Scientists are running low on words to adequately describe the world’s climate chaos. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could already say earlier this month that there was more than a 99 percent chance that 2023 was the hottest year on record. That followed September’s sky-high temperatures—an average of 0.5 degrees Celsius above the previous … Read more
The past year hasn’t generally been a cheerful one for those hoping the world will get a grip on climate change. We’re now around the middle of the 2020s, a decade when carbon dioxide emissions need to decline by about half if we’re to avoid damaging warming. Instead they’re still rising, if only just. The … Read more
The Biden administration sided with Senate climate hawks in one of the highest-stakes debates over the future of U.S. efforts to cut planet-heating emissions, announcing its long-awaited proposal on Friday for strict rules on production of the hydrogen fuel the federal government is betting on to replace natural gas and oil. When burned, the only … Read more
The destination for this yet-untargeted bounty? Livestock feed, says Payne. This exploitation of the mesopelagic required a huge harvesting effort in the southwest Indian Ocean and southern Atlantic, including employing boats with helicopters and fish-processing facilities to support a fleet of smaller fishing vessels. After the Soviet Union collapsed—along with its fisheries subsidies—momentum in the … Read more
After tense and protracted negotiations, delegates at the United Nations climate conference COP28 have agreed on a deal that calls on countries to transition away from fossil fuels. It is the first time that nations have agreed to such a transition, and marks a major step forward in climate ambitions. But delegates have warned that … Read more
In a cavernous theater lit up with the green shapes of camels and palms at COP28 in Dubai, ecologist Thomas Crowther, former chief scientific adviser for the United Nations’ Trillion Trees Campaign, was doing something he never would have expected a few years ago: begging environmental ministers to stop planting so many trees. Mass plantations … Read more
When you drop money in the bank, it looks like it’s just sitting there, ready for you to withdraw. In reality, your institution makes money on your money by lending it elsewhere, including to the fossil fuel companies driving climate change, as well as emissions-heavy industries like manufacturing. So just by leaving money in a … Read more
A prominent South Australian publican has claimed the price of the humble chicken schnitty could rise to as much as $40 — but not for the reasons you may think. Rather than the price of chicken rising as production costs increase, it’s feared moves to cut emissions net-zero could have consequences for the pub favourite. … Read more
Carbon removal techniques come in two main flavors—the technological and the natural—but also increasingly a melding of the two. The dominant technology at the moment is direct air capture, or DAC. This involves giant machines sucking in air and filtering out the CO2. Like an air purifier filters dust out of your indoor air, DAC … Read more
Canadians saw the full might of Mother Nature in 2023, from floods to fires and smoke to storms. On Wednesday, Environment Canada, the country’s weather forecaster and researcher, announced the top 10 weather stories. “This is the year the Canadian landscape really took a hit from extreme weather,” senior climatologist Dave Phillips told reporters at … Read more
