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Some 50 million years ago, the world was in dire straits. Atmospheric CO2 levels were at over 1000 ppm, with some putting the level at 3500 ppm. Turtles and palm trees were thriving at the poles and sea levels were much higher than they were now as there was virtually no snow to be seen. […]
The moon does more than cause tides and delight lovers - according to a new study, it can also affect how much rainfall falls down on the ground.
Get it together, world – the top 10 greenest countries in the world are all European! The greenest countries The 2016 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is a Yale-developed method to quantify the environmental performance of a state; it’s a measure of how ‘green’ a country is. Of course, like any index it has its pros […]
Right now coal accounts for 39% of all the world's generated electricity, with gas coming in second but still trailing behind at 22%. King coal is dying though, as ZME Science reported earlier. In less than 15 years, the International Energy Agency estimates renewable energy will become the dominant energy source in the world. Moreover, these estimates are conservative since the report assumes many coal plants will still be online in 2030, which is unlikely.
Before WWII, there weren't that many plastics around. Today, we use so much that we could literally plaster the planet in one giant clingfilm. A paper published in the journal Anthropocene reviews the state of plastic production, use and pollution and concludes that no place on Earth has been spared.
When the researchers analyzed some of the most cited contrarian climate change papers -- by other scientists or in the media -- they found these were riddled with methodological errors and not one one of them stood to scrutiny.
After they studied how much man-made heat got sucked by the world's oceans in the past 150 years, researchers found the heat content doubled since 1997. In other words, the oceans absorbed just as much heat in the past 20 years or so as they did in the prior 130 years. There's more bad news. The rate at which oceans soaked the heat rose sharply since the 2000s and hasn't faltered since. This can only mean a re-doubling that comes with unforeseeable consequences in the coming decades.
The very hot winter of 2015 is having some unexpected consequences: squirrels are getting fat. The winter season for overindulgence has come and passed, but for these little critters in North America and Europe, it left behind a big mark. The mild climate of this winter meant that trees had lots of seeds and nuts, […]
Archaeologists working at NOAA made a surprising discovery - they found the remains of a century-and-a-half old whaling ship
Throughout our hunter-forager days, humans have developed a subconscious urge to over-eat and became less and less psychologically equipped to avoid obesity, especially during the winter months, a University of Exeter study recently found.
Everybody has to eat, but for all their efforts farmers can easily lose a year's worth of crops due to a dry season or some other freak weather event.
There’s almost no need to say it again – it’s been an exceptionally warm December, and an exceptionally warm year. In fact, it’s been the hottest year on record, with 7 of 11 months so far breaking the record. Things aren’t very different in the capital of the US, where temperatures have exceeded 50 degrees […]
Almost all of Costa Rica’s energy came from renewable sources in 2015, making it one of the few countries to achieve virtual independence from fossil fuels. The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) announced that the country achieved “99 percent renewable electricity generation” this year, running 100% renewable in 285 days so far. The bulk of the […]
2015 is set to be the hottest year on record as November smashed previous records, being 1.75 degrees Fahrenheit (0.97 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average. As if that wasn’t enough, 7 of the first 11 months of the year broke the record, according to reports by both NOAA and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. […]
Somewhere in the Arctic, in the interior of the Greenland ice sheets, there lies a glacier like no other. This glacier quakes once every minute, more frequently than ever observed. Geologists now believe that studying these ice quakes could help them better understand how ice melts and reacts to rising temperatures and better model ice flow. […]
Developing countries need an astonishing amount of cash to respect the commitments made at COP21, Paris. This money needs to come from developed nations.
A crucial date, or another point in a long line of failures? History will certainly judge the Paris Climate Agreement, but until then, reactions to it have generally been positive. It’s a monumental achievement, if only for being unanimously supported. I found remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry to be highly relevant: “For […]
The agreement in Paris is not a cure for the world’s environmental problems, but it’s definitely more than a band-aid. It provides a framework on which to build future global and national efforts, but one word came close to ruining everything. Visibly exhausted, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius cracked a smile – probably the first […]
After two weeks of marathon negotiations, hundreds of presentations and dozens of press conferences, 195 countries unanimously approved an acord that will ultimately eliminate our dependency on fossil fuels, limiting global warming to 2ºC, with an incremental goal of 1.5ºC. For better or for worse, it’s the first global climate accord after two decades of […]
With only hours remaining on the COP21 negotiations, there’s a good chance the draft we got to see yesterday will be final – with some small tweaks perhaps. Opinions have been mixed, but mostly negative about this particular draft; sure, it’s important that we get a final draft on which all parties agree, but it’s […]
If we want to tackle climate change, we have to fight it from all sides; one of the things I liked about the COP21 climate summit was that people from all around the world came to present their ideas for fighting climate change locally, with tailored solutions. The UN recently highlighted the projects in the Change […]
If we want to limit our emissions to an acceptable limit, then all aspects of human society have to come together – environmental, social, economic, and not least, technology. With this in mind, six projects were presented at COP21, highlighted as this year’s UN Momentum for Change ICT solutions winners. These are the winning projects: Fairphone […]
After hundreds of hours of negotiations and discourse, it seems that the parties involved are finally settled and can agree to a new draft for a binding climate agreement. But with one day left to go, is that enough – can we call it a success? The pact is a top-bottom approach; it’s an international agreement […]
You know something is down when the most important climate change event in history is sponsored by fossil fuel companies.
