Climate Climate & Energy

Quick, Hide the Mung Beans

Unexpected levels of human-caused methane could mean trouble A rise in human-caused methane emissions — a phrase that certainly does not make us giggle — has been masked by a decline in natural methane releases, says a new report in Nature. Atmospheric concentrations of methane, less abundant than carbon dioxide but 20 times greenhouse-gassier, have […]

Overfishing, global warming causing increases in jellyfish populations

Ahoy, me hearties! Me hopes ye've now recovered from Talk Like a Pirate Day. Turned out to be a jolly good time here at Grist HQ aboard me ship -- a good lot of pirate jokes and a few noggins o' rum and me timbers were shivered, if ye know what I mean.

Well, this week mateys, me post was inspired by the maritime adventures of a coworker shipmate during his travels in Cabo. Apparently, after a dip in the refreshing waters, his partner started to develop a large welt -- likely from a jellyfish floating stealthily nearby. The anecdote led me to mention how jellyfish had ruined many a day at the beaches where I grew up and how I thought populations were increasing due to warmer waters in recent years. Read: global warming. So I did a bit of research to find out if this is, in fact, true.

The connection

In the spirit of pissing off friends and foes alike, let me make the following three claims:

• Global warming is already affecting hurricane intensity, and will only do so more in coming years;
• the Bush administration is actively attempting to hide this fact from the public;
• the connection between hurricanes and global warming is not, contra conventional activist wisdom, a good argument for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

The Quality of Commerce Is Strain’d

Nature charges that Commerce Department blocked climate-change report The Commerce Department blocked a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report indicating that climate change contributes to stronger hurricanes, the journal Nature reported yesterday. In February, a seven-member NOAA panel was directed to prepare a report on agency views regarding climate change and hurricanes, and a draft […]

Anyone Got an Extra PFD?

Earth nearing warmest point in a million years, may see rougher El Niños The earth is the warmest it has been in the last 12,000 years and is within 1.8 degrees of its highest average temperature in the past million years, scientists report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The global surface […]

When Teshekpuk Comes to Shove

Sensitive Alaska wetlands spared from drilling plan — for now In good news for conservationists, the Department of Interior has announced willingness to exclude the sensitive Teshekpuk Lake wetlands from a region of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska that it wants to open to oil and natural-gas drilling. The move has little to do with concern […]

Worth about $20 million per word

Eliciting gasps and goosebumps at a press conference this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative in midtown Manhattan, Richard Branson, CEO of the mega-conglomerate Virgin Group, announced a commitment to invest a staggering $3 billion toward solving climate change, focusing his investments on developing biofuels and other oil alternatives. The transcript of his public vow follows:

I Say Good Day to You, Sir

Brit scientists tell Exxon to stop the poppycock and folderol In a highly unusual move, Britain’s top scientific body earlier this month sent a letter to ExxonMobil — since leaked to the press — calling on the oil giant to stop lying … er, misrepresenting the science of climate change, and to stop funding other […]

What the Fuqua?

Emails show that Bush administration micromanaged scientist interviews Emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that the Bush administration micromanaged media requests for interviews with climate scientists after Hurricane Katrina, aiming to downplay the influence of global warming. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration press officers were required to get clearance from the Dept. […]

Chagrin and Bear It

Melting sea ice makes polar bears starve, drown Travel agents hawking trips to the Arctic have been boasting lately of an increased likelihood that tourists will see polar bears — because starving bears are encroaching on human settlements to scavenge for food. Polar bears have traditionally used ice floes to hunt seals, their favored prey […]