Editorial: Environmental sirens are sounding

If things don’t change soon, we’re toast. We saw it last week when Hurricane Michael wiped out entire communities in Florida and last month when Florence wreaked havoc in the Carolinas. We’ve seen it on Long Island, where we will face even worse flooding than the destruction from superstorm Sandy. The Earth is getting hotter, and more-intense storms are only one result. If we don’t stop the warming, the changes will be...

Net-zero emissions energy systems

Prof. Nathan S. Lewis from California Institute of Technology mentioned this article during his presentation at Denison on 10/11/2018. Path to zero carbon emissions Models show that to avert dangerous levels of climate change, global carbon dioxide emissions must fall to zero later this century. Most of these emissions arise from energy use. Davis et al. review what it would take to achieve decarbonization of the energy...

Why We Can’t Reverse Climate Change With ‘Negative...

In a much-anticipated report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the world will need to take dramatic and drastic steps to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change. Featured prominently in the report is a discussion of a range of techniques for removing carbon dioxide from the air, called Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) technologies or negative emissions technologies (NETs). The IPCC said the...

Plastic on Remote South Atlantic Beaches Up 10 Fol...

The number of plastics washing up on the beaches of remote islands in the South Atlantic has increased 10 times in the past 10 years, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) found. This is a devastating development for the unique biodiversity of islands in the UK’s overseas territories like Ascension, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha, Gough and the Falkland Islands, both because the plastic harms marine life and because...

Climate Change Economists Win Nobel Prize

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economics to a duo for their work on how the world can achieve sustainable growth. The prize was divided equally to William D. Nordhaus of Yale University and to Paul M. Romer of New York University’s Stern School of Business, both Americans, who have “designed methods for addressing some of our time’s most basic and pressing questions...

Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Cr...

INCHEON, South Korea — A landmark report from the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.” The report, issued on Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a...

The US would suffer some of the biggest costs of c...

The exact cost estimates vary, but the US consistently ranks near the top. Climate change is a classic tragedy of the commons: every country acting in its own self-interest contributes to depleting a joint resource, making the world worse for everyone. If you’ve ever lived with bad roommates, the concept will be easy to grasp. The social cost of carbon (or SCC) is a way to put a price tag on the result of that tragedy,...

New Report Highlights Toxic Chemicals in Consumer ...

A new report by the Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP) details findings from product testing they performed on beauty, personal care and cleaning products, with an emphasis on products often marketed to vulnerable populations, such as children and women of color. The report focuses on the identification of chemicals used for fragrance in these products because, currently, chemicals used for fragrance do not have to be...

Designing Greener Streets Starts With Finding Room...

City streets and sidewalks in the U.S. have been engineered for decades to keep vehicle occupants and pedestrians safe. If streets include trees at all, they might be planted in small sidewalk pits, where, if constrained and with little water, they live only three to 10 years on average. Until recently, U.S. streets have also lacked cycle tracks—paths exclusively for bicycles between the road and the sidewalk, protected from...

Prepare for 10 Feet of Sea Level Rise, California ...

Though an extreme scenario, it should be factored in to coastal infrastructure planning, new guidance suggests California coastal cities should be prepared for the possibility that oceans will rise more than 10 feet by 2100 and submerge parts of beach towns, the state Coastal Commission warns in new draft guidance. The powerful agency, which oversees most development along 1,100 miles of coast, will consider approving the...

‘We’re moving to higher ground’:...

By the end of this century, sea level rises alone could displace 13m people. Many states will have to grapple with hordes of residents seeking dry ground. But, as one expert says, ‘No state is unaffected by this’   After her house flooded for the third year in a row, Elizabeth Boineau was ready to flee. She packed her possessions into dozens of boxes, tried not to think of the mold and mildew-covered furniture and...

Decentralized micro-grids could be the next big th...

A new report concludes that microgrid technologies could make a local “techno-economy” 90 percent self-sufficient, paving the way for a truly renewable society. When it comes to renewable energy, it’s not just about getting the energy — distribution and storage are also major issues. Renewable energy tends to be abundant during some parts of the day (for instance, when it’s sunny or windy), and lacking during other parts....

Taking Your First Steps Into Local Climate Action

Yes, yes—it can feel daunting. The climate crisis is more urgent than it’s ever been. Some days we feel like we’re making good progress, when we hear of countries powered by 100 percent renewable energy or a big commitment to take on fossil fuel corporations from a city like New York. But other days, it’s a heavy burden knowing there’s so much more that needs to be done to unseat the fossil fuel...

4 Groundbreaking Announcements From the Global Cli...

Over the past three days, more than 4,000 people have gathered in San Francisco for the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) convened by California Governor Jerry Brown to mobilize regional, local and business leaders around climate change. Seventeen states and 400 cities, representing together the world’s third largest economy, have now joined Brown and summit co-chair and UN special envoy for climate action Michael...

Trump says Florence is just ‘Mother Nature.’ A stu...

Climate change to supercharge Florence’s worst rainfall by more than 50 percent, researchers find. In his tweeted warning about Hurricane Florence Wednesday, President Trump said, “bad things can happen when you’re talking about a storm this size. It’s called Mother Nature.” The authors of a bombshell new analysis, “The human influence on Hurricane Florence,” disagree. They find that human-caused global warming has...