In The News

How to Allocate CO2 Emissions

Humberto Llavador, John Roemer, Joaquim Silvestre June 25, 2013
Delivering on his election pledge to tackle the climate change issue, President Barack Obama today instructed the US Environmental Protection Agency to establish carbon emission standards for both new and existing power plants. Important as this is, the unilateral move will have a limited impact as the world struggles over how to limit carbon emissions. Any global plan will lead to economic...

Panamanians Reject UN Forest Plan

Alex Kirby June 11, 2013
The REDD program, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, was promoted by the United Nations to protect vulnerable forests and stem climate change. A group in Panama is suggesting that REDD reduces local indigenous control of forest resources. “Instead of safeguarding the forests for the indigenous people of Panama, the chief argues, the UN scheme is being used to wrest...

EU Considers Emissions Fines on Chinese, Indian Airlines

James Kanter, John M. Broder, Neha Thirani Bagri May 22, 2013
Ten airlines from China and India face fines over their refusal to comply with legislation that regulates carbon emitted into European air. According to the New York Times, Chinese carriers may be hit with fines of up to €2.4 million; Indian carriers are facing fines of €30,000. While the fines apply to flights within European airspace, there are plans to expand the coverage to international...

America's First Climate Refugees

Suzanne Goldenberg May 14, 2013
Americans, particularly those in oil-rich and Republican-dominated states like Alaska, are very sensitive about any foreign threat to their way of life. Yet outrage wanes about the pressing need to address climate change even as Americans already lose homes to extreme weather. A series in the Guardian newspaper based in London focuses on climate change, including a warning from economist...

NASA Study Projects Warming-Driven Changes in Global Rainfall

Kathryn Hansen May 6, 2013
A NASA-led study shows that increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increase risks of extreme weather patterns including drought and heavy rains. Modeling suggests that areas that are already wet, like the Asian monsoon regions, could receive even more rain while arid and desert regions like the Middle East and southern parts of the United States could become even drier. “The...

US Moves Toward Teaching Climate Change; Britain Does Opposite

Christoper F. Schuetze April 12, 2013
Guidelines for US science educators in at least 40 states will emphasize climate change and the human contribution in middle school and high school. Political opposition to the notion of human influence over a warming climate is intense in the US. In the United Kingdom, administrators have urged educators to avoid the topic for students under age 14, and top scientists even suggest that students...

Warming Sign: 1600 Years of Ice in Andes Melted in 25 Years

Justin Gillis April 9, 2013
Researchers are documenting glacier ice in the Peruvian Andes. “Rapid melting there in the modern era is uncovering plants that were locked in a deep freeze when the glacier advanced many thousands of years ago,” reports Justin Gillis for the New York Times. “Dating of those plants, using a radioactive form of carbon in the plant tissues that decays at a known rate, has given scientists an...