Climate Science
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Possibly the greatest use of an infographic ever
“Need to prove something you already believe? Statistics are easy: All you need are two graphs and a leading question,” reads possibly the greatest infographic ever, created by Vali Chandrasekaran for Businessweek. Do yourself a favor, strap on your skeptic helmet and click through for the full experience.
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Critical List: EPA releases draft fracking report; Gingrich’s new climate change book
The EPA released a draft of its fracking report and found chemical contamination in a gas field well. The draft summary says that "EPA is concerned about the movement of contaminants within the aquifer and the safety of drinking water wells over time." The U.S. got a little warm and fuzzy about a climate roadmap […]
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The brutal logic of climate change mitigation
In my last post, I discussed a new peer-reviewed paper by climate scientists Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows. It paints a grim picture: The commonly accepted threshold of climate “safety,” 2 degrees C [3.6 degrees F] temperature rise over pre-industrial levels, is now properly considered extremely dangerous; even 2 degrees C is drifting out of […]
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Durban dispatch: U.S. takes ‘recourse to nonsense’
It’s just a guidepost, guys. No need to panic.Photo: US Mission GenevaCross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. China limits commitments This week, China’s top climate envoy said that the nation would be open to signing a formal treaty limiting emissions after 2020 — but laid down conditions for doing so that are unlikely ever to be met. […]
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Bear bile farming is just as bad as it sounds
Animal welfare foundation Animals Asia has just rescued 14 moon bears, which had been farmed and abused for a substance produced in their gall bladders. Gah. People are willing to perpetrate some real atrocities on animals in order to get valuable commodities — rhino horns, elephant ivory, tiger parts. But man, once you start doing […]
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Watch a time-lapse image of 2011’s crazy weather
Sure, we all know 2011's weather was bananapants, but just how banana WERE those pants? The Natural Resources Defense Council has put together an interactive map showing all the record weather events from the last year. The map shows record snowfalls, record rainfalls, record high and low temperatures, and the affected range from disastrous events […]
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The young and the restless: Kids sue government over climate change
As the U.S. delegation drags its feet at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa, this week, a pack of kids back home is trying to force the old folks into action, the American way: They’re suing the bastards. In May, a group of young people, led by 17-year-old Alec Loorz (founder of Kids vs. […]
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Polar bears may be driven to cannibalism by climate change
If you watch nature shows, you know that male bears see cubs as tasty little McNuggets with fur, so it's not like one bear eating another is a big deal. Except that in the Arctic, polar bears are increasingly deprived of the sea ice they rely on to access seals and other tasty mammalian treats. […]
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Critical List: Same old U.S. and China at COP talks; Warren Buffett’s solar farm
At the COP talks, the United States is driving all the other countries crazy. The U.S. response: "What, us?" China's conditions for a climate deal include the demand that it and other growing economies would have to meet different standards than rich countries. So, essentially, nothing has changed. Warren Buffett's buying Topaz Solar Farm, a […]
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Walmart spends big to help anti-environment candidates
In 2006, Walmart made headlines when its vice president for corporate strategy and sustainability, Andrew Ruben, told a congressional committee that the company “would accept a well-designed mandatory cap-and-trade system for greenhouse gases.” Other major U.S. companies had spoken favorably of cap-and-trade, but Walmart made a bigger splash. Not only was it America’s second-largest corporation; […]
