Alaska, along with the rest of the Arctic, has been warming even faster than other regions of the world due to climate change. That was the findings of a report this spring from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which found that the rate of warming will only continue to increase in the coming decades. The signs of rapid warming in Alaska were everywhere this past …
With 2°C Target Falling Swiftly Out of Sight, Inaction on Climate a ‘Crime Against Humanity’ – Jon Queally
International climate talks continue, but its is the action (or lack thereof) that humanity needs to worry about. “By ignoring the need to prevent a breach of the 2C tipping point, the point beyond which scientists are unable to predict the sheer scale of [climate] impacts… Paris will go down in infamy as the scene of a modern day crime against humanity.” — Asad Rehman, Friends of …
As Planet Warms, Oceans Face Threatening Changes Unseen in 3 Million Years – Lauren McCauley
Continued warming of the world’s oceans may trigger disruptions to marine life not seen in 3 million years, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study, put forth by scientists from the University of Science and Technology in Lille, France, and other institutions, aims to put the anticipated ecological crisis in historic perspective. Among the foreseen …
Roads Melting, Death Toll Soaring as ‘Unprecedented’ Heatwave Grips India – Jon Queally
The deathtoll related to an ongoing and “unprecedented” heatwave in India has soared to nearly 1,200 people, according to the nation’s health ministry on Wednesday, with no respite for hundreds of millions of people expected until at least the weekend. According to officials quoted in the Hindustan Times, most of the victims have been construction workers, the elderly or the homeless. In …
Finally, Some Climate Crisis Honesty: Forget About a 2˚C Future; It Will be 4˚-6˚C Degrees, and Soon – Dave Lindorff
A tectonic shift is occurring suddenly in the debate over climate change. Only a year ago, at least in the US corporate media, there was always a rough equivalence accorded to those experts who were warning about a looming climate disaster facing mankind, and those who called the whole thing a “conspiracy” by corrupt scientists and politicians (albeit without ever …
Overlooked evidence – global warming may proceed faster than expected – Dana Nuccitelli
It’s known as “single study syndrome”. When a new scientific paper is published suggesting that the climate is relatively insensitive to the increased greenhouse effect, potentially modestly downgrading the associated climate change threats, that sort of paper will generally receive disproportionate media attention. Because of that media attention, people will tend to remember the results of that single paper, and …
In A Bid To Put An End To The Fossil Fuel Crisis, Audi Has Made Diesel Only From Air And Water.
Luxury car maker Audi has announced that it is making synthetic diesel fuel from just water and carbon dioxide. Audi’s pilot plant, which is operated in Dresden by German start-up Sunfire, has produced its first batches of the “e-diesel” fuel earlier this month. To commemorate the potentially huge accomplishment, German Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna Wanka put a …
‘Warm blob’ in Pacific Ocean linked to weird weather across the US
The one common element in recent weather has been oddness. The West Coast has been warm and parched; the East Coast has been cold and snowed under. Fish are swimming into new waters, and hungry seals are washing up on California beaches. A long-lived patch of warm water off the West Coast, about 1 to 4 degrees Celsius (2 to …
How Long Can Oceans Continue To Absorb Earth’s Excess Heat?
For decades, the earth’s oceans have soaked up more than nine-tenths of the atmosphere’s excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions. By stowing that extra energy in their depths, oceans have spared the planet from feeling the full effects of humanity’s carbon overindulgence. But as those gases build in the air, an energy overload is rising below the waves. A raft of …
US Climate Plan ‘Treats the Wound But Does Not Stop the Bleeding’
With bold language and take-charge rhetoric, the White House on Tuesday unveiled its plan to cut U.S. carbon emissions by roughly one third over the next decade, a goal that environmentalists say is commendable but is not enough to keep global warming beneath the critical 2°C threshold. Submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ahead of a midnight …