Climate Climate & Energy

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  • The EPA ignored internal non-expert comments cut-and-pasted from anti-science deniers

    Many of the top climate scientists in the world issued a major synthesis report reviewing the scientific literature since the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4).  They found “greenhouse gas emissions and many aspects of the climate are changing near the upper boundary of the IPCC range of projections.”  In short, actual observations show things […]

    Joseph Romm Climate & Energy

  • Study finds “mass biodiversity collapse” at 900 ppm

    In 2007, the IPCC warned that “as global average temperature increase exceeds about 3.5°C [relative to 1980 to 1999], model projections suggest significant extinctions (40-70% of species assessed) around the globe.”  On our current emissions path, we will warm far more than that this century, which suggests we risk the high end of species loss. […]

    Joseph Romm Climate & Energy

  • Calif. Audubon: Putting birders to work to build a case for climate action

    The following essay was written by William B. Monahan, Senior GIS Scientist with Audubon California. The Yellow-billed Magpie’s native habitat in California is threatened by climate change.Alison Sheehey / California Audubon SocietyThey traipse through forest, grass and wetland, through mud, rain and even snow. They carry binoculars and take careful notes of everything they see. […]

    Grist staff Climate & Energy

  • Twenty ideas that could save the world

    Ask Chris Rapley, the ebullient physicist and director of the Science Museum in London, why he seems more sanguine about our prospects of taming climate change than many of his peers, and he’ll tell you about the day he first toured the museum’s library and archives. Surrounded by the thousands of designs and patent applications […]

    The Guardian Climate & Energy

  • West Virginia redefines dirty energy as “alternative”

    When you hear the phrase “alternative energy,” what comes to mind? Solar power? Wind? Hydroelectric? Not for West Virginia’s political leaders. They think a little differently. In the recent legislative session, Gov. Joe Manchin (D) championed and state lawmakers approved an energy portfolio standard bill requiring 25% of generation to come from “alternative and renewable” […]

    Sue Sturgis Climate & Energy

  • If you want a revolution, start with a clean energy one

    It was about five years ago. I was talking with a radical friend about my then-recent personal decision to prioritize work on the climate crisis. I had done so after the European heat wave in the summer of 2003 that led to 30,000 or more deaths. This catastrophe jolted me into serious study about the […]

    Ted Glick Climate & Energy

  • The Climate Post: L’Aquila, the Senate, and shrinking sheep

    First Things First: Conflicting early reports obscured events at a major international summit in L’Aquila, Italy. The Group of Eight has apparently resolved to cut greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, but disagreed on thorny “mid-term targets,” to be reached by 2020 or so. And key players, such as the United States, have no […]

    Eric Roston Climate & Energy

  • On the legality of feed-in tariffs in the US

    For the past year we’ve been involved in a proceeding before the California Public Utilities Commission on an effort to establish a feed-in tariff, or standard offer contracting program for renewables.  We believe it can be a healthy complement to the state’s other renewable energy programs—i.e. the California Solar Incentive for behind-the-meter generation, and the […]

    Adam Browning Climate & Energy

  • So what is carbon anyway?

    This is an excerpt from the book The Carbon Age: How Life’s Core Element Has Become Civilization’s Greatest Threat, newly released in paperback. Carbon is all over the news, but what is it?“You will be astonished when I tell you what this curious play of carbon amounts to.” — Michael Faraday Welcome to the Carbon […]

    Eric Roston Climate & Energy

  • The Carbon Logic Problem Statement

    An acclaimed mountaineer, a Baptist minister and a distinguished economist were stuck in a pit. The mountain climber said, “Stand back boys, I’ll have us out in a jiffy,” but the walls of the pit were loose shale and she couldn’t gain purchase. Then the minster raised his arms high and in a deep sonorous […]

    Ken Ward Climate & Energy