Climate Science

Atlas error overstates Greenland's (still significant!) ice loss

Here's the good news: Greenland did not lose 15 percent of its ice cover in the last 10 years, as the Times [Usually] Comprehensive Atlas of the World said it did. This is, in fact, really good news, since this amount of melting would raise sea levels three to five feet. The publisher, HarperCollins subsidiary Collins Geo, has retracted the 15 percent figure but says it's "reviewing" the map -- but in the meantime, a whole bunch of scientists went "whoa whoa whoa there." 

How to save rhinos and tigers: Shoot the crap out of poachers

In India's Kaziranga National Park, rhinos and tigers are thriving, because poachers are dying instead. When it comes to poachers, the park's rangers have a license to kill, and they do. It gets results:

In 2010, only five rhinos were shot in Kaziranga, while nine poachers were killed, the first time poacher deaths surpassed rhinos. (For comparison, in South Africa, where rangers fire only in self-­defense, five poachers were killed in 2010, while 333 rhinos were poached.)

These guys were breaking the law and killing endangered species. But the moral calculus here isn't so clear-cut. In the park's region, jobs are scarce. Park animals eats crops and kill farm animals, and poaching pays better than any other pursuit. Shooting poachers on sight is apparently the most effective way to conserve the park’s threatened animals, but how does that stack up against human injustice? It’s a complicated calculation.

Critical List: Wangari Maathai passes away; NASA satellite didn’t kill anyone

Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel peace prize for her work planting trees, passed away. She was the first African woman to win the prize and the first Kenyan woman to earn a Ph.D.

Around the world, thousands of people met in more than 2,000 demonstrations to rally for a Moving Planet.

That massive NASA satellite managed to plop back to earth without killing anyone.

Strong public support for EPA efforts to reduce carbon emissions

A new poll finds widespread support for the EPA requiring reductions in carbon emissions.

Save the whales, put them in the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is just sitting around making ships and planes disappear. Why not put it to work for something useful, like a whale sanctuary? Because when you want to save something, you definitely store it in a place where stuff mysteriously vanishes. That's why I keep my passport in the dryer.

Why I’m walking to Walden for Moving Planet

Thoreau wasn’t an environmentalist. That’s why he matters more than ever. Carry on his legacy of civic engagement and activism on Moving Planet day.

Critical List: Britain’s new shale gas bonanza; 48 hours in a box, with plants

British people now have a greater stake in fighting against hydrofracking: turns out their country has a lot of shale gas.

Luckily, though, they live in Europe, where gas executives admit that, at the very least, drilling should become safer.

The U.S. could be the biggest market for solar power in the world.

EIA predicts a grim future for carbon emissions

The Energy Information Administration predicts a 40 percent rise in global carbon dioxide emissions over the next 20-plus years.

Pumpkin shortage slams Northeast

If you're going to want pumpkins for this season's jack-o-lanterns, pies, horseman head substitutes, or transportation to the ball, better start stocking up now. This year's weird weather has meant a smaller pumpkin crop, and existing pumpkins are selling for much more than usual. Thanks, climate change, you buzzkill.

Global warming makes Russia militarize the Arctic

There has not traditionally been a lot of military presence in the Arctic, given as how it's mostly ice and seals. But now that the ice is melting, it's just mostly seals, and those little buggers are shifty. So Russia is sending in the troops.