nonpartisan digital media and survey research company, recently highlighted this connection in that examined the ties between Covid-19-related safety practices of adults and their climate-change views. “Climate-concerned” respondents said they are worried about climate change and recognized the human role in causing it, while the “climate unconcerned” were those who noted they were “not too concerned” or “not concerned at all” about climate change.to lifting Covid-19 restrictions, with Republican-controlled states largely leading the push to reopen. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans...… nonpartisan digital media and survey research company, recently highlighted this connection in that examined the ties between Covid-19-related safety practices of adults and their climate-change views. “Climate-concerned” respondents said they are worried about climate change and recognized the human role in causing it, while the “climate unconcerned” were those who noted they were “not too concerned” or “not concerned at all” about climate change.to lifting Covid-19 restrictions, with Republican-controlled states largely leading the push to reopen. Twenty-seven percent of Republicans...WW…

On a warm, sunny afternoon in late November, Roger Cornwell stopped his pickup near the edge of a harvested rice field to avoid spooking a great blue heron standing still as a statute, alert for prey. He pointed to a dozen or so great egrets at the opposite end of the field as a chorus of killdeer sang a high lonesome tune in the distance. of the region’s historic wetlands, flooded croplands provide food and habitat that help egrets, sandhill cranes and other iconic water birds get through the winter. Inundating fallow fields mimics the way rivers breached their banks 150 years ago,...…On a warm, sunny afternoon in late November, Roger Cornwell stopped his pickup near the edge of a harvested rice field to avoid spooking a great blue heron standing still as a statute, alert for prey. He pointed to a dozen or so great egrets at the opposite end of the field as a chorus of killdeer sang a high lonesome tune in the distance. of the region’s historic wetlands, flooded croplands provide food and habitat that help egrets, sandhill cranes and other iconic water birds get through the winter. Inundating fallow fields mimics the way rivers breached their banks 150 years ago,...WW…

This story is part of a series focusing on the climate records of candidates in  in November's elections.At a Glance: . Growing seasons are changing and there are that heavier rains are causing more flooding. Scientists have warned that it will get worse down the road, with crop yields and dangerous on strip-mined mountain landscapes.Sign up forOur stories. Your inbox. Every weekend.he should have done more to promote a transition away from coal. "show vote"—engineered for Democrats—on his own version of the Green New Deal, McConnell he believed in human-caused climate...…This story is part of a series focusing on the climate records of candidates in  in November's elections.At a Glance: . Growing seasons are changing and there are that heavier rains are causing more flooding. Scientists have warned that it will get worse down the road, with crop yields and dangerous on strip-mined mountain landscapes.Sign up forOur stories. Your inbox. Every weekend.he should have done more to promote a transition away from coal. "show vote"—engineered for Democrats—on his own version of the Green New Deal, McConnell he believed in human-caused climate...WW…

  the science used to establish federal air pollution regulations that have helped cities like Louisville clean up their historically dirty and deadly air quality.a current energy mix that is 80 percent coal and 19 percent natural gas. Indiana was still reliant on coal for 70 percent of its electricity in 2018, to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.. The study has 15 authors, including researchers from the University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University; University of Texas; and Propeller Health, in San Francisco.Across the country, electricity generation continues its...…  the science used to establish federal air pollution regulations that have helped cities like Louisville clean up their historically dirty and deadly air quality.a current energy mix that is 80 percent coal and 19 percent natural gas. Indiana was still reliant on coal for 70 percent of its electricity in 2018, to the U.S. Energy Information Agency.. The study has 15 authors, including researchers from the University of California, Berkeley; Harvard University; University of Texas; and Propeller Health, in San Francisco.Across the country, electricity generation continues its...WW…

It’s easy to see how biologists studying the fate of California’s native fish might fall into despair. That’s how Jacob Katz felt when he and his colleagues in 2011 that more than three-quarters of the state’s native freshwater fish, including its iconic Chinook salmon, were in sharp decline. But Katz, a fly-fishing ecologist who directs Central Valley operations for the conservation nonprofit California Trout, isn’t the despairing type. His eyes lit up as he recalled the moment he realized the same forces leading California’s fish to the brink of extinction could be harnessed to reel...…It’s easy to see how biologists studying the fate of California’s native fish might fall into despair. That’s how Jacob Katz felt when he and his colleagues in 2011 that more than three-quarters of the state’s native freshwater fish, including its iconic Chinook salmon, were in sharp decline. But Katz, a fly-fishing ecologist who directs Central Valley operations for the conservation nonprofit California Trout, isn’t the despairing type. His eyes lit up as he recalled the moment he realized the same forces leading California’s fish to the brink of extinction could be harnessed to reel...WW…

