In every election the presidential candidates are forced to make a bold statement, one way or the other, on the environment. And since this blog is focused on sustainability their positions are an important topic. Here are three of them – climate change, renewable energy, and the EPA – from the Yale School of Forestry …
Continue reading “Obama vs Romney – on climate change, renewable energy, and the EPA”
From a Calgary Herald report: “The Holy Grail is figuring out how to get the public engaged on this issue. The problem is that the typical output of climate studies is statistical information that’s impenetrable to most people,” said Karen Akerlof. “If you can help people feel they’ve actually experienced what’s happening, they may be able to …
Continue reading “Climate change is now an acceptable conversation topic”
If you thought this summer was warm, so did everybody else, from USA Today: While the USA sweated through one of its warmest summers on record, so, too, did the rest of the globe. “Considering global land surfaces only, June – Aug. 2012 was record warm, at 1.85 degrees above average.” Only the summers of …
This animation shows the 2012 time-series of ice extent. The black area represents the daily average (median) sea ice from 1979-2000. Layered over are the daily satellite measurements from January 1 — September 14, 2012. A rapid melt begins in July, whereby the 2012 ice extents fall far below the historical average. This …
Continue reading “Video: North Pole shrinks to record levels, could be gone in 4 years”
The EPA is reporting the wrong information on global warming and I want them to get it right. The information they publish becomes the gold standard and is reported in the media, covered on TV, and published all across the web. It reaches the eyes and ears of a majority of Americans, and so why are they …
Continue reading “The EPA is screwing up the discussion on global warming”
I hate the doom-and-gloom focus of global warming. For an issue that asks people to make big changes, there couldn’t be a worse message. And so I’m proud to present another piece good news: As our economy grows we are lowering our emissions (blue lines) As our population our emissions are remaining steady or decreasing …
Continue reading “Good news – United States greenhouse gas emissions are declining (graph)”
CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years, and government officials say the biggest reason is that cheap and plentiful natural gas has led many power plant operators …
Continue reading “The United States continues to go green – CO2 emissions near 1990 levels”
The term ‘carbon sink’ is becoming more common as we all gain the scientific education needed to deal with climate change and global warming. According to Wikipedia, carbon sinks can be both natural and artificial. Both involve the process of absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is called carbon sequestration. The main natural carbon …
Continue reading “Our carbon sinks are absorbing twice as much carbon dioxide as they used to”
The 2011-12 rainy season — which ran from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 — has come to an end with less than impressive numbers, according to figures compiled by the National Weather Service. None of the six key sights where the weather service records long term precipitation reported above average rainfall. San Diego …
Continue reading “Southern California ends rainy season in a drought – El Niño possibly coming”
“This is what global warming looks like at the regional or personal level,” said Jonathan Overpeck, professor of geosciences and atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona. “The extra heat increases the odds of worse heat waves, droughts, storms and wildfire. This is certainly what I and many other climate scientists have been warning about.” …