Climate Science
All Stories
-
Survivor, endangered species edition: We decide who lives and dies
As the sixth great extinction descends on us, we have tough choices to make about which species stay and which ones get voted off the island. Nobel Peace Prize-winning biologist Terry Root has some thoughts for the jury.
-
Obama silent on climate change in big Iowa energy speech
In a speech last week, the president called on Congress to renew wind-industry tax credits, but neglected to mention “climate change” or “greenhouse gases” or even “pollution.”
-
Before Rio Earth Summit, let’s put pressure on world leaders to end fossil fuel subsidies
In 2009, world leaders promised to gradually phase out fossil fuel subsidies. It's time to give them a push in the right direction as the Rio Earth Summit approaches.
-
Help name this ridiculous baby seal
When this seal pup arrived at the New England Aquarium, he was orphaned, underweight, and blind in one eye, and his unusual mottled coat wasn’t thick enough to keep him warm. Now he’s getting healthy and adorable (you can see him playing with a toy and kicking himself in the head like an itchy dog […]
-
Sorry guys, no more Heartland Institute conferences
Denialist think tank the Heartland Institute likes to have all its besties over once a year to watch movies, braid each other’s hair, and talk about how they don’t believe in science or, when it comes down to it, really know what it is. Well, I have bad news for journalists looking for telling quotes, […]
-
The top 10 new species of 2011, including a walking cactus and Spongebob Squarepants
The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University has convened a committee of scientists to determine the 10 best newly discovered species of 2011, and some of them are doozies. Even the monkey, which by all rights should be the cute one, is a noseless Voldemortian horror — and that’s not even to […]
-
Heartland adviser: Heat waves only kill people who were basically dead already
The Guardian’s Suzanne Goldenberg is actually braving the Heartland Institute conference this week. And it’s totally worth it, because she’s coming out with quotes of horrifying callousness, like this one, from Heartland policy adviser John Dunn: “Warm is good for people, and it’s particularly good for people as they get older,” said Dunn. “The people […]
-
Giant mice are eating all the endangered baby birds
Considering all the threats facing endangered seabirds — extreme weather, pollution, oil spills — I would not guess that “giant mice” would really rate concern. But on Gough Island in the South Atlantic, 10-inch mice have been decimating Atlantic petrel populations by eating the birds’ young. This is especially bad news because Gough Island is […]
-
G8 summit might have actually done something about climate change
There’s a bit of news from the G8 summit that might have escaped notice: International leaders agreed to take collective action to decrease greenhouse-gas emissions. And pigs do fly. The agreement (which, unlike flying pigs, is real — we promise) could be “the biggest step in years in tackling climate change,” as The Telegraph’s Geoffrey […]
-
Peter Gleick did not forge Heartland documents
Before the Heartland Institute decided to alienate even right-wing denialists with their OTT billboard campaign, they were already in kind of hot water — some of their internal documents had come to light, and the light was not flattering. Climate scientist Peter Gleick admitted to obtaining the documents under false pretenses, which absolutely scandalized Heartland, […]
