VOX -Environment
Climate change and the outgoing El Niño will likely ignite more weather extremes. The Pacific Ocean - Earth’s largest body of water - is an engine for weather around the planet, and it’s about to shift gears this year. The warm phase of the Pacific Ocean’s temperature cycle, known as El Niño, is...
PHYS.ORG - Technology
Amazon reports strong 1Q results driven by its cloud-computing unit and Prime Video ad dollars
Amazon on Tuesday reported strong results for the first quarter, driven by growth in its cloud-computing unit and new advertising dollars from its Prime Video streaming service. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said it brought in $143.31 billion in revenue in the first three months of this...
PHYS.ORG - Earth
Bangladesh's weather bureau said Wednesday that last month was the hottest April on record, with the South Asian nation and much of the region still enduring a suffocating heat wave. Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and...
New York Times - Climate Section
The low water levels that choked cargo traffic were more closely tied to the natural climate cycle than to human-caused warming, a team of scientists has concluded. The recent drought in the Panama Canal was driven not by global warming but by below-normal rainfall linked to the natural climate...
The delay grants companies more time before they’re expected to disclose ESG impacts and data under new reporting regulations. The delay gives more time to companies that must report sector-specific climate impacts. Source: wutzkohphoto via Shutterstock The European Council said on Tuesday that...
Washington Post - Climate and Environment
More than a decade ago, the Netherlands embarked on a straightforward plan to cut carbon emissions. Its legislature raised taxes on natural gas, using the money earned to help Dutch households install solar panels. By most measures, the program worked: By 2022, 20 percent of homes in the...
The number of companies with science-based emissions reduction goals grew 500 percent since 2018, but corporate finance supporting those goals is only increasing 5 percent annually. Investors are making it clear to companies: It’s time for them to put their capital behind their climate...
Study says El Nino, not climate change, was key driver of low rainfall that snarled Panama Canal
The climate phenomenon known as El Niño - and not climate change - was a key driver in low rainfall that disrupted shipping at the Panama Canal last year, scientists said Wednesday. A team of international scientists found that El Niño - a natural warming of the central Pacific that changes...
Utilities must comply with the EPA’s new emissions rules and invest in carbon capture and storage. A gas-powered electricity generating station in Arizona. Source: Shutterstock/James Mattil The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new rules Thursday that require newly built natural gas...
Union of Concerned Scientists - Energy
Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors
Even casual followers of energy and climate issues have probably heard about the alleged wonders of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). This is due in no small part to the “nuclear bros”: an active and seemingly tireless group of nuclear power advocates who dominate social media discussions...
New study looks at US Drought Monitor to see how it has reflected climate change since 2000
Though generated by experts and informed by data, it is in some ways a subjective interpretation of drought conditions. And it carries significant political and economic ramifications—the USDM informs state declarations of emergency, as well as drought relief payments issued by the U.S....
PHYS.ORG - Biology
'Bloodsicles', baths keep Philippine zoo animals cool as heat wave hits
A Philippine zoo is giving tigers frozen treats made of animal blood and preventing lions from mating during the hottest time of the day as a heat wave scorches the country. Unusually hot weather has sent temperatures in the capital Manila to a record high in recent days and forced schools...
Yale Climate Connections - Transportation
Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Yale Climate Connections When the sharing economy took off in the 2010s and upended entire industries, the firmest proponents of the model heralded it as an economic revolution that would help slash...
A rare and little-known group of monkeys could help save Africa's tropical forests
At a time when hunting of wildlife and habitat loss are driving long-term changes to ecosystems, including stark wildlife population declines and greater vulnerability to climate change and zoonotic disease transmission, the scientists identified red colobus monkeys as key indicators of tropical...
A virus could help save billions of gallons of wastewater produced by fracking
In a new study published in the journal Water, researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have identified a novel means of treating the wastewater generated by oil and gas production: bacteriophages. Ramón Antonio Sánchez, a doctoral candidate within UTEP's chemistry...
Abrupt permafrost thaw found to intensify warming effects on soil CO₂ emission
According to a recent study published in Nature Geoscience, scientists have found that soil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are more sensitive to climate warming in permafrost-collapsed areas than in non-collapsed areas. This study, based on field warming experiments combined with laboratory...
ET includes evaporation from soil and open water pools such as lakes, rivers, and ponds, as well as transpiration from plant leaves. The difference between precipitation and ET indicates the water balance available for societal needs, including agricultural and industrial production. However,...
Skeptical Science
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a...
Atmospheric 'teleconnections' sustain warm blobs in the northeast Pacific Ocean
The first warm patch discovered in the northeast Pacific Ocean was the "Blob" event of 2013–2016, followed by another warm blob in 2019–2020. The Blob stretched from coastal Alaska to the Baja region of California, with sea surface temperatures as much as 6°C above normal. Vital...
Believing environmental damage is done by others can cause 'race to the bottom'
Common-pool resources, such as forests, fisheries, and groundwater, need to be managed effectively to reduce over-harvesting and environmental damage. Researchers knew that strong boundaries around a community's common-pool resource could promote effective management, but they weren't exactly...