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Trump Wants to Eliminate NASA’s Climate Research Programs: These Pictures Show What a Loss That Would Be

Trump Wants to Eliminate NASA’s Climate Research P...

   Trump Wants to Eliminate NASA’s Climate Research Programs: These Pictures Show What a Loss That Would Be  www.ecowatch.com 11 mins read By Jeremy Deaton President Trump‘s proposed 2019 budget would slash funding for NASA’s Earth Science Division, and while his budget hasn’t gained traction in Congress, it is an important statement of the administration’s priorities. In a nod to his allies in...
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Katharine Hayhoe Reveals Surprising Ways to Talk About Climate Change

Katharine Hayhoe Reveals Surprising Ways to Talk A...

 Katharine Hayhoe isn’t your typical atmospheric scientist. Throughout her career, the evangelical Christian and daughter of missionaries has had to convince many (including her pastor husband) that science and religion need not be at odds when it comes to climate change. Hayhoe, who directs Texas Tech’s University’s Climate Science Center, is CEO of ATMOS Research, a scientific consulting company, and produces the PBS...
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Congress Says Biomass Is Carbon-Neutral, but Scientists Disagree

Congress Says Biomass Is Carbon-Neutral, but Scien...

Using wood as fuel source could actually increase CO2 emissions Lawmakers are once again pushing U.S. EPA and other federal agencies to recognize the burning of biomass as a carbon-neutral energy source. But scientists say that could be a bad move for the climate. A massive fiscal 2018 federal spending bill unveiled by congressional leaders Wednesday night includes a provision urging the heads of EPA, the Energy Department...
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Trump wanted to slash funding for clean energy. Congress ignored him.

Trump wanted to slash funding for clean energy. Co...

The $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill that passed Friday morning and averted a government shutdown increases spending on clean energy and keeps the Environmental Protection Agency funded at current levels. That’s despite the White House suggestion that Congress cut EPA’s budget by one-third and make drastic reductions in clean energy research. Tarak Shah, a former chief of staff in the science and energy office at the US...
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As climate shifts, Cincinnati mayor boosts solar investments

As climate shifts, Cincinnati mayor boosts solar i...

With extreme weather events becoming more common, the city is ramping up its investments in solar and its mitigation efforts. Cincinnati may seem an unlikely location for the nation’s largest city-owned solar array. But when Mayor John Cranley announced last year that he intended to create just that, the plan was in many ways a natural fit. Over the past decade, the Ohio city has taken increasingly aggressive steps to...
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Meet the Human Faces of Climate Migration

Meet the Human Faces of Climate Migration

World Bank Group STORY HIGHLIGHTS A new World Bank report has found that by 2050 the worsening impacts of climate change in three densely populated regions of the world could see more than 140 million people move within their countries’ borders. With concerted action, however, including global efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions and robust development planning at the country level – this worst-case scenario could be...
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Here’s What the EPA’s Website Looks Like After a Year of Climate Change Censorship

Here’s What the EPA’s Website Looks Li...

Throughout the Trump administration’s first year in office, the Environmental Protection Agency has been quietly scrubbing mentions of climate change and tweaking related language on its website – an effort critics have decried as scientific censorship. The EPA is far from the only federal agency to get a Trump-era work over. But monitoring organizations say it has suffered the most extensive revisions over the past year....
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Is The Corporate Demand For Solar Energy Stronger Than Trump’s Tariffs?

Is The Corporate Demand For Solar Energy Stronger ...

Amazon is shooting for the sun and is about to rev up one of California’s biggest solar rooftop systems that spreads 23 rooftop-acres. It’s a microcosm of the trend sweeping across corporate America. But is this wave more powerful than current federal policies and especially the just-imposed solar tariffs? Eco-minded businesses, in fact, have led the effort to join global climate talks and to curb heat-trapping...
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Trump EPA Sued Over Refusal to Release Heartland Institute Communications

Trump EPA Sued Over Refusal to Release Heartland I...

Two environmental groups filed suit Thursday to force the Environmental Protection Agency to disclose its correspondence with the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank that has led a years-long campaign to discredit climate science. The complaint by the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) suggests that contact between the EPA and Heartland has been far more extensive than...
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Mike Pompeo, Climate Policy Foe, Picked to Replace Tillerson as Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo, Climate Policy Foe, Picked to Replace...

Mike Pompeo’s past statements indicate a far more recalcitrant stance on climate change than that of former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, who Pompeo has been nominated to replace as U.S. secretary of state. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images With Rex Tillerson’s firing, President Donald Trump’s new choice for Secretary of State—Mike Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman currently serving as director of the...
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Methane explosions trigger questions about greenhouse gas emissions

Methane explosions trigger questions about greenho...

Natural gas burns cleaner, but two recent explosions in Ohio show how accidental and “fugitive” emissions compromise some climate benefits. An explosion at a well pad in eastern Ohio last month forced nearby residents to evacuate for three weeks while crews worked to cap a gas leak. Just two weeks earlier, a gas pipeline in an adjacent county ruptured and caused several fires. The incidents illustrated a risk related to...
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Trump’s Interior Secretary Claimed Wind Power Leads to Global Warming. His Numbers Are Wrong

Trump’s Interior Secretary Claimed Wind Powe...

In a speech before oil and gas industry executives, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke argued that the production and transportation of wind turbines contributes to global warming, but he overstated the factual case, especially when compared with other forms of energy. Speaking at the CERAWeek energy conference hosted by IHSMarkit in Houston, Zinke also echoed a long-held argument from President Donald Trump that wind turbines...
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Clean Energy Pioneers Earn Double The Returns Of Fossil Fuel Firms

Clean Energy Pioneers Earn Double The Returns Of F...

It is often said that investing with one eye on sustainability will automatically reduce returns, even though there is a growing body of evidence that this is no longer true. The latest proof that this is an outdated view comes from the release of the latest Clean 200 ranking, a list of the 200 largest publicly traded companies in the world making significant revenue from clean energy. In the first full year and a half of...
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Fracking’s Freshwater Supply and Demand in Eastern Ohio

Fracking’s Freshwater Supply and Demand in Eastern...

 Water is the key ingredient in the hydraulic fracturing process, and its usage – in total and per well – is increasing at an exponential rate. Below, FracTracker takes a look at water withdrawal and use for fracking across 23 Eastern Ohio counties between 2010 and 2016. Mapping Hydraulic Fracturing Freshwater Supply and Demand in Ohio Below is a map of annual and cumulative water withdrawal volumes by the hydraulic...
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North Pole surges above freezing in the dead of winter, stunning scientists

North Pole surges above freezing in the dead of wi...

  GFS model analysis of temperature difference from normal (in Celsius) on Sunday over the Arctic. The temperature is above freezing at the North Pole. (University of Maine Climate Re-analyzer) The sun won’t rise at the North Pole until March 20, and it’s normally close to the coldest time of year, but an extraordinary and possibly historic thaw swelled over the tip of the planet this weekend. Analyses show that the...
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