Natural gas is a much ‘dirtier’ energy source than we thought
In the thick of a Greenland summer of field work in 2015, Benjamin Hmiel and his team drilled into the massive ice sheet’s frozen innards, periodically hauling up a motorcycle-engine-sized chunk of crystalline ice. The ice held part of the answer to a question that had vexed…
As Climate Disasters Pile Up, a Radical Proposal Gains Traction
The idea of modifying Earth’s atmosphere to cool the planet, once seen as too risky to seriously consider, is attracting new money and attention. WASHINGTON — As the effects of climate change become more devastating, prominent research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and…
Natural Gas and the Invisible Spill: How Much Methane Is Reaching the Atmosphere?
You wouldn’t know it from the news, but there’s a major fossil-fuel spill ongoing in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland. A leak from a gas platform operated by the French energy company Total SA was first detected on March 25 and has…
Sea level rise could hit 2 metres by 2100 – much worse than feared
By Adam Vaughan The world’s coastal cities have been warned to prepare for the possibility of a sea level rise exceeding 2 metres by the end of the century, with “profound consequences for humanity.” A new assessment found runaway carbon emissions and melting ice sheets could…
How to talk to kids about climate change without scaring them
When my 4-year-old daughter discovered the documentary series Blue Planet II, thanks to a relative who shares her love of marine life, I was thrilled that she wanted to watch it instead of animated standbys like The Octonauts and Llama Llama. I counted it as a parenting victory: My preschooler…
Humans are driving one million species to extinction
Landmark United Nations-backed report finds that agriculture is one of the biggest threats to Earth’s ecosystems. Up to one million plant and animal species face extinction, many within decades, because of human activities, says the most comprehensive report yet on the state of global ecosystems….
IPBES: Climate Change Is a Key Driver for Species Extinction
UN Climate Change News, 7 May 2019 – Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history, and climate change is amongst the five direct drivers of change in nature with the largest relative global impacts so far. This is one key finding of a…
Recent Carbon Emissions Will Affect The Atmosphere For 10,000 Years, Steven Chu Says
Greenhouse-gas emitting is a lot like cigarette smoking, said former Energy Secretary Steven Chu: you can do it for decades before the cancer shows up, and then it’s very difficult to recover. The Nobel Prize winning physicist lamented in a University of Chicago lecture that “no one explains”…
Green revolution for the world’s shipping fleet comes not a moment too soon
New regulations restricting the use of high-sulphur fuel have oil markets in a panic. But shippers are coming up with innovative solutions to power their vessels – essential for the future given that ships account for 90 per cent of world trade Out of sight,…