Tag: Climate

2020 was the hottest year on record. We’ll remember it as one of the century’s coldest.

Global Warming
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2020 was the hottest year on record well remember it as one of the centurys coldest - 2020 was the hottest year on record. We’ll remember it as one of the century’s coldest.
2020 was the hottest year on record well remember it as one of the centurys coldest - 2020 was the hottest year on record. We’ll remember it as one of the century’s coldest.

On Thursday, 2020 officially took its place in the upper echelon of warmest years in human history: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ranked last year as the hottest year to date, ahead of 2016 by just a hair. Two other global temperature tracking organizations, the U.K.’s Met Office and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said 2020 was the second-hottest year on record, closely tailing 2016. Meanwhile, the European Union’s climate change agency declared a tie between the two years.

To say that this news was unsurprising would be a massive understatement. For 44 years in a row now, the globe has been hotter than the 20th century average.…

Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions. They failed.

Global Warming
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washington oregon and british columbia pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions they failed scaled - Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions. They failed.
washington oregon and british columbia pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions they failed - Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions. They failed.

This story was produced in collaboration with InvestigateWest, a nonprofit newsroom in Seattle with a focus on the environment, public health, and government accountability.

With dozens of people killed by wildfires in the western U.S., millions of acres scorched, and choking smoke spreading far into British Columbia, Washington Governor Jay Inslee lit up the news wires in September. “These are not just wildfires,” Inslee asserted at a press conference from Olympia, “these are climate fires.”

Two days later on George Stephanopoulos’ Sunday-morning ABC News talk show, the recent presidential candidate recounted a poignant visit to a town nearly wiped out by the fires.…

Global heating could stabilize if countries go net-zero emissions, scientists say

Global Warming
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global heating could stabilize if countries go net zero emissions scientists say - Global heating could stabilize if countries go net-zero emissions, scientists say
global heating could stabilize if countries go net zero emissions scientists say - Global heating could stabilize if countries go net-zero emissions, scientists say

This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

The world may be barreling towards climate disaster but rapidly eliminating planet-heating emissions means global temperatures could stabilize within just a couple of decades, scientists say.

For many years it was assumed that further global heating would be locked in for generations even if emissions were rapidly cut. Climate models run by scientists on future temperatures were based on a certain carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. If this remained at the current high level there would be runaway climate disaster, with temperatures continuing to rise even if emissions were reduced because of a lag time before greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere.…

How Merrick Garland could figure into Biden’s climate plans as attorney general

Global Warming
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how merrick garland could figure into bidens climate plans as attorney general - How Merrick Garland could figure into Biden’s climate plans as attorney general
how merrick garland could figure into bidens climate plans as attorney general - How Merrick Garland could figure into Biden’s climate plans as attorney general

President-elect Joe Biden announced his pick of Merrick Garland for attorney general on Thursday, a karmically apt promotion for the longtime U.S. Court of Appeals judge almost five years after his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Obama was derailed by Senate Republicans.

Garland’s designated position as head of the Department of Justice may not sound like it has much environmental sway, but the department houses the Environment and Natural Resources Division, or ENRD, whose lawyers prosecute cases that enforce bedrock environmental laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. The division also defends government actions related to climate change and the environment, like granting federal permits for pipelines.…

FERC may finally help the public understand WTF it does

Global Warming
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ferc may finally help the public understand wtf it does - FERC may finally help the public understand WTF it does
ferc may finally help the public understand wtf it does - FERC may finally help the public understand WTF it does

If you’ve heard of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, commonly referred to as FERC, but have no idea what it does, I don’t blame you. FERC is one of the most arcane government agencies we have in the United States. Generally tasked with regulating interstate energy infrastructure like pipelines, its proceedings are incredibly technical and confusing — just ask Tyson Slocum.

As director of the energy program for Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, Slocum says he is currently involved in more than 200 of FERC’s court-like cases, which are quietly shaping the energy landscape in the United States. There are cases about pipelines and transmission lines, electricity markets and the cost of renewable energy, hydroelectric dams, liquified natural gas plants, and more.…

‘I’ll be fierce for all of us’: Deb Haaland on climate, Native rights, and Biden

Global Warming
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ill be fierce for all of us deb haaland on climate native rights and biden - ‘I’ll be fierce for all of us’: Deb Haaland on climate, Native rights, and Biden
ill be fierce for all of us deb haaland on climate native rights and biden - ‘I’ll be fierce for all of us’: Deb Haaland on climate, Native rights, and Biden

This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Debra Haaland is making American history.

