It’s official: For the past 12 months, the Earth was 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than in preindustrial times, scientists said Thursday, crossing a critical barrier into temperatures never experienced by human civilizations. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the past 12 months clocked in at a scorching 1.52 degrees Celsius (2.74 degrees Fahrenheit) higher on average compared with between 1850 and 1900. At some level, that’s not surprising — the past 12 months have been scorching, as a warm El Niño cycle combined with the signal of human-caused warming...…It’s official: For the past 12 months, the Earth was 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than in preindustrial times, scientists said Thursday, crossing a critical barrier into temperatures never experienced by human civilizations. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the past 12 months clocked in at a scorching 1.52 degrees Celsius (2.74 degrees Fahrenheit) higher on average compared with between 1850 and 1900. At some level, that’s not surprising — the past 12 months have been scorching, as a warm El Niño cycle combined with the signal of human-caused warming...WW…

PublishedApr 21, 2021TopicShare/RepublishOver the past decade, hundreds of cities, companies, and states have started buying renewable energy to power their Wi-Fi routers, run their refrigerators, and otherwise keep the lights on. The , for instance, is powered entirely by wind energy; the small city of is run entirely on biomass, wind, solar, and hydropower; and the tech giant Google has been powering its data centers and office buildings with renewables . Or have they? and companies are aiming to run on 100 percent clean energy, but it’s not exactly what it sounds like. The truth is...…PublishedApr 21, 2021TopicShare/RepublishOver the past decade, hundreds of cities, companies, and states have started buying renewable energy to power their Wi-Fi routers, run their refrigerators, and otherwise keep the lights on. The , for instance, is powered entirely by wind energy; the small city of is run entirely on biomass, wind, solar, and hydropower; and the tech giant Google has been powering its data centers and office buildings with renewables . Or have they? and companies are aiming to run on 100 percent clean energy, but it’s not exactly what it sounds like. The truth is...WW…

PublishedApr 08, 2021TopicShare/RepublishThe experiment sounded innocuous. Early this summer, a group of researchers from Harvard University would fly to Kiruna, a small town of 22,000 in the northern reaches of Sweden. There, with the help of a Swedish space company, they would launch a balloon carrying an instrument-laden gondola into the stratosphere, some 12.5 miles above the Earth’s surface. They would run a few tests, pack up the instruments, and then return home. That, at least, was the plan. But some saw the project — known as the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation...…PublishedApr 08, 2021TopicShare/RepublishThe experiment sounded innocuous. Early this summer, a group of researchers from Harvard University would fly to Kiruna, a small town of 22,000 in the northern reaches of Sweden. There, with the help of a Swedish space company, they would launch a balloon carrying an instrument-laden gondola into the stratosphere, some 12.5 miles above the Earth’s surface. They would run a few tests, pack up the instruments, and then return home. That, at least, was the plan. But some saw the project — known as the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation...WW…

PublishedOct 26, 2020TopicShare/RepublishBefore Judge Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, she had spent a month as a nominee saying basically nothing. In today’s world of highly partisan appointees to the Supreme Court, nominees have learned to keep their opinions buttoned-up: Barrett’s favorite phrase during the hearings was “no hints, no previews, no forecasts.”When it comes to climate change, however, what Barrett didn’t say may prove just as important as what she did. Barrett refused to acknowledge the during her hearings. In an exchange with Senator Kamala Harris...…PublishedOct 26, 2020TopicShare/RepublishBefore Judge Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, she had spent a month as a nominee saying basically nothing. In today’s world of highly partisan appointees to the Supreme Court, nominees have learned to keep their opinions buttoned-up: Barrett’s favorite phrase during the hearings was “no hints, no previews, no forecasts.”When it comes to climate change, however, what Barrett didn’t say may prove just as important as what she did. Barrett refused to acknowledge the during her hearings. In an exchange with Senator Kamala Harris...WW…

PublishedOct 03, 2020TopicShare/RepublishWell, it happened. After months of downplaying COVID-19 (“!”) and , President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have .The implications of this news include more than a mere “I told you so.” Trump has fallen ill with a potentially deadly virus just weeks before Election Day, and in the midst of a global pandemic, record-breaking wildfire and hurricane seasons, and a growing national reckoning with racial violence.The president’s diagnosis has also laid bare a rift in his persistent anti-science strategy of deny, deny, deny: It’s a lot harder...…PublishedOct 03, 2020TopicShare/RepublishWell, it happened. After months of downplaying COVID-19 (“!”) and , President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have .The implications of this news include more than a mere “I told you so.” Trump has fallen ill with a potentially deadly virus just weeks before Election Day, and in the midst of a global pandemic, record-breaking wildfire and hurricane seasons, and a growing national reckoning with racial violence.The president’s diagnosis has also laid bare a rift in his persistent anti-science strategy of deny, deny, deny: It’s a lot harder...WW…

PublishedSep 18, 2020TopicShare/RepublishAs fires this month, displacing families and releasing a thick, choking cloud of smoke that reached , some scientists began to worry about yet another loss. Thousands of acres of forest, maintained to offset greenhouse gas emissions, might be going up in smoke.Claudia Herbert, a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley, who is studying risks to forest carbon offsets, noticed that the Lionshead Fire — which tore through in Central Oregon and of the nearby town of Detroit — appeared to have almost completely engulfed the largest forest...…PublishedSep 18, 2020TopicShare/RepublishAs fires this month, displacing families and releasing a thick, choking cloud of smoke that reached , some scientists began to worry about yet another loss. Thousands of acres of forest, maintained to offset greenhouse gas emissions, might be going up in smoke.Claudia Herbert, a PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley, who is studying risks to forest carbon offsets, noticed that the Lionshead Fire — which tore through in Central Oregon and of the nearby town of Detroit — appeared to have almost completely engulfed the largest forest...WW…

PublishedAug 04, 2020TopicShare/RepublishFor over a decade, the U.S. federal government has failed to pursue , leaving most of the hard work of cutting carbon emissions to individual states. But even without national leadership, many states are succeeding at slashing emissions — and fast.According to a new , an international research organization, 41 states managed to cut their carbon emissions between 2005 and 2017, even as their economies grew. (State-level emissions data usually takes more than two years to be reported by the , making 2017 data the latest available.)The states leading...…PublishedAug 04, 2020TopicShare/RepublishFor over a decade, the U.S. federal government has failed to pursue , leaving most of the hard work of cutting carbon emissions to individual states. But even without national leadership, many states are succeeding at slashing emissions — and fast.According to a new , an international research organization, 41 states managed to cut their carbon emissions between 2005 and 2017, even as their economies grew. (State-level emissions data usually takes more than two years to be reported by the , making 2017 data the latest available.)The states leading...WW…