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‘Why have carbon dioxide levels risen and fallen in the past?’

‘Why have carbon dioxide levels risen and fa...

Answers to reader questions about climate science. Dear readers, This is not the column I planned to publish this month. I wrote another one several weeks ago in answer to a reader’s question about tourism in Europe. As you might imagine, that column was swiftly rendered out of date, becoming nothing more than a time capsule of life before COVID-19 became a global pandemic. Like many of you, I have spent recent weeks feeling...
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Causes of global warming: How scientists know that humans are responsible

Causes of global warming: How scientists know that...

It’s a conclusion shared by the world’s most respected scientific organizations. Hurricane Dorian as seen from the International Space Station on Monday, September 2, 2019. (Photo credit: NASA) You likely have heard about global warming in the news, at school or from a friend. And so you probably have questions such as, “What is causing this warming?” and “What role do humans play in that warming?” and “What’s...
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World’s Wind Power Capacity Increases Nearly 20% in Record Growth

World’s Wind Power Capacity Increases Nearly 20% i...

The growing demand for renewable energy led to record setting growth in wind power capacity as technology has made harnessing wind power increasingly efficient and more wind farms have been completed and have joined the electrical grid, according to The Telegraph. The Global Wind Energy Council reported that in 2019 wind power capacity grew by 60.4 gigawats, which was 19 percent more than 2018. The report credited growth in...
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A concise and personal yet universally applicable examination of a problem that affects everyone on planet Earth.

A concise and personal yet universally applicable ...

THE STORY OF MORE HOW WE GOT TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND WHERE TO GO FROM HERE by Hope Jahren ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2020 Following a critically and popular debut, the lab girl turns teacher in a course on climate change. As most readers know, a bestseller gives a fledgling author a bigger megaphone. In her follow-up to Lab Girl (2016), Jahren (Geosciences/Univ. of Oslo) uses it to show how issues that are clearly important to...
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Amazon Rainforest Reaches Point of No Return

Amazon Rainforest Reaches Point of No Return

Antonio Donato Nobre is passionate about the Amazon region and despairs about the level of deforestation taking place in what is the world’s biggest rainforest. “Just when I thought the destruction couldn’t get any worse, it has,” says Nobre, one of Brazil’s leading scientists who has studied the Amazon — its unique flora and fauna, and its influence on both the local and global climate — for...
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COVID-19 & biodiversity loss: An unsettling connection

COVID-19 & biodiversity loss: An unsettling c...

We are living in extraordinary — and frightening — times. But how did we get here? This week at Ensia, journalist John Vidal dives into the origins of zoonotic (animal-borne) diseases such as Ebola, SARS and now COVID-19 in a story we’re publishing both on our site and in partnership with The Guardian. As Vidal writes, “Only a decade or two ago it was widely thought that tropical forests and intact natural environments...
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The Rich Are to Blame for the Climate Crisis, International Study Finds

The Rich Are to Blame for the Climate Crisis, Inte...

A new international study has pinpointed an enormous chasm in the amount of resources the rich use versus the poor — both within their own countries and compared to an international population, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Energy. The researchers found that the wealthiest tenth of people use up about 20 times more overall energy than the bottom ten percent, no matter where they are, according to...
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The Great U.S. Shale Decline Has Already Begun

The Great U.S. Shale Decline Has Already Begun

U.S. shale companies are moving quickly to ax their budgets, hoping to staunch the bleeding as the oil market continues to melt down. It has only been a few days after the OPEC+ debacle, but with oil trading at around $30 per barrel, and with good odds of falling even lower, the entire energy industry has little option but to make deep cuts to their operations. “Most companies will go into maintenance mode,” Pioneer Natural...
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An Emerging Threat to Conservation: Fear of Nature

An Emerging Threat to Conservation: Fear of Nature

What do we lose when natural spaces and species disappear? Increasingly, research has shown that as species and ecosystems vanish, it also chips away at our ability to preserve what remains — because we no longer understand what we’re losing. You probably see it all the time. The neighbor who puts pesticides on his lawn rather than deal with pesky bees. The kid who squirms and runs at the sight of a harmless garter...
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How to Pay for the Progressive Policy Agenda: COVID-19 Crisis Response, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and Beyond

How to Pay for the Progressive Policy Agenda: COVI...

Dear Concerned Citizens, journalists/social media/communications professionals, You are cordially invited to a webinar on “How to Pay for the Progressive Policy Agenda: COVID-19 Crisis Response, Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and Beyond” hosted by Brand New Congress (BNC) and the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity (GISP) on Thursday, March 19, 2020, at 8 pm EDT. When: Thursday, March 19th, 2020 Time:...
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With ‘solutions journalism,’ reporters cover more than just bad news

With ‘solutions journalism,’ reporters...

Under this approach, journalists rigorously report on potential solutions to society’s problems. Whether reporting on sea-level rise, crop failures, or natural disasters, journalists are often the bearers of bleak news about global warming. But Liza Gross of the Solutions Journalism Network says that the bad news on climate is not the only news. And she says that unrelenting negative coverage can turn viewers and readers off...
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U.S. shale companies facing a money-losing reality after oil price collapse

U.S. shale companies facing a money-losing reality...

Bloomberg: America’s shale producers already had a profitability problem. It just got a lot worse. At a stroke, Saudi Arabia and Russia and their battle for market share have made almost all U.S. shale drilling unprofitable. Only five companies in two areas of the country have breakeven costs lower than the current oil price, according to data compiled by Rystad Energy, an Oslo-based consultancy. Wells drilled by Exxon Mobil...
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The Government Must Abandon its Fossil Fuel Power Projects. If Not, we’ll Sue

The Government Must Abandon its Fossil Fuel Power ...

No longer should our survival be an afterthought. If we are to withstand the climate crisis, every decision should begin with the question of what the planet can endure. This means that any discussion about new infrastructure should begin with ecological constraints. The figures are stark. A paper published in Nature last year showed that existing energy infrastructure, if it is allowed to run to the end of its natural life,...
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How Big Oil and Big Soda kept a global environmental calamity a secret for decades

How Big Oil and Big Soda kept a global environment...

Every human on Earth is ingesting nearly 2,000 particles of plastic a week. These tiny pieces enter our unwitting bodies from tap water, food, and even the air, according to an alarming academic study sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, dosing us with five grams of plastics, many cut with chemicals linked to cancers, hormone disruption, and developmental delays. Since the paper’s publication last year, Sen. Tom...
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Opinion: Climate change is the new disease of despair. Psychologists need to step up to help.

Opinion: Climate change is the new disease of desp...

February 21, 2020 — As a clinical health psychologist, I’m growing increasingly concerned about the physical and mental health of our younger generations. Just as the generation before us practiced hiding beneath their desks under the threat of thermonuclear war, we are preparing for a future that is charred and blackened. The big difference is, the threat we face from climate change is actually happening, and there’s no...
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