Climate Climate & Energy

Sol Train

Spain makes solar panels on new homes mandatory Hoping to catch up to solar powerhouse Germany, sunny Spain has announced that as of next year, solar panels will become mandatory on new and renovated buildings. The government is shooting for a tenfold increase in the total square footage of solar panels by 2010. Domestic solar […]

Undercooked Marburger

Study finds effects of global warming across America Despite alarming studies about the consequences of climate change across the globe — the latest, just last week, documents massive changes in Arctic geography and wildlife — U.S. citizens remain curiously unconcerned about the issue. Perhaps a new report from the Pew Center for Global Climate Change […]

Where There’s Heat, There’s Fire

Massive forest fires may be caused by global warming The massive forest fires that have ravaged the American West in recent years may be caused by global warming, according to a new study in the journal Nature. The Bush administration has argued that the fires are unnatural, caused by overgrown forest ground cover, and more […]

The Powell and the Glory

Lake Powell is drying up; Glen Canyon is coming back Lake Powell is dropping by a foot every four days, thanks to ongoing drought in the West — and many enviros couldn’t be happier about it. Veteran conservation leader David Brower called the completion of Glen Canyon dam in 1963, and the subsequent drowning of […]

Faster, Pussycat! Krill! Krill!

Food web unraveling in Antarctic, thanks to global warming Krill, the shrimp-like crustaceans at the center of the Antarctic food chain, are rapidly disappearing, and scientists suspect global warming may be the culprit. In some key ocean regions, krill have declined by more than 80 percent in the last 25 years, according to a study […]

Windbalkers

Wind farms ignite controversy in Scotland and California A proposal to build the world’s biggest on-shore wind farm on Scotland’s rugged Isle of Lewis is triggering a pitched battle. Lewis Wind Power, a joint venture between British Energy and construction group AMEC, claims the project would create hundreds of jobs and generate enough electricity to […]

It’s gettin’ hot in herre

The New York Times editorial page took the Bushies to task yesterday for ignoring and distorting science on climate change, echoing accusations made by NASA's top-dog climatologist, Jim Hansen.

Speaking in Iowa last week, Hansen castigated the Bush administration for its failure to face up to facts and act, and he "said that he had been instructed by Sean O'Keefe, administrator of [NASA], not to discuss publicly the human contribution to global warming," the Times writes. The editorial continues:

[T]his administration has a depressing history of discouraging robust discourse on climate change. ...

The net result is that while most of the industrialized world has ratified the Kyoto agreement, and committed itself in general terms to mandatory cuts of carbon emissions, America is saddled with a passive strategy of further research and voluntary reductions.

Dr. Hansen said he knew he was risking his credibility and possibly his job by criticizing Mr. Bush in the final days of the campaign, but had decided -- properly so, in our view -- that the risks of silence were greater.

Find more background here.

I Had a Gas Station in Africa …

Unleaded gas making inroads in African countries — finally Years after leaded gas was given the heave-ho in developed countries, a number of African nations are beginning the process of shifting to unleaded. Leaded gas — or rather, the lead spewed into the air when it is combusted — has been shown to lower IQs […]

The Polar Excess

Comprehensive new study confirms that global warming is devastating Arctic For the handful of people left in the world who don’t yet believe it, a comprehensive new study should remove all doubt that the Arctic is being ravaged by global warming. The four-year study, commissioned by eight nations with Arctic territory (including the U.S.), was […]

The Lion Shall Lie Down With the Dam

Bush administration tweaks dam regulations to favor industry The Bush administration has just proposed a regulatory change that would grant the hydropower industry exclusive rights to appeal Interior Department rulings on dam licensing and operation — and deny those rights to states, Indian tribes, and environmental groups. Many privately owned dams, built before laws protecting […]