. Combating the climate crisis is the ultimate long-term challenge. Can society rapidly overhaul energy production, transportation, heavy industry, agriculture and more in order to prevent truly catastrophic global warming? The jury is still out, and time is running short. And there are very real questions whether such a quest can succeed within the constraints of an economic system that is famously focused on short-term incentives. The stock market, corporate governance and executive compensation all ... | By David Gelles Read more ... |
|
|
New Rules Will Still Push Carmakers to Sell More Electric Cars - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · New Biden administration auto rules are less forceful than an earlier proposal but will still add to market pressure for cheaper electric vehicles. Even if clean air rules announced on Wednesday in Washington are less forceful than some environmentalists would have liked, they should still have a powerful effect on the kinds of cars appearing in showrooms over the next several years, experts said. The rules will amplify market forces pushing the industry toward battery power, giving automakers a strong incentive to sell a broader, more affordable variety of electric cars - not just the expensive sport utility vehicles that have dominated sales so far. “It probably ... | By Jack Ewing Read more ... |
|
|
Oil Executives, Meeting in Texas, Cast Doubts on 'Fantasy’ Energy Transition - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · The comments by a Saudi executive raised questions regarding whose predictions about the future of oil and gas are more likely to be true. Max Bearak reported from New York and Brad Plumer from the energy-industry conference in Houston. To some, it felt like the oil executive blurted the quiet part out loud. “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas,” said Amin Nasser, head of what is, by far, the world’s biggest oil producer, Saudi Aramco. The energy transition was “visibly failing,” he added, saying that predictions of impending peak oil and gas demand were flatly wrong. The room, full of representatives of the fossil-fuel industry at a ... | By Max Bearak and Brad Plumer Read more ... |
|
|
One Thing Most Countries Have in Common: Unsafe Air - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · Only 10 countries and territories out of 134 achieved the World Health Organization’s standards for a pervasive form of air pollution last year, according to air quality data compiled by IQAir, a Swiss company. The pollution studied is called fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, because it refers to solid particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size: small enough to enter the bloodstream. PM2.5 is the deadliest form of air pollution, leading to millions of premature deaths each year. “Air pollution and climate change both have the same culprit, which is fossil fuels,” said Glory Dolphin Hammes, the CEO of IQAir’s North American division. The World Health Organization ... | By Delger Erdenesanaa Read more ... |
|
|
The Roadblocks to Biden’s Electric Vehicles Plan - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 21) |
|
Mar 21 · Subscriber-only Newsletter Climate Forward E.V.s have become part of the political culture wars The Biden administration rolled out new rules on Wednesday designed to thrust the United States - the greatest car culture the world has ever known - into the era of electric vehicles. With new tailpipe pollution limits from the Environmental Protection Agency, automakers will effectively be forced to make a majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States all-electric or hybrids by 2032. To meet the new standards, 56 percent of new cars sold by 2032 would be zero-emissions and another 16 percent would be hybrid, according to the E.P.A.’s ... | By David Gelles Read more ... |
|
|
They Grow Your Berries and Peaches, but Often Lack One Item: Insurance - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · Farmers of fruits and vegetables say coverage has become unavailable or unaffordable as drought and floods increasingly threaten their crops. Farmers who grow fresh fruits and vegetables are often finding crop insurance prohibitively expensive - or even unavailable - as climate change escalates the likelihood of drought and floods capable of decimating harvests. Their predicament has left some small farmers questioning their future on the land. Efforts to increase the availability and affordability of crop insurance are being considered in Congress as part of the next farm bill, but divisions between the interests of big and small farmers loom over the ... | By Patrick Cooley Read more ... |
|
|
U.S. Approves $1.5 Billion Loan to Restart Michigan Nuclear Plant - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · The conditional loan from the Energy Department is part of a broad effort to revive the use of nuclear energy in the United States. The Biden administration announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to provide a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to help a company restart a nuclear power plant in Michigan - the latest step in the government’s effort to revive the nation’s reactors. The loan guarantee from the Energy Department will allow Holtec International to revive the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Mich., on the shores of Lake Michigan and about 40 miles west of Kalamazoo, and keep it going until at least 2051. The loan guarantee is conditional on the facility ... | By Ivan Penn Read more ... |
|
|
