Category Archive for "Climate Change"

Warming pushes Western U.S. toward driest period in 1,000 years: Unprecedented risk of drought in 21st century

During the second half of the 21st century, the U.S. Southwest and Great Plains will face persistent drought worse than anything seen in times ancient or modern, with the drying conditions "driven primarily" by human-induced global warming, a new study predicts. The research says the drying would surpass in severity any of the decades-long "megadroughts"…

Sorry, skeptics: NASA and NOAA were right about the 2014 temperature record

Last week, in an announcement that not only drew massive media attention but was seized upon by President Obama in his State of the Union address, NASA and NOAA jointly declared that 2014 was the hottest year ever recorded, based on temperature records that go back to the year 1880. The news came out on…

IPCC report: Climate change threatens irreversible and dangerous impacts, but options exist to limit its effects

Human influence on the climate system is clear and growing, with impacts observed on all continents. If left unchecked, climate change will increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. However, options are available to adapt to climate change and implementing stringent mitigations activities can ensure that the impacts of…

Research confirms how global warming links to carbon emissions

Research has identified, for the first time, how global warming is related to the amount of carbon emitted. A team of researchers from the universities of Southampton, Bristol and Liverpool have derived the first theoretical equation to demonstrate that global warming is a direct result of the build-up of carbon emissions since the late 1800s…

Arctic warming: Scientists identify new driver

The research was led by scientists from the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). They studied a long-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum called far infrared. It's invisible to our eyes but accounts for about half the energy emitted by Earth's surface. This process balances out incoming solar energy. Despite its importance…

WHAT’S POSSIBLE: The U.N. Climate Summit Film (Preview)

Presented to world leaders at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York, this short inspirational film shows that climate change is solvable. We have the technology to harness nature sustainably for a clean, prosperous energy future, but only if we act now. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, it calls on the people of the…

Changing global diets is vital to reducing climate change, researchers say

Healthier diets and reducing food waste are part of a combination of solutions needed to ensure food security and avoid dangerous climate change, say the team behind a new study. A new study, published today in Nature Climate Change, suggests that -- if current trends continue -- food production alone will reach, if not exceed, the…

Carbon dioxide ‘sponge’ could ease transition to cleaner energy

A sponge-like plastic that sops up the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) might ease our transition away from polluting fossil fuels and toward new energy sources, such as hydrogen. The material -- a relative of the plastics used in food containers -- could play a role in President Obama's plan to cut CO2 emissions 30…

Scientists ask Florida governor for meeting to talk climate science

In an effort to push Gov. Rick Scott into the debate on climate change, 10 prominent scientists from the state’s top universities on Tuesday asked for an opportunity to explain to him the impact human-induced global warming will have on Florida. “We note you have been asked several times about how, as Governor, you will…

Polar Vortex in Summer? Not Exactly, Experts Say

A blast of cold air that blew in from the Gulf of Alaska and swept across the Great Lakes is now making its way south. Headlines warn that the cold front could herald a return of the "polar vortex," but experts are saying otherwise. Polar vortexes typically develop around the North Pole during most winters.…

Category Archives: Climate Change