Climate Science

Canada probably didn’t NEED that ice sheet, right?

If you thought you were melting over the summer, just be glad you're not an ice sheet that's been chilling out since before Europeans settled in Canada. Over the summer, two huge Canadian ice shelves in the Arctic shrunk down precipitously, report scientists from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. One sheet had already split into two sections and just kept getting smaller; the other broke in half this year. Icebergs are breaking away and "pose a risk to offshore oil facilities and potentially to shipping lanes," reports the Associated Press. "Since the end of July, pieces equaling one and a half times to the size of Manhattan Island have broken off."

This is not normal behavior for an ice shelf this large and old, says the AP:

Critical List: MIT recreates photosynthesis; City of Austin goes 100 percent renewable

MIT created an "artificial leaf" that recreates photosynthesis.

In Germany, they've got so much wind-generated electricity, they’re giving it away.

Driving 75 mph isn't fuel efficient, ahem, Maine.

Austin's going to be the largest local government using only renewable energy to power its municipal buildings.

Wrestling baby bears stop traffic

This is why we have national parks, people: So there's one place in the country where "share the road" means "stop your damn car so baby bears can have a little tussle."

China may emit more carbon per person than U.S. by 2017

China is now the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, but its per-capita emissions are still less than those of the average U.S. citizen. In six years, that could flip, says a new report from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency that was sponsored by the European Commission. Current U.S. per-capita emissions are 16.9 […]

Company that created Alaskan ‘dead zone’ has to pay to clean it up

Dumping buckets of fish guts into the ocean turns out not to be so good for the ecosystems involved. Basically, the more dead fish you put in the water, the fewer live fish can survive there. Off the coast of Alaska, one seafood processor has created "a massive wasteland of fish guts about 50 acres or more … a dead zone."

The processor, Seattle-based Trident, now has to pay $30 to 40 million to clean up its mess (plus, stop dumping so many damn fish innards into the sea). 

Do Australian lorikeets have a drinking problem or a mysterious disease problem?

Red-collared lorikeets—a type of parrot—show up every year in Australia acting like they've been hitting the fermented fruit juice a little too hard. Locals report symptoms like "falling over" and "difficulty flying" and "running into things" and "act[ing] friendlier than normal," which will be familiar to anyone who’s ever gone to college. (Don’t ask about “difficulty flying.” That was a bad night.)

Ok, but less funny ...

Colbert: 'I know global warming is real, folks'

When everyone's favorite fake Tea Partier acknowledges the reality of climate change, maybe we're getting somewhere.

Critical List: Nebraskans ‘debate’ Keystone XL; Yellowstone temps could rise 10 degrees

Are Nebraskans really “split” over the Keystone XL pipeline, as Canada’s ambassador says? Sounds like a whole lot them know what they want, which is not tar-sands oil running through their state.

Homeowners who want solar panels but don’t want to pay a $30,000 installation cost could start paying utility bills to Google instead.

The EPA’s pushing back the deadline for releasing fuel efficiency rules.

The U.K. could have commercial tidal power within the next four years.

Climate Dog voting

I'm impressed: You guys really brought it. The competition was fierce. The paws are tired. But I've finally narrowed down the finalists. Now it's time to pick some winners.

Fareed Zakaria, Daniel Yergin, and the elite disdain for clean energy deployment

In the New York Times Book Review, Fareed Zakaria has a review of Daniel Yergin's new book, "The Quest," that reads like a capsule summary of current elite conventional wisdom on energy.