Utility-Caused Wildfires Are Becoming a National Problem - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 22) |
|
Mar 22 · Climate change is raising the risk of blazes that are started by power lines and other utility equipment in many parts of the U.S. besides California. Reporting from Otis and Portland in Oregon After a utility pole fell and ignited a wildfire, Frank King and his family raced to escape as electrical transformers exploded around their homes near Oregon’s coast. A bright red glow was visible in the rearview mirror for miles. The fire three and a half years ago destroyed 300 homes in Otis, Ore., including the one that Mr. King, a 101-year-old veteran of World War II, had lived in for almost three decades. “A lot of the things that reminded me of the good things ... | By Ivan Penn Read more ... |
|
|
Vacation Rentals: How to Shrink Your Carbon Footprint - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 26) |
|
Mar 26 · Elaine Glusac is the Frugal Traveler columnist, focusing on budget-friendly tips and journeys. Travelers choosing to stay in a vacation home instead of a hotel may have to spend more time searching for sustainable lodgings, but ultimately they will have more control over their environmental impact. The following are steps short-term renters can take to shrink their carbon footprint. The nonprofit Sustonica validates short-term rentals based on sustainability standards, including conserving water and minimizing waste. But it does not act as a search engine. Instead, travelers will find its logo on certified listings on platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com. Airbnb’s ... | By Elaine Glusac Read more ... |
|
|
What to Know About the Clean Auto Rule: It’s Not a Ban on Gas Cars - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · The measure aims to encourage sales of electric vehicles and hybrids. Here’s how it works. The Biden administration’s new regulation limiting tailpipe emissions from cars and light trucks would transform the American automobile market, charting a course away from the internal combustion engine and toward a future of electric cars and hybrids. Here’s what to know about the measure. It’s a big deal in the fight against climate change In terms of lowering the emissions that are heating the planet, this regulation does more than any other climate rule issued by the federal government and more than any measure planned in the remainder of Mr. Biden’s first ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ... |
|
|
Why Palm Oil Is Still a Big Problem - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 26) |
|
Mar 26 · Subscriber-only Newsletter Climate Forward The ubiquitous ingredient contributes to the loss of tropical forests. Palm oil - the ubiquitous ingredient for all things spreadable, from toothpaste to ice cream - is now the commodity consumed by Americans that contributes most to the loss of tropical forests. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis by Global Witness, an environmental watchdog organization, and Trase, a nonprofit that analyzes supply chains. Cattle products, especially from Brazil and Australia, are a close second. Colombian coffee had a big footprint, too. I want to focus on palm oil today because we’ve known about this problem for a long ... | By Manuela Andreoni Read more ... |
|
|
Why the Solar Eclipse Will Not Leave People Without Power - New York Times - Climate Section  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · Grid managers say they are well prepared to handle a sharp drop in the energy produced by solar panels as the eclipse darkens the sky in North America on April 8. Ivan Penn has covered the energy industry for more than 15 years. When the sky darkens during next month’s solar eclipse, electricity production in some parts of the country will drop so sharply that it could theoretically leave tens of millions of homes in the dark. In practice, hardly anyone will notice a sudden loss of energy. Electric utilities say they expect to see significant decreases in solar power production during the eclipse but have already lined up alternate sources of electricity, including ... | By Ivan Penn Read more ... |
| VOX -Environment: |
|
Meet the EPA’s new Choose Your Own Adventure! regulation for car pollution - VOX -Environment  (Mar 21) |
|
Mar 21 · Here’s what the federal rules mean for car companies, the climate, and you. The Environmental Protection Agency has officially cemented new pollution rules for cars, pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs that the Biden administration called the US’s strongest-ever clean vehicle regulations. The EPA says the new rules will avert 7 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and provide close to $100 billion in savings per year across the country in the form of fuel costs, lower maintenance needs, and health benefits. The challenge for the government and carmakers, though, will be actually getting people to buy enough of these cleaner cars to move the needle. And that may be harder ... Read more ... |
|
|
The next big climate deadline is for meat and dairy - VOX -Environment  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · It’s a lot sooner than you think. For years, climate scientists have called for a phase-out of fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic global warming. Now, according to a first-of-its-kind survey of more than 200 environmental and agricultural scientists, we must also drastically reduce meat and dairy production - and fast. Global livestock emissions should peak by 2030 or sooner to meet the Paris climate agreement target of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the surveyed climate experts said. In high- and middle-income countries, which produce and consume the overwhelming majority of the global meat and dairy supply, livestock emissions should ... Read more ... |
