Climate Climate & Energy

Conclusions of ‘hockey stick’ graph stand up to further scrutiny

The infamous “hockey stick” graph, which shows the northern hemisphere beginning to rapidly warm around the industrial age, has been backed up by new research. Michael Mann, who helped develop the 1998 graph that climate skeptics love to hate, is the lead author of the new study to be published in the Proceedings of the […]

The unbearable cost of high gas prices

Oil platforms off La. fare OK under hurricane; wetlands, not so much

Louisiana’s people and property fared better under Hurricane Gustav than had been feared, but acres of valuable wetlands were likely irrevocably destroyed. “The last thing on anyone’s mind during a hurricane is how the wetlands are going to do,” says activist Aaron Giles. But since happy and healthy wetlands act as storm barriers, “wetlands are […]

Aid agencies offer carbon offsets aimed at helping poor adapt to climate change

Aid agencies and environmental groups, including UNICEF, Greenpeace, CARE International, and others, partnered up recently to introduce new carbon offsets aimed at reducing carbon emissions while also helping the poor adapt to climate change. The voluntary carbon-offset market is worth some $330 million and is likely to grow even more as consumers in rich countries […]

Will Gustav be the next Katrina?

On August 23, 2005, a tropical depression formed 175 miles southeast of Nassau. By the next day, it had grown into tropical storm Katrina and was intensifying rapidly. Early in the evening on August 25, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near North Miami Beach. Even though it was only a Category 1 storm, with sustained wind […]

London mayor releases plan for adapting to climate change

London Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled a draft plan Friday to help the city mitigate and adapt to climate change. Johnson put special attention to water conservation, calling for mandatory metering, increased efficiency, improved drainage, and rainwater harvesting. He also envisions more trees and green space. Environmentalists said the adaptation strategy was a good step, but […]

Arctic ice in a ‘death spiral’ as it hits second-lowest point ever

Summer sea-ice melt in the Arctic is already the second-meltiest since satellite records began, and by the end of the melt season in mid-September, this year could surpass the all-time record low set last year, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. For the second time ever — the first being […]

Former Energy Secretary Federico Pena talks to Grist about energy, climate, and security

[vodpod id=Video.16318322&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] We interviewed former Energy Secretary Federico Peña shortly after his Tuesday night convention speech on energy, the economy, and security. Peña was secretary of transportation from 1993 to 1997, then secretary of energy from 1997 to 1998, under President Bill Clinton:

Grist tries (unsuccessfully) to find out Rep. John Dingell’s climate and energy plans

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) spoke yesterday at an event sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation — “I Fish, I Hunt, I Vote Conservation” — where he talked up conservation efforts and the common ground Democrats have with sportsmen. We tried to get Dingell, who is notoriously tight-lipped, to tell us […]

Must-have slide No. 1: The narrow temperature window that gave us modern human civilization

I am starting a new feature and a new category for must-have PowerPoint slides. I’ll begin with my favorite new slide, which shows just how stable the climate has been over the 10,000-year period that allowed modern human civilization to develop and flourish (click figure for larger version): The slide is a must-have because it […]