White House Budget Aims to Kill ‘Crazy’ Climate Science
As The White House released its budget request for the 2018 fiscal year on Tuesday, the Trump administration made good on its promise to target deep cuts to federal spending on climate, energy, science, research and other programs widely seen as critical to America’s ability to adapt to a warming world and reduce its impact on the climate.… Read More
Swiss Voters Embrace Shift to Renewable Energy
Swiss voters backed the government's plan to provide billions of dollars in subsidies for renewable energy, ban new nuclear plants and help bail out struggling utilities in a binding referendum on Sunday. Provisional final figures showed support at 58.2 percent under the Swiss system of direct democracy, which gives voters final say on major… Read More
Climate Change Could Slash Staple Crops
Climate change, and its impacts on extreme weather and temperature swings, is projected to reduce global production of corn, wheat, rice and soybeans by 23 percent in the 2050s, according to a new analysis. The study, which examined price and production of those four major crops from 1961 to 2013, also warns that by the 2030s output could be cut … Read More
The Race to Understand Black Carbon’s Climate Impact
On a morning in September 2015, sterile, gray Arctic light filtered through a blanket of woolly clouds as Matt Gunsch and Tate Barrett parked their rented pickup truck on a dirt road and clomped in rubber boots down a long, icy boardwalk to their air-monitoring laboratory on the tundra. From the outside, the lab looked unglamorous — a dingy, white… Read More
Focus on Carbon Removal a ‘High-Stakes Gamble’
The manmade emissions fueling global warming are accumulating so quickly in the atmosphere that climate change could spiral out of control before humanity can take measures drastic enough to cool the earth’s fever, many climate scientists say. The most important way the earth’s rising temperature can be tempered is to reduce the use of fossil… Read More
Sharp Rise in Flooding Ahead for World’s Poorest
Coastal residents of poor and fast-growing tropical countries face rapid increases in the numbers of once-rare floods they may face as seas rise, with a new statistical analysis offering troubling projections for regions where sea level data is sparse. Stark increases in instances of flooding are projected for Pacific islands, parts of Southeast … Read More
Warm Arctic Fuels Second-Warmest April on Record
An unusually warm Arctic spring fueled the second-hottest April on record globally, with global warming and unusual weather conspiring to shrink sea ice and push up polar temperatures. April temperatures were 1.5°F (0.9°C) warmer worldwide than the 1950 to 1980 average, NASA data released Monday showed, extending to three a string of hot months in… Read More
Slow-Freezing Alaska Soil Driving Surge in CO2 Emissions
Alaska’s soils are taking far longer to freeze over as winter approaches than in previous decades, resulting in a surge in carbon dioxide emissions that could portend a much faster rate of global warming than scientists had previously estimated, according to new research. Measurements of carbon dioxide levels taken from aircraft, satellites and on… Read More
