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+2 +1
Like fruit, vegetables, and almonds? Scientists have bad news.
So far, this winter has brought ample snows to the Sierra Nevada, the spine of mountains that runs along California’s eastern flank. That’s good news for Californians, because the range’s melted snow provides 60 percent of the state’s water supply. Anyone in the United States who likes fruit, vegetables, and nuts should rejoice, too, because water flowing from the Sierra’s streams and rivers is the main irrigation source for farms in the arid Central Valley, which churns out nearly a quarter of the food consumed here.
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+19 +5
Ancient Baobab trees in Southern Africa are dying. Scientists blame climate change
Driving beyond South Africa's Limpopo province, into the village of Chivadini, people and grassland are scarce. But the oldest living organisms in Africa -- baobab trees -- are abundant. These spectral behemoths blend into the Saharan countryside and have been an icon of the African savannah since millennia. As the oldest seed producing trees in the world, their resilience -- some are more than 2,000 years old -- have earned them many names in myths, legends and folklore.
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+25 +3
States make climate policies a 2019 priority
Despite federal climate policy rollbacks, governors and cities have decided to take up the mantel on climate leadership. Nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C. announced that they will move forward with a plan that prioritizes clean transportation and ambitious climate goals.
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+26 +5
The case for "conditional optimism" on climate change
Is there any hope on climate change, or are we just screwed? I hear this question all the time. When people find out what I do for a living, it is generally the first thing they ask. I never have a straightforward or satisfying answer, so I usually dodge it, but in recent years it has come up more and more often. So let’s tackle it head on. In this post, I will lay out the case for pessimism and the case for (cautious) optimism, pivoting off a new series of papers from leading climate economists.
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+22 +2
'Climate grief': The growing emotional toll of climate change
When the U.N. released its latest climate report in October, it warned that without “unprecedented” action, catastrophic conditions could arrive by 2040. For Amy Jordan, 40, of Salt Lake City, a mother of three teenage children, the report caused a “crisis.” “The emotional reaction of my kids was severe,” she told NBC News. “There was a lot of crying. They told me, 'We know what’s coming, and it’s going to be really rough.’ “
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+26 +7
Climate Activist, 15, Tells Leaders They're Too Immature to Act
At 15, Greta Thunberg has many decades of living with the effects of climate change ahead of her—and she doesn't want to tell her grandchildren she didn't try to stop it. At an address to the United Nations COP24 conference in Poland last week, the Swedish activist accused world leaders of stealing the future of her generation and said they weren't mature enough to act, CNN reports. "You say you love your children above all else and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes," she told the conference, which was attended by delegates from 190 countries.
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+19 +3
Leonardo DiCaprio raises a whopping $100 million to fight climate change
Is there anything he can't do? Leonardo DiCaprio has proved there’s nothing he can’t do by raising a whopping $100 million (£79 million) to fight climate change. He’s a good egg all round. The Titanic actor, who founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to increase awareness about climate change, wrote in a statement: ‘When I founded LDF 20 years ago, I did so based on the simple idea that we could make a real difference by directly funding some of the most effective environmental projects.
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+28 +1
Rising Waters Are Drowning Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor
By the middle of this century, climate change may punch a hole through the bottom half of the Northeast Corridor.
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+20 +3
Carbon labeling can reduce greenhouse gases even if it doesn’t change consumer behavior
In a new commentary piece published Dec. 18 in Nature Climate Change, Michael Vandenbergh, David Daniels Allen Distinguished Professor of Law and director of the Climate Change Research Network, examines how carbon labeling can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in a variety of ways. The article, “From Myths to Action,” is coauthored by Kristian Steensen Nielsen of the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark and comments on recent research by Adrian R. Camilleri and colleagues.
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+35 +4
As Seas Warm, Galápagos Islands Face a Giant Evolutionary Test
Climate change is ravaging the natural laboratory that inspired Darwin. The creatures here are on the brink of crisis.
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+11 +2
Climate Change and the Limits of Reason
Humankind is a runaway project. With a world population of more than 7.3 billion, we are a Malthusian plague species. This is not a condemnation or indictment, nor some kind of ironic boast. It is an observable fact. The evidence is now overwhelming that we stand at a crossroads of history and of natural history, of nature and our own nature.
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+18 +2
This City Already Shows What Life Will Be Like in a World Heated by Climate Change
It's become more clear than ever this year that climate change is very real and that we are already seeing the effects.
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+14 +3
Using archaeology to understand the past, present, future of climate change
A photo from the tragic "Camp Fire," the most destructive wildfire in California history, shows a house burned down to its foundation. Such images are difficult to process, particularly with 86 people dead. The image got me thinking about what archaeological research can tell us about about disasters and climate change. As an archaeologist, I seek to answer questions about the choices we make, and the things we own and love.
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+15 +3
Another Major Investor Joins World Bank In Dropping Support For Coal
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has dropped its support for coal. The World Bank signaled an intent to pivot away from coal in 2013 but continued work on a project in Kosovo that was only recently shelved. Like most major European nations, the EBRD’s new energy strategy also includes ample investment in natural gas plants as an alternative to delivering large, centralized power generation capacity. It’s support for gas, however, will only happen “where it is consistent with a low-carbon transition that is both secure and affordable”.
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+18 +2
Climate Negotiators Reach an Overtime Deal to Keep Paris Pact Alive
The deal puts in place detailed implementation rules, but analysts said it was now up to individual countries to honor their commitments.
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+3 +1
Failure to tackle warming 'suicidal'
The UN secretary-general has warned negotiators at a major meeting that failing to increase efforts on climate change would be "not only immoral but suicidal" for the planet. Antonio Guterres has flown back to Poland to try and push COP24 to a successful conclusion. At the UN talks, a group of countries have said they will enhance their climate plans before 2020.
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+8 +1
Did climate change cause the
The worst mass extinction in known history happened 250 million years ago, wiping out an astonishing 96% of all marine life. Scientists have offered many theories on how this could have happened, from meteors to volcanoes–but a research team may have finally cracked the code, and it doesn’t bode well for our own future. Charlie brings in a paper that takes a grim dive into the world’s most lethal time period.
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+10 +2
'Hi, I'm Rosa, I'm 14, and I'm worried for my generation'
"My name is Rosa Anders. I’m 14 years old and I am afraid for my generation. I am afraid of the environmental chaos climate change will bring and how it will impact me and my peers' lives. I’m just a teenager so I don’t have the solutions to these major world problems, but I believe part of it lies in individual actions.
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+23 +3
East Antarctica glacial stronghold melting as seas warm
Nasa detects ice retreat probably linked to ocean changes in region once thought stable
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+35 +4
‘Carbon removal is now a thing’: Radical fixes get a boost at climate talks
Despite technological and cost hurdles, experts say that pulling carbon dioxide from the air is essential.
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