Clean energy could save hundreds of billions in health costs every year

In Paris late last year, the countries of the world pledged to reduce emissions to keep global warming “well below a 2 degree Celsius” rise in global average temperatures compared with preindustrial levels. As an advanced economy, the U.S. is expected to lead in making the required emissions reductions, which would be roughly 80 percent by midcentury compared with 2005. …

Tim Radford – Emissions Could Make Earth Uninhabitable

LONDON—Greenhouse gases could tip the Earth—or at least a planet like Earth, orbiting a star very like the Sun—into a runaway greenhouse effect, according to new research. The new hothouse planet would become increasingly steamy, and then start to lose its oceans to interplanetary space. Over time, it would become completely dry, stay at a temperature at least 60°C hotter …

KATIE VALENTINE – Bees And Other Pollinators Are Facing Extinction, And That’s Very Bad News For Us

Bees and other pollinators are in trouble — so much so that many of them are facing extinction, according to a new report. The report, released Friday by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), is a two-year assessment of the threats facing pollinators — both vertebrates, such as birds and bats, and invertebrates, such as bees, butterflies, …

When sea levels rise, damage costs rise even faster

Damages from extreme events like floods are even more relevant than the mean sea level itself when it comes to the costs of climate impacts for coastal regions. However, while it is now rather well understood how sea-levels will rise in the future, only small progress has been made estimating how the implied damage for cities at the coasts will …

JUSTIN GILLIS – Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries

The worsening of tidal flooding in American coastal communities is largely a consequence of greenhouse gases from human activity, and the problem will grow far worse in coming decades, scientists reported Monday. Those emissions, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, are causing the ocean to rise at the fastest rate since at least the founding of ancient Rome, the …

Human impacts fuel weather extremes

The serious floods that hit southern England in the winter of 2013-14 were at least partly a consequence of climate change driven by the global warming that results from fossil fuel combustion. To be precise, the extreme rainfall that led to £431 million (US$622 million) of damage was made 43% more likely by human-induced climate change, according to a new …

Nature Bats Last – 02.02.16

This week Guy and Mike are joined by independent journalist Cory Morningstar as they discuss and analyze the words of prominent writer Naomi Klein, author of the 2014 book about anthropogenic climate change, This Changes Everything. Thanks to our listeners for providing examples, and also for calling in during the show. Guy adds a brief climate-change update.