Record hot year may be the new normal by 2025

The hottest year on record globally in 2015 could be an average year by 2025 and beyond if carbon emissions continue to rise at the same rate, new research has found. Lead author Dr Sophie Lewis from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society said human activities had already locked in this new normal for future temperatures, but immediate …

Nika Knight – Despite Paris Climate Pledge, Planet on Track to Surpass 3°C Temperature Rise

Global warming is on track to top 3° Celsius, the United Nations warned this week, because today’s climate pledges are “not nearly enough” to prevent dangerous levels of warming. That’s according the latest annual “Emissions GapReport” (pdf) from the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), which concluded that pledges to cut emissions will result in a global temperature rise of 3.4ºC …

Senay Boztas – Poo power: Dutch dairy industry launches €150m biogas project

The air smells fruity, slightly alcoholic. Against the strong hum of machinery, 175 cows are eating hay. As their dung drops to the slatted floor, a machine sweeps it through and it runs underneath the barn to a futuristic dome outside. The Heegs’ 75-hectare family farm in remote Friesland, in the north-west of the Netherlands, where cows outnumber people almost …

‘New era of climate change reality’ as emissions hit symbolic threshold

The world is in a new era of “climate change reality”, with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reaching a symbolic threshold which it will not fall below for many generations, scientists have said. In 2015, for the first time, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were at 400 parts per million (ppm) on average across the year as a whole, …

Alex Kirby – Rising Carbon Emissions Usher in New Era of Temperature Increases

LONDON—Humanity has now entered a new climate reality era, with carbon dioxide concentrations expected to remain above the level of 400 parts per million throughout 2016 and for many generations to come, the World Meteorological Organization says. The WMO, the United Nations system’s leading agency on weather, climate and water, says the globally averaged concentration of carbon dioxide in the …

Nadia Prupis – Hottest September on Record Basically “Locks In” 2016 as Hottest Year: NASA

Last month was the hottest September on record, which means 2016 is all but locked into being the hottest year on record, according to new NASA statistics released Tuesday. “With data now available through September, 2016 annual record (~1.25ºC above late 19th [century]) seems locked in,” tweeted Dr. Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.   By …

Valerie Schloredt – Calling All Climate Activists: “Go Out and Get Yourself in Some Holy Trouble”

A handful of climate activists turned off the flow of Canadian tar sands oil through pipelines in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington on Tuesday, Oct. 11. Five who cut chains and turned pipeline valves and five more supporters were arrested. They face a range of charges, including criminal trespass, sabotage, burglary, and criminal mischief. That morning in Seattle, Jay O’Hara …

NDC Savings Club – Air Pollution – 10.19.16

Air Pollution is a mixture of solid particles and gases in the air. Car emissions, chemicals from factories, dust, pollen, mold spores, power plants, and human activities that involve the burning of fossil fuels such as gasoline and natural gas. Ozone, a gas, is a major part of air pollution in cities. When ozone forms air pollution, it’s also called smog. Some air pollutants are poisonous.

JEREMY MARTIN – The Road to High Octane Fuels

The biofuels world is abuzz with talk of high octane fuel.  Ethanol trade groups weighed in recently with regulators on the role of higher octane fuel in meeting fuel economy targets.  Their interest in gasoline and fuel economy might seem odd, except that their plan is to deliver higher octane gasoline by increasing the amount of ethanol blended into it. …

Are Organic Farms Really Worse When It Comes to Greenhouse Gases?

Organic farming earned some negative press recently with the publication of a paper that linked it to higher greenhouse emissions, but the truth is a little more complex. The paper, by University of Oregon Ph.D. student Julius McGee and published in the journal Agriculture and Human Values, found what appears to be a shocking bit of information: “Organic farming,” McGee …