The 60-year-old Congress member from New Mexico will next month become the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history, when she takes responsibility for the country’s land and natural resources as head of the Department of the Interior under Joe Biden.

Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo, one of 574 sovereign tribal nations located across 35 states. According to the 2010 census, 5.2 million people or about 2 percent of the U.S. population identifies as American Indian or Alaskan Native — descendants of those who survived U.S.…

A wetter and warmer Alaska means dangerously slippery slopes

Global Warming
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a wetter and warmer alaska means dangerously slippery slopes - A wetter and warmer Alaska means dangerously slippery slopes
a wetter and warmer alaska means dangerously slippery slopes - A wetter and warmer Alaska means dangerously slippery slopes

This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

An hour before sundown on December 2, Lilly Ford and her family heard a “strange, low rumble” outside of her home in Haines, Alaska. It lasted about a minute as a 600-foot-wide slurry of timber, mud, soil, and debris cascaded down a nearby mountain, through a residential area, and into the ocean. “I couldn’t believe the mountain had swept people and houses away just like that — ripped the ground out from under them,” Ford said. “It’s just not something you’d ever anticipate.”…

A Massachusetts city will post climate change warning stickers at gas stations

Global Warming
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a massachusetts city will post climate change warning stickers at gas stations - A Massachusetts city will post climate change warning stickers at gas stations
a massachusetts city will post climate change warning stickers at gas stations - A Massachusetts city will post climate change warning stickers at gas stations

This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, has become the first U.S. city to mandate the placing of stickers on fuel pumps to warn drivers of the resulting dangers posed by the climate crisis.

The final design of the bright yellow stickers, shared with the Guardian, includes text that warns drivers the burning of gasoline, diesel, and ethanol has “major consequences on human health and the environment including contributing to climate change.”

The stickers will be placed on all fuel pumps in Cambridge, which is situated near Boston and is home to Harvard University, “fairly soon” once they are received from printers, a city spokesperson confirmed.…

Drilling and mining companies got a holiday gift from Trump

Global Warming
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drilling and mining companies got a holiday gift from trump - Drilling and mining companies got a holiday gift from Trump
drilling and mining companies got a holiday gift from trump - Drilling and mining companies got a holiday gift from Trump

For a limited time only, some of America’s protected lands are open for heavy-duty industrial development. The Trump administration has made it a priority to open vast stretches of U.S. lands to mineral extraction projects. Over the past four years, at least 10 million acres have been leased to oil and drilling companies, turning formerly pristine forests and mountain-scapes into spreads of cratered, barren land laden with heavy machinery.

The next administration is likely to take a different approach to federal lands. President-elect Joe Biden will take office on January 20, 2021, and has announced a diverse and climate-conscious set of cabinet nominees.…

Only 2020 could bring us words like these

Global Warming
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only 2020 could bring us words like these - Only 2020 could bring us words like these
only 2020 could bring us words like these - Only 2020 could bring us words like these

only 2020 could bring us words like these - Only 2020 could bring us words like these
Birth strike, flygskam, Pyrocene: And we thought things couldn’t get worse only 2020 could bring us words like these 1 - Only 2020 could bring us words like these

only 2020 could bring us words like these 2 - Only 2020 could bring us words like these

Firenado, hothouse, smokestorm: The year fires went wild only 2020 could bring us words like these 3 - Only 2020 could bring us words like these

only 2020 could bring us words like these 4 - Only 2020 could bring us words like these

Hotumn, meatmares, ecoanxiety: Oh, how young we all were then only 2020 could bring us words like these 5 - Only 2020 could bring us words like these

Remember the Australian bushfires? Back in January, the unprecedented blazes looked like strong candidates to make wildfires the disaster theme of 2020, even as news buzzed in the background about the spread of a mysterious new coronavirus. Instead, the bushfires were simply an inauspicious start to a year when the world got very, very tired of hearing the word “unprecedented.”

The focus soon turned to the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, according to Oxford Languages, “the frequency of climate, global warming, and related terms plummeted in our corpus” as virus-related vocabulary skyrocketed.…