The plummeting price of electricity from solar panels is one of the driving forces aiding the transition to clean energy.Government policies and scientific innovation around the world have helped to reduce the average cost of utility-scale solar power by more than 80 percent since 2010, making it the least expensive power source in many, if not most, places.Now the Department of Energy of reducing the cost by more than half again by 2030, to an unsubsidized average of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. That cost, which takes into account the price of construction and operation, would have seemed...…The plummeting price of electricity from solar panels is one of the driving forces aiding the transition to clean energy.Government policies and scientific innovation around the world have helped to reduce the average cost of utility-scale solar power by more than 80 percent since 2010, making it the least expensive power source in many, if not most, places.Now the Department of Energy of reducing the cost by more than half again by 2030, to an unsubsidized average of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour. That cost, which takes into account the price of construction and operation, would have seemed...WW…

When scientists in the early 2000s developed a set of standardized scenarios to show how accumulating greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will affect the climate, they were trying to create a framework for understanding how human decisions will affect the trajectory of global warming. The scenarios help define the possible effects on climate change—how we can limit the worst impacts by curbing greenhouse gas emissions quickly, or suffer the horrific outcome of unchecked fossil fuel burning.The scientists probably didn’t think their work would trigger a sometimes polarized...…When scientists in the early 2000s developed a set of standardized scenarios to show how accumulating greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere will affect the climate, they were trying to create a framework for understanding how human decisions will affect the trajectory of global warming. The scenarios help define the possible effects on climate change—how we can limit the worst impacts by curbing greenhouse gas emissions quickly, or suffer the horrific outcome of unchecked fossil fuel burning.The scientists probably didn’t think their work would trigger a sometimes polarized...WW…

Cities setting clean energy goals now have a new leader to emulate: Des Moines, Iowa.The Des Moines city council voted 7-0 on Monday in favor of that sets a goal of reaching 24/7 carbon-free electricity by 2035, making it probably the first city in the United States, and maybe the first in the world, to pass a plan that emphasizes a target of relying solely on clean energy around-the-clock.The goal will require a combination carbon-free sources, and ditching fossil fuels altogether.The city’s approach is in contrast to the more common policy of cities moving toward 100 percent renewable...…Cities setting clean energy goals now have a new leader to emulate: Des Moines, Iowa.The Des Moines city council voted 7-0 on Monday in favor of that sets a goal of reaching 24/7 carbon-free electricity by 2035, making it probably the first city in the United States, and maybe the first in the world, to pass a plan that emphasizes a target of relying solely on clean energy around-the-clock.The goal will require a combination carbon-free sources, and ditching fossil fuels altogether.The city’s approach is in contrast to the more common policy of cities moving toward 100 percent renewable...WW…

In a year of pandemic illness and chaotic politics, there also was a major milestone in the transition to clean energy: U.S. renewable energy sources for the first time generated more electricity than coal.The continuing rise of wind and solar power, combined with the steady performance of hydroelectric power, was enough for renewable energy sources to surge ahead of coal, according to 2020 figures released this week by the Energy Information Administration.  “It’s very significant that renewables have overtaken coal,” said Robbie Orvis, director of energy policy design at the...…In a year of pandemic illness and chaotic politics, there also was a major milestone in the transition to clean energy: U.S. renewable energy sources for the first time generated more electricity than coal.The continuing rise of wind and solar power, combined with the steady performance of hydroelectric power, was enough for renewable energy sources to surge ahead of coal, according to 2020 figures released this week by the Energy Information Administration.  “It’s very significant that renewables have overtaken coal,” said Robbie Orvis, director of energy policy design at the...WW…

Tim Brodribb has been measuring all the different ways global warming kills trees for the past 20 years. With a microphone, he says, you can hear them take their last labored breaths. During blistering heat waves and droughts, air bubbles invade their delicate, watery veins, cracking them open with an audible pop. And special cameras can film the moment their drying leaves split open in a lightning bolt pattern, disrupting photosynthesis.Science, reviewed the last 10 years of research on tree mortality, concluding that forests are in big trouble if global warming  continues at the...…Tim Brodribb has been measuring all the different ways global warming kills trees for the past 20 years. With a microphone, he says, you can hear them take their last labored breaths. During blistering heat waves and droughts, air bubbles invade their delicate, watery veins, cracking them open with an audible pop. And special cameras can film the moment their drying leaves split open in a lightning bolt pattern, disrupting photosynthesis.Science, reviewed the last 10 years of research on tree mortality, concluding that forests are in big trouble if global warming  continues at the...WW…