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  • Mississippi flood causes billions in damage, while local representatives deny climate threat

    They’ve literally opened the floodgates.Photo: Gulf Restoration NetworkCross-posted from the Wonk Room. “Flooding along the Mississippi River has set a new water level record,” according to the National Weather Service. “The massive flood churning its way down the Mississippi River will go down in history for its catastrophic, multi-billion dollar impact on the Midwestern economy.” USA Today reported […]

    Brad Johnson Science

  • Don’t want to face impossible decisions? Act now on climate

    The Mississippi River on the rise.Photo: boxchainCross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. As The Washington Post reported today, people along the Mississippi River and its swollen tributaries are facing a very difficult decision: Should they flood the farms to save the cities? That’s a tough spot to be in, and one we are more […]

    Theo Spencer Science

  • Jon Huntsman, once a climate hawk, now disses cap-and-trade like all the other Republicans [UPDATED]

    He’s left China behind — and climate hawkishness too.Photo: saucy panA couple of months ago, I asked, “Is Jon Huntsman the greenest GOP presidential hopeful?” In 2007, as Utah governor, he brought his state into the Western Climate Initiative, a regional cap-and-trade program. And up through 2009, when he took the post of ambassador to […]

    Lisa Hymas Science

  • Climate disasters: unlikely to be agents of progressive change

    Disasters ain’t gonna do it.“Americans won’t wake up and get serious about climate change until there’s a disaster.” I’ve been hearing people say that for years, but more and more lately. There’s always an uptick after a political defeat like the failure of the climate bill. It’s delivered with “more in sadness than in anger” […]

    David Roberts Science

  • The Pope gets down with climate change

    Is climate change a serious problem that requires drastic action? Does the Pope wear a funny hat? Finally, these two questions go together for reasons beyond heavy sarcasm. The Vatican's scientific advisory panel, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, has issued a report calling for an urgent reduction in carbon emissions. "We appeal to all nations […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • Climate crisis fueling Mississippi River’s historic floods

    The Mississippi River flooding part of downtown Memphis.Photo: Chris WielandThe Mississippi River is experiencing its second “500-year flood” since 1993. That’s no freak occurrence — scientists say it’s a result of human-made carbon pollution changing our climate. “All extreme weather events are now subject to human influence,” said Peter Gleick, a climate and water scientist […]

    Miles Grant Science

  • In memoriam: Douglas Adams, environmentalist

    Douglas Adams, who died 10 years ago today, was the best writer of humorous science fiction who ever lived. (Note that I did not say "arguably," all objective-journalist style. I will hear no argument. The best.) If, like me, you can recognize and recite parts of the passage on the towel he's draped himself with […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • Tired of the climate change battle? How about a climate change RAP battle?

    Is that global warming, or am I just flushing in embarrassment? This awful/awesome rap about anthropogenic climate change lets actual climate scientists take the stage for once — and then proceed to make fools of themselves. We learned several things from the video: There's no denying this: Climate change is real! (real real real) Climate […]

    Jess Zimmerman Science

  • How bad ideas keep rebounding into public discourse: the rebound effect and its refutation

    The rebound effect: a light that never goes out.Cross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. Every few years, a new report emerges that tries to resurrect an old hypothesis: that energy efficiency policy somehow results in consumers using more energy instead of less. This hypothesis was introduced in the 19th century by economist William Stanley […]

    David Goldstein Science

  • Penguins are losing ground in Antarctica

    Although climate change guarantees that all penguins are screwed in the long term, some are more screwed than others. On the Antarctic peninsula, Adélie penguins have lost almost 90 percent of their population over the past three decades — while the population of gentoo penguins, which don't need ice to survive, has grown by 14,000 […]

    Sarah Laskow Science