Climate Climate & Energy

In the Andes Mountains, the pace of climate change is far from glacial

Even 16,500 feet in the air, perched on the steep slope of a volcano in Ecuador, French glaciologist Bernard Francou moves gracefully. Hopping among ice blocks and jagged rock debris, he stops suddenly before a boulder with blue letters painted on its surface. The thinker: Bernard Francou. Photo: Bernard Pouyaud, Ecuador Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia […]

Good As Goldman

Three Gwich’in Native Americans who battled oil development in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have been doubly rewarded for their efforts: Last week, the Senate voted to block oil drilling in the refuge, and today, the activists are being honored with this year’s Goldman Prize, the world’s biggest and most prestigious award for environmentalists. Other […]

Jeanne Genie

In the absence of federal leadership on climate change issues, New Hampshire yesterday passed a precedent-setting bill to curb global warming. The measure, which was approved 21-2 by the state Senate, was supported by a broad bipartisan coalition, the state’s largest environmental groups, and its largest utility, Public Service Company of New Hampshire. It would […]

7.7 Degrees of Separation

Two new studies on global climate change, both appearing in the latest issue of Nature, predict that the Earth will get even hotter by the end of the century than previously estimated by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One study, from Switzerland, sees a 7.7 degree Fahrenheit increase by 2100; the other, from […]

Been Caught Steeling

In an effort to rustle up enough votes to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, outspoken drilling advocate Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) tried to sweeten the deal by offering to add a bailout for steelworkers to the energy bill. But the move appears to have backfired, with Rust-Belt Democrats supporting steelworkers but […]

Logan’s Heroes

Here’s a stellar example of your tax dollars at work: Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers published an Anna Karenina-sized draft study of a proposal by Arch Coal to strip mine 3,100 acres of West Virginia. The strip mine would be the largest ever in the state, and the company has been seeking […]

Salmon Says …

Quick Study

One week after a study by the U.S. Geological Survey showed that oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could harm caribou, the agency has completed another study claiming that the drilling scenarios most likely to be approved by Congress would not affect the species. The two-page report was commissioned by Interior Secretary Gale […]

The Full Monty

In an effort to combat global warming, Great Britain has set up the world’s first national greenhouse gas emissions trading plan. Under the plan, emissions credits will be traded like any other commodity; British companies that agree to participate can directly reduce their own use of fossil fuels, or they can buy part or all […]

Foot-in-mouth Disease?

Dealing a blow to advocates of natural resource extraction in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, biologists working for the U.S. Geological Survey have produced a report finding that oil and gas drilling in the refuge could substantially threaten caribou, musk oxen, polar bears, migrating birds, and other wildlife. Although the report acknowledges that the risk […]