Texas

Clean air and clean energy successes — and some rap

Who doesn’t love good news? Let’s start with something catchy — maybe a soundtrack as you read the rest of this column. This week we released a video created by DJ Steve Porter, known for his innovative “remix” videos, featuring celebrities, sports stars, and now Michael Bloomberg, philanthropist and mayor of New York City, and […]

Swimming pools don’t have to be insults to the planet

Swimming pools — so awesome and fun, but so not actually good for the environment in any way. But KB Custom Pools, a pool company in Texas, has a sorta-kinda-more-like-a-real-body-of-water alternative. Their Eco-Smart pools match the topography of your backyard, use a filtration system that doesn't require harsh chemicals, and can be heated using solar panels. Gizmodo goes so far as to say it's positively lake-like (minus, of course, the mucky bottom and the fish).

 

Scientists rush to save minnows from Texas drought

Here's the thing about apocalyptic droughts: They are bad for people and livestock and all other living things, but they are ESPECIALLY bad for fish. Texas minnows can't wait for Rick Perry's prayer meetings to alleviate the state's record dry spell -- they're already in dire straits as the water shortage robs them of their ability to eat, move, respirate, and reproduce. So scientists are evacuating them, moving the tiny fishlets from the shrinking Brazos River into safer fish hatcheries.

Firsthand accounts from inside Texas' raging inferno

Texas, which is rapidly turning into just the sort of desert we were promised it would soon be, has already seen a year of record-breaking drought and out-of-control wildfires. Now the flames are threatening residential areas, even the state capital itself.

Rick Perry: The EPA 'won't know what hit 'em'

Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry announced his intentions to make the EPA unapologetically pro-pollution.

Texas' official water plan defiantly includes no mention of climate change

The last time Texas created a long-term water plan, in 2007, it conspicuously and controversially left out any mention of the effects of climate change on the state's water resources. In the midst of a drought of biblical proportions, one line from that report in particular stands out:

When considering the uncertainties of population and water demand projections, the effect of climate change on the state’s water resources over the next 50 years is probably small enough that it is unnecessary to plan for it specifically.

Texas likely to have multi-year drought; Rick Perry likely to deny its cause

Texas' over-the-top, economically devastating, record-breaking drought is likely to turn into a grinding, multi-year drought, reports Kate Galbraith in the Texas Tribune. That could put it on track to compete with the state's worst-ever dry spell in the 1950s, which in turn can barely compete with the prehistoric mega-droughts Texas used to experience.

In other words, Texas is a dry state with a delicate climate, and climate change is only going to make things worse.

Taste of things to come: Texas drought to shut down power plants

Hey, you know what's wild about Texas turning into a gigantic desert thanks to climate change? I mean besides the fact that this makes it basically Kuwait-on-the-Rio-Grande? Many of the state's power plants, which rely on fresh water to produce electricity, could be shut down by the lack of water.

Critical List: New York AG going after natural gas companies; species move one mile north each year

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed three energy companies as part of an investigation into natural gas production estimates.

If rats could abandon Ship Earth, they would right about now. Instead, species in the Northern Hemisphere are moving north at about a mile per year — three times faster than anyone imagined.

Kick your caffeine habit now: climate change could make 60 percent of the places that now grow coffee inhospitable to the crop by 2050.