| Washington Post - Climate and Environment: |
|
Biden seeks to accelerate the EV transition in biggest climate move yet - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · The Biden administration finalized the United States’ toughest limits on planet-warming emissions from passenger cars and light trucks Wednesday, in a controversial bid to accelerate the nation’s halting transition to electric vehicles. The Environmental Protection Agency rule - President Biden’s most far-reaching climate regulation yet - will require automakers to ramp up sales of electric vehicles while slashing carbon emissions from gasoline-powered models, which account for about one-fifth of America’s contribution to global warming. But unlike last year’s proposed rule, automakers will not need to dramatically boost electric vehicle (EV) sales until after 2030. The ... Read more ... |
|
|
Birds, bees and even plants might act weird during the solar eclipse - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 26) |
|
Mar 26 · A total eclipse isn’t just a spectacle in the sky. When the moon consumes the sun on April 8, day will plunge into twilight, the temperature will drop - and nature will take notice. Reports abound of unusual animal and plant behavior during eclipses. A swarm of ants carrying food froze until the sun reemerged during an 1851 eclipse in Sweden. A pantry in Massachusetts was “greatly infested” with cockroaches just after totality in 1932. Sap flowed more slowly in a 75-year-old beech tree in Belgium in 1999. Orb-weaving spiders started tearing down their webs and North American side-blotched lizards closed their eyes during an eclipse in Mexico in 1991. Plenty of scientists ... Read more ... |
|
|
Climate change is altering Earth’s rotation enough to mess with our clocks - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · Climate change is messing with time itself. The melting of polar ice due to global warming is affecting Earth’s rotation and could have an impact on precision timekeeping, according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The planet is not about to jerk to a halt, nor speed up so rapidly that everyone gets flung into space. But timekeeping is an exact science in a highly technological society, which is why global authorities more than half a century ago felt compelled by the slight changes in Earth’s rotation to invent the concept of the “leap second.” Climate change is now making these calculations even more complicated: In just a few years it may be ... Read more ... |
|
|
Dunes aren’t just big piles of sand. Here’s why Earth needs them. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · The famed coastal dunes that inspired the shifting sand landscape of the desert planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel “Dune” are also under siege - from climate change and human development. Like many beaches around the world, the vast sandy ecosystem that stretches along Oregon’s central coastline is threatened by sea level rise and more powerful storms. “There are a lot of places where dunes are eroding that weren’t eroding in the past,” said Sally Hacker, a coastal ecologist and professor at Oregon State University who researches the landforms. As communities build right up to their edge, disrupting the complex system of sand, these dunes can become ... Read more ... |
|
|
Fastest-moving solar storm in years triggered beautiful green and purple aurora - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 25) |
|
Mar 25 · Skywatchers reported beautiful green, purple and red auroras across Sunday skies in some locations in Europe, New Zealand and parts of the northern United States - at least for a little bit. The auroras, also known as the northern and southern lights, were triggered by the fastest-moving solar storm in at least five years, but dwindled as the geomagnetic activity quickly waned. In Finland, the “aurora did one amazing dance just after the fall of darkness,” Alexander Kuznetsov, a self-described “aurora hunter,” wrote on SpaceWeather.com. “It started as a sharp dancing arc in the Southern horizon, and it quickly went overhead, producing some of the most vibrant red & purple ... Read more ... |
|
|
Indoor farms are remaking the produce market - at a cost to the planet - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · No one would argue that the climate in North Texas is ideal for growing lettuce, a crop that thrives when there’s a chill in the air. But the region’s boiling summers are of no concern to Eddy Badrina, the chief executive of Eden Green Technology, a vertical, hydroponic greenhouse company located just outside of Dallas. The company, which sells its leafy greens to Walmart, controls every aspect of a plant’s life. Inside its 82,500 square foot facility, cool air is pumped in to create the ideal microclimate around each baby butterhead and romaine lettuce. Seven miles of pipes deliver nutrient-rich water. Although natural light floods the space - setting it apart from other ... Read more ... |
|
|
Northern Lights slash a surprising amount of winter energy bills. Here’s why. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 23) |
|
