Even Republicans at odds with Trump’s climat...

But many people still don’t agree with the consensus science that shows humans are the dominant cause of climate change Americans, including Republicans, are becoming more convinced that climate change is causing extreme weather and sea-level rise, according to a new poll from Monmouth University. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans, 64%, now think climate change is happening, compared to 49% three years ago. And more of the...

Scared about climate change? Read these encouragin...

Four writers explain why they’re not giving up. Know anybody out there who might need some encouraging words, a little realistic help bucking up in the face of scary prospects involving the climate and … whatever? Here are four good short pieces to help us all stay upbeat. Start with Rebecca Solnit, whose reminders that the future is unknowable and that good things do happen are always bracing: “I don’t know exactly if...

Weakening methane standards will hurt SE Ohioans

In mid-November, I traveled to Colorado to give testimony to the federal EPA regarding the rollback of methane standards that are vital to our community. I work for the Ohio Environmental Council as their southeast Ohio regional director, but I testified to amplify my own voice, as well as the voice of my neighbors as someone directly affected by methane pollution. Our region is at the epicenter of the Utica Shale deposit...

What made solar panels so cheap? Thank government ...

From an economic perspective, the core challenge of climate change is that the standard way of doing things — the dirty, carbon-intensive way — is typically cheaper than newer, lower-carbon alternatives. Solving the problem means driving down the cost of those alternatives. Simple, right? But in practice, it’s not so simple. In fact, we still don’t have a very good grasp on exactly what drives technological innovation and...

Palm Oil Was Supposed to Help Save the Planet. Ins...

A decade ago, the U.S. mandated the use of vegetable oil in biofuels, leading to industrial-scale deforestation — and a huge spike in carbon emissions. The remains of an Indonesian rain forest that was cleared to make way for oil palms.CreditCreditAshley Gilbertson/VII, for The New York Times This article is a partnership between ProPublica, where Abrahm Lustgarten is a senior reporter, and The New York Times Magazine. The...

‘The Window of Opportunity for Action Is Alm...

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at 405.5 parts per million (ppm), or 146 percent of pre-1750 levels. The concentration of methane is now at around 1,859 parts per billion (ppb), around 257 percent of pre-industrial levels, and the concentration of nitrous oxide reached about 329.9 ppb, or 122 percent of pre-industrial levels. “The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration...

U.S. to Release Damning Climate Report as Trump Ig...

The U.S. government will release a major climate report on Friday afternoon that could be very inconvenient for President Trump, who seems as clueless as ever about the global phenomenon and continues to push coal and other planet-warming fossil fuels. But environmentalists, climate experts and others have pointed out that the critical warning from 13 federal agencies will be softened by the country’s post-Thanksgiving...

How to identify people open to evidence about clim...

People resist climate information for varying reasons. Start by understanding your audience.   A confession. That cartoon where someone is hunched over the computer, unable to tear away from furious typing, because someone is wrong on the internet? That was me. Or at least it used to be. As a lifelong scientist and educator, I simply could not let stand an idle comment about volcanoes emitting more CO2 than humans....

Beacon Journal/Ohio.com editorial board: Earth nee...

www.ohio.com 2 mins read In its report last month, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stressed the lateness of the hour. It explained that if countries want to prevent the planet from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, they must reduce current greenhouse emissions 60 percent by 2030 — or in 12 years. The report noted such an achievement would require action at a speed and scale with “no documented...

Trump’s nominee to head National Park Service view...

Raymond David Vela veers away from Trump’s script at confirmation hearing. Raymond David Vela, President Trump’s nominee to be director of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), mentioned climate change on Thursday as he read from prepared remarks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Hearing a Trump nominee cite climate change as an issue that must be tackled is a...

New Report Details Trump’s Destructive War o...

A coalition of watchdog and advocacy organizations on Thursday released a new report detailing the Trump administration’s nearly two-year war on science and how Congress can fight back. Produced by 16 groups including the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), Defenders of Wildlife and Greenpeace, Protecting Science at Federal Agencies: How Congress Can Help argues that while “scientific integrity at federal...

Ice Sheets in Greenland, Antarctica Could Reach Ca...

Scientists just gave us another terrifying reason to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels: If temperatures push much beyond that point, both Greenland and Antarctica‘s ice sheets could reach a point where nothing can stop them from melting. An international team of researchers published this chilling finding in Nature Climate Change Monday. The researchers set out to study how the ice...

General Motors’ EV Plan May Sound Good, But it’s B...

General Motors has proposed what it’s calling a “National Zero Emission Vehicle (NZEV) program” that would require automakers to sell a minimum volume of plug-in or fuel cell vehicles in the US. While this may sound like an innovative idea, it could dramatically undercut existing programs in states including California that are showing real leadership in cutting vehicle emissions. The GM proposal calls for a 50-state ZEV...

Questionable Economics Threaten The Keystone XL Pi...

Now that a federal judge has squelched the Keystone XL Pipeline, the question facing its owner, TransCanada Corp., is whether the oil economics justify its completion. Not only is the price of oil still relatively low and falling but, competing pipelines are coming out of Canada and into this country. While the price of a barrel of oil has risen from $50 in recent years to $75 in recent months, it is now down to about $60....

‘It’s a ghost page’: EPA site...

Material that said humans were warming the planet was taken down last year for an ‘update’ More than a year after the US Environmental Protection Agency took down information on climate change from its website for an “update”, it now seems uncertain whether it will ever reappear. In April last year, the EPA replaced its online climate change section with a holding page that said the content was being updated to “reflect the...