In The News

Yale Study Maps US Climate Opinion in Unprecedented Geographic Detail

Kevin Dennehy April 22, 2015
More than half of Americans are concerned about climate change. Americans represent about 5 percent of the world’s population yet uses nearly a quarter of the world’s energy. A team of Yale and University of Utah researchers developed a statistical model that maps public opinion and policy support on climate change in the world’s leading economy. The model was originally published in Nature...

Flatlining: A Ray of Hope in the Debate Over Climate Change

April 6, 2015
Carbon dioxide emissions were stable between 2013 and 2014 despite growth in the world economy, reports the International Energy Agency. Emissions in the past fell with economic downturns. Emissions rose slightly in the US but fell in Europe and China. The GDP for the EU increased by 1.4 percent while emissions from energy use fell by 6 percent: “The IEA’s finding suggests the regulations put in...

California Has About 1 Year of Water Left – Will You Ration Now?

Jay Famiglietti March 17, 2015
California is the most populated US state, and it leads other US states in farm income, responsible for 16 percent of the nation’s cash receipts for crops and 7 percent for livestock. Despite high levels of education and monitoring technology, citizens in advanced and wealthy areas refuse to acknowledge or plan for changes in climate. The state has limited water, about a year’s supply. “As...

Climate Change Driving Brutal Winter?

Kirk Moore February 25, 2015
Frigid temperatures delight those who deny climate change, but the long-term outlook is unnerving. “Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis and colleagues link that wavy jet stream to a warming Arctic, where climate changes near the top of the world are happening faster than in Earth’s middle latitudes,” reports Kirk Moore for Rutgers Today. The melting Arctic is forcing upper...

Earth's Dashboard Is Flashing Red – Are Enough People Listening?

Dennis Dimick February 4, 2015
The year 2014 was the warmest on record, and evidence that human activity contributes to climate change is overwhelming. A Pew Research Center survey suggests only half of Americans accept evidence that carbon trapped in the atmosphere is putting the planet under stress, writes Dennis Dimick for National Geographic: “We are burning record levels of coal, oil, and natural gas to fuel modern...

Managing Climate Change

Nicholas Stern January 8, 2015
Countries have limited resources, and careful planning could reduce waste and poverty while ensuring prosperity and security. Nicholas Stern, an economist who assesses the effects of climate change, focuses on India in this article for Seminar and argues that investing in urban planning and reducing sprawl has value: “Investments in cities, energy and land use have very long-run effects (lock-in...

Geoengineering Could Worsen Climate Change

Tim Radford December 1, 2014
Representatives from around the globe gather for the UN Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, starting December 1, to consider measures to adapt and mitigate the results of global warming. Relying on geoengineering to forestall impending disasters associated with climate change is foolhardy, expensive and possibly even dangerous, suggests Tim Radford in an article for Climate News Network. He...