A very ambitious initiative could make Africa the cleanest continent – Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) an African-led plan to add 10,000 MW of additional renewable energy on the continent by 2020, has received over $10 billion in funding from international sources at COP21. The mega-scale initiative wants to develop all sectors of African renewable energy by […]
Emissions flatlined in 2014 -- the first time in 15 years. There is still hope!
Researchers from the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment claim that plants aren't keeping up with CO2 levels.
With only three days left from the Paris Climate Summit, the time for populist talks has passed, and we're expecting concrete solutions.
An undercover investigation exposed how fossil fuel companies pay off academics to publish research sowing doubt about climate change and promote corporate interests.
While the climate talks in Paris are carrying on in full force, it’s important to keep in mind that most of climate change isn’t actually affecting the ones causing it. The polar regions, the south Pacific and small islands are the ones suffering the most. The governments of Nunavut (Canada) and Greenland (Denmark) and the Inuit […]
“I don’t give a damn if we agree about climate change” – this is how a post on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Facebook page opened up yesterday, one day before his talk at the COP21 climate summit. Fighting for climate We don’t have the time to debate and convince everyone, as every day, as 19,000 people die from […]
Elon Musk - involved with cutting-edge tech companies like Tesla, SpaceX and Solar city - told youngsters gathered at an event at the University of Sorbonne, Paris that carbon pricing would accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to a renewable energy economy.
The climate talks in Paris have so far been surprisingly consistent and on track – right now, we’ve learned that the first draft for a global climate agreement is out! This unprecedented meeting has just yielded its first concrete results, and while there are still many brackets which mean that many things are still debatable, […]
Should dirty energy companies have a voice in climate talks? Can government figures, known to receive money from the oil and gas industry, be trusted to represent the best interests of the planet over those of the people that fund their campaigns? That was one of the key points that today's conference on great polluters debated on.
Today, at a press conference at COP21, a panel of scientists and chairmen from the IPCC said that they never suggested one or the other figures as a baseline for averting climate change. "The 2 degree goal is a political figure, not generated by scientific reports," the panel warned.
82 artists joined hands to create 600 artworks - modified ads placed around Pars to protest greenwashing done by the corporations involved in the climate summit.
As China’s cities struggle with smog more and more, one man has started an interesting project to raise awareness: he wandered the streets of Beijing with a vacuum cleaner gathering smog and turned it into a brick. Meet “Nut Brother,” a 34-year-old artist and activist from Shenzhen. Of course, he understands vacuuming smog will do nothing to change […]
Some 2,440 new coal fired plants are expected to come online by 2030 in eight countries like India, China, Indonesia and the European Union. Combined with already existing plants, their emissions make averting 2 degrees of warming past industrial levels impossible, and the respective countries' national pledges aimed at curbing emissions - the so-called INDCs - now sound completely ridiculous.
More than 500 institutions representing over $3.4 trillion chose to divest away from fossil fuels, $800 million of which only in the past 10 weeks.
While most of the world is trying to reach a climate agreement that would help preserve our planet’s climate for future generations, some of the US presidential candidates just don’t get it – or don’t want to get it. Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus (97% of climate scientists), despite obvious effects and forecasts, and despite […]
Warning alert: this will be extremely annoying for Republicans, Democrats, women, men, children… and pretty much anyone with common sense. While the whole world is trying to settle its differences and finally reach a climate agreement for the future of the planet, Donald Trump is being… Donald Trump. What is Obama thinking? A video posted […]
Climate change and agriculture are so interrelated that you basically can't talk about addressing climate change without bringing agriculture into the mix. At COP21, the climate summit in Paris, governments, NGOs and private entities joined hands to announce several initiatives focusing on some of the most pressing issues in agriculture: soils in agriculture, the livestock sector, food losses and waste, and sustainable production methods and resilience of farmers.
President Obama voiced his concerns that any agreement made in Paris, COP21 will be ineffective if it lacks the force of treaties.
A report released by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found we are beyond the peak of coal consumption and demand. Effectively, the demand for coal has virtually dropped all over the world with few exceptions, most notably India. The news suggests we're well on our way to leave coal behind for good, and never turn back. Replacing coal are more efficient and energy friendly measures,including renewable energy, nuclear and gas.
According to a NY Times/CBS poll two out of three Americans support the signing of a global climate pact, but only one in five agrees to increasing taxes on electricity
A possible game changer – 120 country alliance spearheaded by India and supported by France has been announced, with the purpose of promoting solar energy in developing countries. Many developing countries enjoy sun-rich areas, but they lack the technology and financial capabilities to make full use of that potential. With that in mind, India’s prime […]
Four European countries, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, have announced a new $500 million initiative to fight climate change, especially in developing countries. The entire initiative is supported by the World Bank. “We want to help developing countries find a credible pathway toward low carbon development,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “This initiative is […]
Bill Gates and 27 other billionaires with a collective net worth of $350 billion have joined forces to launch the biggest private climate fund in history. The multi-billion dollar fund, called the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, will focus on cutting edge research and development to accelerate the growth of renewable energy and other sustainable technologies.
The eyes of the world are set on Paris, as the COP21 climate summit started today with the ambitious goal of achieving a legally binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world. But while this dance sometimes paces close to the impossible, there are also reasons to be optimistic: world leaders […]
The wealthiest man in the world, Bill Gates, will announce on Monday a massive private-government partnership for a new clean energy research fund. This is reportedly the biggest research and development fund for clean energy ever, which will funnel billions to support innovation in this section. The precise details of the multi-billion partnership will be revealed once with the opening of the United Nations conference on climate change in Paris.
