Methane at Sea: Finding the Invisible Climate Killer
T&E’s investigation into so-called ‘green’ liquid natural gas (LNG) ships uncovers significant amounts of invisible methane being released into the atmosphere. On a crisp Monday morning in the port of Rotterdam, the Ecodelta, a dredger boat, gets to work scraping the seabed, clearing the way for…
For Many, Blue Hydrogen Is the Fuel of the Future. New Research Raises Doubts.
Industry has been promoting blue hydrogen as a reliable, next-generation fuel to power cars, heat homes and generate electricity. It may, in fact, be worse for the climate than previously thought. It is seen by many as the clean energy of the future. Billions of…
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…