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Climate Change track this thread

Started by C Miller; Last updated Feb 29, 08 8:53 AM CST by S Goldstein | View history

Climate Change

It's getting hot in here

Is the planet really warming? It's "unequivocal," a major international panel concluded earlier this year, warning that the world's poor would be hit the hardest. While some continue to doubt the science, others are rushing forward toward solutions: from pushing recycled deep-fry oil as gasoline to advocating a return to clean-burning nuclear energy. But will it be too little, too late?

Stories

Stories 41 - 60 of 365

  • August 2008
    • Bat Deaths Perplex Scientists

      Bat Deaths Perplex Scientists

      (Newser) - Experts are still in the dark about what’s causing the deaths of vast numbers of bats in the Northeast, but some theories have emerged, Salon reports. Some scientists believe white-nose syndrome is driven by global warming, while others are looking hard at pesticides. In either case, humans may have instigated the threat, and the illness looks like a bad ecological omen. More »

  • July 2008
    • Huge Chunk Snaps Off Largest Arctic Ice Shelf

      Huge Chunk Snaps Off Largest Arctic Ice Shelf

      (Newser) - An 8-square-mile chunk of ice has broken off an ancient ice shelf in Canada's Arctic, the Globe & Mail reports. The Ward Hunt Shelf, the biggest in the Arctic, has shrunk over the last century from 3,500 square miles to less than 400 today. Huge cracks have appeared in the ice and more is expected to go before winter. More »

    • China's Wind Power Takes Off

      China's Wind Power Takes Off

      (Newser) - Although known for its monstrous appetite for coal, China has spent the last few years ramping up its wind-power capacity, the Guardian reports. The amount of wind power generated has grown over 100% a year since 2005, with enormous wind farms popping up across the country. "It is huge, huge, huge," said an official from the Global Wind Engery Council. More »

    • Global Warming Didn't Cause New England Tornadoes

      Global Warming Didn't Cause New England Tornadoes

      (Newser) - Two tornadoes have ripped through New England in the last few days, killing a New Hampshire woman and doing serious property damage. But don’t blame global warming for the uncharacteristically violent climate: local climatologists tell the Boston Herald equally extreme weather struck the region in the ‘30s and ‘60s, resulting from “blocks” of bad weather patterns that last up to 3 months. More »

    • Energy Crisis Requires a Global Agency

      Energy Crisis Requires a Global Agency

      (Newser) - A global agency is needed to deal with the developing energy crisis, Mohamed ElBaradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, writes in the Financial Times . Demand for energy is rising fast and alternatives to fossil fuels remain largely hypothetical, and though there are international organizations to deal with everything from health to aviation, energy “is dealt with in a fragmented, piecemeal way.” More »

    • 8 Signs the Animal Kingdom Is in Trouble

      8 Signs the Animal Kingdom Is in Trouble

      (Newser) - Biologists have mounting evidence that human activity is causing real damage to the natural world. LiveScience lists overlooked indications that things are seriously out of whack. Earlier migration: Several bird species are getting their timing wrong. Jellyfish rule: The creatures are hitching rides on ships. More »

    • Gore Pounds Pols on Energy Plan

      Gore Pounds Pols on Energy Plan

      (Newser) - Al Gore made his first appearance on Meet the Press since he sought the presidency 8 years ago, Politico reports, this time pushing his agenda as the nation's self-appointed energy czar. "My own best role is to try to bring about a sea change in public opinion" on environmental issues, he said, following a Thursday speech in which he called for a switch to 100% renewable energy sources by 2018. "Incremental baby steps are no longer responsible proposals." More »

    • Gore Wows Bloggers at Austin Show

      Gore Wows Bloggers at Austin Show

      (Newser) - Al Gore surprised a crowd of liberal bloggers today by showing up at the Netroots Nation conference in Austin, Texas. He wowed the 3,000 progressives by emerging after Nancy Pelosi and giving a speech on the importance of grassroots organization for green issues. When asked about sharing a spot on the Obama ticket, he once again demurred, the Austin-American Statesman reports. More »

    • McCain Flips on Emissions Standards

      McCain Flips on Emissions Standards

      (Newser) - John McCain seemed to flip-flop on auto-emissions standards today, telling a group of General Motors engineers he supported states’ rights to set their own levels, the Detroit News reports. McCain told the newspaper last month he supported a nationwide standard. Automakers support a national standard because they fear the expense of catering to different restrictions in different states. More »

    • EPA Forecasts Longer, Smoggier Summers for US

      EPA Forecasts Longer, Smoggier Summers for US

      (Newser) - Climate change will bring longer, hotter, smoggier summers in the coming decades across the US, a new EPA reports says. Expect more wildfires and hurricanes, too, along with water problems in the West, the Washington Post reports. The federal report is noteworthy because it refutes the Bush administration's rosier outlook on global warming, the Post notes. More »

    • 'Clean Coal' Advocates Blowing Smoke

      'Clean Coal' Advocates Blowing Smoke

      (Newser) - “Clean coal” is the buzzword of the moment, with industry groups and presidential candidates swearing by a work-in-progress technique known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which ultimately buries carbon dioxide emissions deep underground. But Jeff Goodell, writing in Yale Environment 360 , doesn’t buy it. “We don’t need to bury our problems,” Goodell writes. “We need to reinvent our world.” More »

    • Gore Challenge: 100% Clean Electricity by 2018

      Gore Challenge: 100% Clean Electricity by 2018

      (Newser) - Al Gore is challenging the US to produce all its electricity through wind, sun, and other clean sources by 2018. Speaking to the AP ahead of a major address today, the Nobel laureate compared the goal to JFK’s 1961 pledge to make it to the moon—and said that both Barack Obama and John McCain are “way ahead” of most politicians on the climate change issue. More »

    • The World's Greenest Venture Capitalist

      The World's Greenest Venture Capitalist

      (Newser) - Vinod Khosla isn’t just smarter and richer than the average venture capitalist—he’s greener, too. Khosla has sunk $450 million into what he calls “imprudent science experiments" over the past 4 years, financing 45 enviro-tech startups. “We've funded an incredible number of things that would make no sense at all for a traditional venture fund,” the 53-year-old tells Fast Company. More »

    • Today's Drilling Rush Looks as Crude as Whale Oil Folly

      Today's Drilling Rush Looks as Crude as Whale Oil Folly

      (Newser) - On an otherwise deserted patch of Arctic ice stands an abandoned settlement, proof that humans once lived here. Nearby lies a reminder of why they came: dozens of massive whale skulls, still bleeding oil into the ground. Men once flocked to this land for whale oil, Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post; now our dependence on a different kind of oil might change it forever. More »

    • Green Housing: From Good Idea to Good Business