Climate Change Altering Droughts, Impacts Across U.S.
As a major drought devastated the West and Midwest beginning in 2012, farmers racked up billions of dollars in crop losses and water managers grappled with possible water shortages for millions of people as reservoirs dried up in the heat. That drought is now gone. But scientists have found that the dry spell showed unusual wild extremes of … Read More
It’s So Hot in Phoenix, Planes Can’t Take Off
An intense heat wave is crippling the West this week, sending the mercury above 120°F in places like Phoenix. In a sign of just how hot things are getting, some airlines have had to cancel flights because of the heat. American Airlines said it cancelled 50 flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor aboard Bombardier CRJ aircraft on Tuesday because the … Read More
Desert Basins Could Hold ‘Missing’ Carbon Sinks
Deserts across the globe may contain some of the world’s “missing” carbon sinks — land masses scientists had not previously identified that absorb carbon from the atmosphere, according to researchers at China’s Lanzhou University. A study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience found that closed, or endorheic, basins in deserts — areas… Read More
It’s June. California Is Still Covered in Snow
The summer solstice is just around the corner, but someone forgot to tell California’s snowpack. After years of wallowing in drought, this winter walloped California’s Sierra Nevada mountains in a major, record-setting way. And while the calendar says summer, winter still has its grips on the granite spine of the Sierras… Read More
May Continues a Ridiculous Warm Streak for the Planet
Another month is in the global temperature record books. While May just missed setting a record, the data is another reminder that climate change is making the world hotter and pushing it into a new state. This May was the second-warmest May on record, according to new NASA data released on Thursday. The planet was 1.6°F (0.88°C) warmer than … Read More
The U.S. Hit a Wind and Solar Power Milestone in March
Ten percent of all of the electricity generated in the U.S. in March came from wind and solar power, marking the first such milestone in U.S. history, according to a new U.S. Energy Information Administration report. The EIA estimates that wind and solar farms likely generated 10 percent of America’s electricity in April as well, which would be … Read More
A GOP Congressman Is Forging Ahead on Climate Action
Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) occupies a strange place in politics these days. In an era of increasing polarization he’s a moderate Republican who represents a swing district. That alone makes him an outlier. But he’s also staking his political reputation on solving an issue nearly verboten in the Republican-controlled Congress: climate change … Read More
There’s a New Way the U.S. Is Committing to Paris
It’s been a week since President Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement. In that time, a remarkable transformation has taken place. As the federal government abdicates its responsibility to address climate change, a groundswell of support has sprung up at the state, city and corporate levels. Those sub-national actors … Read More
