Climate Science
All Stories
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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."
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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 […]
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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."
