Latest Articles

China announces ban on super-thin plastic bags, fees for others

China has announced a ban on super-thin plastic bags in the country as well as a fee for other plastic bags, both beginning on June 1. The ban was prompted by the usual plastic-bag concerns of rampant unsightly litter and the wasted resources used to produce it all. “Our country consumes huge amounts of plastic […]

U.S. Supreme Court refuses Canadian company’s pollution suit appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from a Canadian mining company in a cross-border pollution case, in effect sustaining an earlier appeals court ruling holding the company liable for pollution under U.S. law. Just 10 miles north of the U.S. border in British Columbia, the mining company Teck Cominco has been […]

Green job planning for 2008

It’s a whole new year! A fresh canvas to paint on. The first page of the brilliant adventure story that will be your green career in 2008. An endless progression of dreary days with that pathetic guy in the next cubicle who spends half his time complaining and the other half in loud personal conversations […]

Hansen v. coal

PRE-PUBLISHING UPDATE: After I wrote this but before I posted it, I got an email from Grist reader CD notifying me of the sad news that Mass.’s gov approved the coal gasification plant. Decisions like this are going to look awfully stupid in a few years. —– I meant to mention this last week, but […]

Tourism and carbon neutrality

This story is critical -- another datum showing that the global jet travel binge is both global suicide and homicide all at once, complete with pre-flight thuggery from the TSA* and a side dish of helping-promote-coal-to-liquids on the side (there was another story today about the U.S. (Ch)Air Force's new plan for dealing with peak oil: burn liquified coal / natural gas mixtures).

Ford Motor Co. unveils greener engine

Ford Motor Co. has unveiled a new engine technology with the unsubtle name of EcoBoost. Ford folks say the engine, which comes in both four-cylinder and six-cylinder, will deliver up to 20 percent better fuel economy, reduce CO2 emissions by 15 percent, pay for itself in fuel savings in less than three years, and, of […]

U.S. EPA blocks California emissions waiver, judge restricts U.S. Navy’s sonar use, and more

Read the news items highlighted in this week’s podcast: Iowa Hearts Huckabee — and Obama Too Win, Lose, and Law EPA: Nay Runaway Sue Doing the Humpty Dance Hey, You Got Your Naval Pierced Read the articles mentioned at the end of the podcast: Rice Versa Do They Suck? In With the New

Streets of Naples fill with garbage, Italian army called in

The ongoing trash problem in Naples, Italy, has become so bad that the Italian army has been called in to bulldoze piles of rubbish that were blocking entry to city schools. Garbage collection stopped more than two weeks ago, for the simple reason that all of the area dumps are full to overflowing. The city […]

An interview with Andrew Rice, the Democrat challenging GOP Sen. James Inhofe

Andrew Rice. No national politician has done more to antagonize the environmental community than James Inhofe, Republican senator from Oklahoma. As chair of the Senate Environment Committee in the last Congress, and now as its ranking minority member, he has waged war on environmental legislation and acted as a one-man firewall stopping efforts to address […]

Climate skeptics claim no warming since 1998

Honestly, if anyone tells you "For nearly a decade now, there has been no global warming" -- as this Boston Globe columnist has -- they simply are not interested in seriously trying to understand and deal with the gravest problem facing humanity. They deserve the label "global warming denier" for willfully trying to confuse the public debate.

Let's look at the data, from NASA, presented last month (PDF):

Through the first 11 months, 2007 is the second warmest year in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005, in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) analysis. The unusual warmth in 2007 is noteworthy because it occurs at a time when solar irradiance is at a minimum and the equatorial Pacific Ocean has entered the cool phase of its natural El Niño -- La Niña cycle.

Yes, in some global datasets -- not NASA's, however -- 1998 is still the peak year because that year we had global warming plus the warm phase of the natural El Niño-La Niña cycle. But guess what, deniers? Climate change is about a change in the "climate." A single year doesn't make the climate, that's why people use a running average -- in order to show the trend. Duh!

NASA points out: