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The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental Policy Looks Like

The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental...

In the 21st century, environmental policy is economic policy. Opinion Everyone is lining up to endorse the Green New Deal — or to mock it. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand have all endorsed the resolution sponsored by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts. Conservative critics predictably call it “a shocking document”...
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For a Climate Reporter, a Dreaded Question: ‘Then Why Is It So Cold?’

For a Climate Reporter, a Dreaded Question: ‘Then ...

When temperatures dip, we hear it over and over. Here’s the answer — and why it matters. Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. What were the temperatures where you live yesterday? What about last week? A month ago? What were the daytime highs and lows two years ago last Tuesday? If I’ve stumped you, that’s the point. Most of us might...
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One thing you can do: Rethink the roses

One thing you can do: Rethink the roses

Another Valentine’s Day is here, and we all know what that means: paper Cupids, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and the classic bouquet of red roses. Lots and lots of roses. This year, Americans are expected to spend $1.9 billion on flowers alone, according to the National Retail Federation. But those beautiful blooms may come with an environmental price tag. Most of the fresh flowers sold in the United States are grown in...
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Concern about climate change among conservative Republicans hits highest level ever

Concern about climate change among conservative Re...

Voter concern about global warming hits highest level ever in new survey. In the past 14 months, concern about climate change among conservative Republicans — and among all voters — has hit its highest level ever. A new survey published by the climate change communication programs at Yale and George Mason University (GMU) reports “an increase in Republican understanding of the reality of human-caused global warming, worry...
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Lakes are shedding winter ice at record pace

Lakes are shedding winter ice at record pace

Skating, ice fishing, and lake culture could disintegrate for millions within decades For hundreds of years, Shinto priests living on the banks of Lake Suwa, in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan, watched the surface of the lake freeze solid each winter. Partway through the winter, the ice would crack and refreeze, creating a long, jagged ridge stretching from shore to shore: the footprints of a god walking across the lake to...
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We need an ecological civilization before it’s too late

We need an ecological civilization before it’s too...

In the face of climate breakdown and ecological overshoot, alluring promises of “green growth” are no more than magical thinking. We need to restructure the fundamentals of our global cultural/economic system to cultivate an “ecological civilization”: one that prioritizes the health of living systems over short-term wealth production.  We’ve now been warned by the world’s leading climate scientists that we have just twelve...
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City-Sized 1,000-Foot Deep Cavity Found in Glacier, Warns NASA, Signaling ‘Rapid Decay’ of Antarctic Ice

City-Sized 1,000-Foot Deep Cavity Found in Glacier...

NASA scientists were startled when a recent exploratory mission revealed a huge and rapidly-growing cavity on the underside of one of Antarctica’s glaciers—signaling that the ice mass has been melting much faster than experts realized. The cavity is two-thirds the size of Manhattan—large enough to have contained about 14 billion tons of ice before it melted, according to a report that was published in Science Advances...
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Polar melting: ‘Methane time bomb’ isn’t actually a ‘bomb

Polar melting: ‘Methane time bomb’ isn...

Researchers cast doubt on one of the scariest ideas in climate science. It’s not news that climate science can be alarming. But in this video, climate scientists explain that one of the scariest ideas in the literature — the methane “time bomb” — turns out to be less worrisome than some have feared. “This is a call to action, not a declaration of defeat,” says scientist Ben Abbott of Brigham Young University. ‘This is...
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Why we won’t quit the climate fight

Why we won’t quit the climate fight

Friends and experts may tell us we’re doomed, but there are too many reasons to keep pushing for climate action. Reposted from Earth Island Journal. We are old climate veterans who have tried to do our part, in every way we know how, to keep our fossil-fuel addicted civilization from driving off a cliff. Are we tired? Sure. Discouraged? Absolutely. Pissed off? Yep. Sad? Call it broken-hearted. Quitting? It might be...
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To stay below 1.5ºC, we must massively scale solar, wind and batteries (and hydrogen?)

To stay below 1.5ºC, we must massively scale solar...

A new study by the University of Technology Sydney maps routes for massive decarbonization and 100% renewable energy to reach Paris Agreement goals. In North America, as the rest of the world, we must move quickly. January 21, 2019 Christian Roselund One generation decarbonisation without carbon capture and storage (CCS) or geoengineering, including anthropogenic and natural carbon sinks and sources. Image: Malte...
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US EPA shouldn’t gut the Clean Water Act

US EPA shouldn’t gut the Clean Water Act

Opinion: As Ohio struggles to find ways to limit the agricultural pollution that turns parts of Lake Erie green every summer, the last thing we should do is strip away protection from streams and endanger much of the state’s meager remaining wetland acreage. That’s what the Trump administration would do with its proposed replacement of an Obama-era rule that aimed to clarify what types of waters are protected under the Clean...
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‘No such animal as clean coal’: Mayor of Texas city powered by solar and wind pokes the bear

‘No such animal as clean coal’: Mayor ...

‘In Georgetown, we make our decisions based on the facts,’ says Dale Ross Despite being a Republican, the mayor of a Texas city that runs fully on renewable energy is taking on Donald Trump’s pro-coal policies. Georgetown, with a population of almost 70,000, is perhaps the largest city in the United States to look solely to wind and solar to keep the lights on and is the first city in the Lone Star State to...
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EVs 101: Your Guide to Electric Vehicles

EVs 101: Your Guide to Electric Vehicles

If you have ever considered making the switch to an environmentally friendly electric vehicle, don’t drag your feet. Though EV prices are falling, and states are unveiling more and more public charging stations and plug-in-ready parking spots, the federal government is doing everything it can to slam the brakes on our progress away from gas-burning internal combustion engines. President Trump, likely pressured by his...
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A Green New Deal for Newark and Licking County: Climate Action, Social Justice, and Jobs

A Green New Deal for Newark and Licking County: Cl...

What is the Green New Deal and what could it mean for Licking County?         Licking County Public Library 101 W Main St., Newark, OH 43055 Wednesday, January 23, 2019 6:00 – 7:30 pm Learn how this exciting proposal could help create high paying jobs for workers with many different skillsets improve transportation options protect our environment, agricultural lands, air, and water reduce income...
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Scientists say Trump’s first 2 years have been fatal for a livable climate

Scientists say Trump’s first 2 years have been fat...

“Cause of death: the Trump presidency.” Two years in, the presidency of Donald Trump has been a possibly fatal disaster for our livable climate, a number of climate and clean energy experts told ThinkProgress. During the 2016 presidential campaign, countless climate experts voiced their concern about Trump, who had infamously called climate change a “hoax” and said it was “created by and for the Chinese.” Trump...
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