Mar 23 · Over many Finnish winters, scientist Timo Asikainen made an observation in his grandma’s old house common to many: when it was cold, money spent on electricity went up. It turns out, though, those cold spells and his energy bills were influenced by an unexpected source in plain sight, the aurora borealis. More than 90 million miles away from Earth, the sun is constantly spewing out charged particles in our direction, sometimes triggering the ultimate celestial light show - an aurora, also known as the northern and southern lights. Now, Finnish scientists have determined that such strong geomagnetic activity around the country can cause warmer weather and lower electricity ... Read more ... |
|
|
Phasing out fossil fuels a 'fantasy,’ oil executives say amid giant profits - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 20) |
|
Mar 20 · HOUSTON - When nations struck a historic deal to phase out fossil fuels last fall, then-U.S. climate envoy John F. Kerry was elated. “We are moving away from fossil fuels - and we are not turning back,” Kerry declared at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai. But three months later, it appears that some of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies did not get the memo. At an energy conference here this week, their leaders struck a much different tone, predicting that fossil fuels will continue to power the global economy well into the future. “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas,” Amin Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, said to ... Read more ... |
|
|
|
Steel, cement and - cheese? U.S. spends big to cut these carbon footprints. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 25) |
|
Mar 25 · Americans love their macaroni and cheese, devouring millions of boxes each year. But producing all of that gooey yellow pasta takes a toll on the planet, since heating and drying the ingredients requires an enormous amount of energy. On Monday, the Biden administration took a big step toward tackling those and other industrial emissions as part of its broader climate agenda. The Energy Department announced up to $6 billion for 33 projects intended to curb carbon pollution from industrial facilities, including steel mills, cement plants and a Michigan factory where Kraft Heinz makes its staple food of college dorm rooms everywhere. The funding, which comes from President ... Read more ... |
|
|
The surprising reasons why Big Oil may not want a second Trump term - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 26) |
|
Mar 26 · HOUSTON - As president, Donald Trump vowed to unleash American “energy dominance,” while on the campaign trail, he has summarized his energy policies with the slogan “drill, baby, drill.” Yet a possible Trump victory in the 2024 election is not delighting oil and gas executives as much as one might expect, according to interviews with several industry leaders at a recent energy conference in Houston. Fossil fuel firms have found a lot to like in President Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which Trump has vowed to unravel. The law offers lucrative tax credits for companies to capture and store carbon dioxide - subsidies that several oil giants ... Read more ... |
|
|
U.S. clamps down on oil and gas firms releasing potent greenhouse gas - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · Oil and gas companies will need to stem the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from their drilling operations on federal and tribal lands under a highly anticipated rule the Biden administration finalized Wednesday. The rule from the Bureau of Land Management, an arm of the Interior Department, builds on the Biden administration’s broader strategy for tackling methane, which accounts for nearly a third of global warming. Cutting methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow climate change, because it traps 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere. The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled plans for preventing ... Read more ... |
|
|
Why experts think tornado season could soon spring to life - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 19) |
|
Mar 19 · The United States sees, on average, about 1,200 tornadoes per year. Most are weak and fleeting - often touching down only briefly and causing minimal damage. A few are strong or violent, tracking dozens of miles and destroying entire neighborhoods. Experts are warning that this year, the peak of tornado season - from April through June - could be extra busy in the Plains. Tornadoes happen in every month of the year. While the winter months of December through February are usually quieter, it’s not uncommon for spinning storms to skirt the Gulf Coast and Florida. By March warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico wafts north over the Deep South. As it clashes with remnant ... Read more ... |
|
|
Why Tennessee lawmakers are pushing a bill to keep government from spraying the sky - Washington Post - Climate and Environment  (Mar 27) |
|
Mar 27 · Republican state lawmakers are going after a new threat they say could cause harm to the environment - and playing into a baseless claim at the same time. In a Tennessee bill passed by the state Senate last week, lawmakers targeted geoengineering, an experimental - and controversial - practice not yet in use that could help cool the planet amid climate change. But the text of the bill can also be seen as referring to “chemtrails,” plumes of toxic chemicals that believers of the unfounded claim say governments and corporations are spewing into the sky. Now, the confusion between solar geoengineering and chemtrails threatens to muddy the waters around nascent ... Read more ... |
|
|