Category: Climate

European Union environment ministers are set to open debate on controversial 2030 targets for greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy, the Greek presidency says. The EU Environment Council will meet Monday in Brussels, where Greece says it will put the European Commission’s proposed targets on the table for the first time since they were announced in January and subsequently dismissed by the European Parliament as "shortsighted and unambitious." Monday’s debate is meant to produce a report to be presented at the full European Council meeting of March 20-21, when the commission is hoping to forge a consensus among European heads of state in time for the Sept. 23 U.N. Climate Summit in New York. The 2030 framework represents a "next step" after EU’s current, legally binding greenhouse gas targets expire in 2020. The 28-nation bloc says it is well on the way to achieving […]

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There’s a new methane champ, says the Environmental Protection Agency ,  which found in a new draft report on greenhouse gases that cattle passed the natural-gas industry as the biggest source of U.S. methane emissions in 2012. The EPA also revised some of its 2011 findings, again turning to cows as the culprit—specifically, enteric fermentation in cattle—in methane emissions, according to the EPA. The multiple-compartment stomachs in cattle create the methane, resulting in bovine belches. Despite better digestibility in cattle feed over the years, methane emissions from cattle has risen more than 2% since 1990,  said the EPA, because of upward trends in cattle populations. The conclusions are part of the EPA’s […]

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Scientists are trying to understand if the unusual weather in the Northern Hemisphere this winter — from record heat in Alaska to unprecedented flooding in Britain — is linked to climate change. One thing seems clear: Shifts in the jet stream play a key role and could become even more disruptive as the world warms. This winter’s weather has been weird across much of the Northern Hemisphere. Record storms in Europe; record drought in California; record heat in parts of the Arctic, including Alaska and parts of Scandinavia; but record freezes too, as polar air blew south over Canada and the U.S., causing near-record ice cover on the Great Lakes, sending the mercury as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius in Minnesota, and bringing sharp chills to Texas. Everyone is blaming the jet stream, which drives most weather in mid-latitudes. That would be a significant development. For what happens […]

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Another blast of freezing air is forecast for the central and eastern U.S. this week as two storms threaten to bring disruptive snow to the Northeast. “After a mild and pleasant weekend for many, winter will make a harsh return to much of the central and eastern U.S.,” the National Weather Service said in a bulletin on its website at 10:41 a.m. U.S. East Coast time yesterday. “Frigid air will first impact the northern Plains on Monday before diving south and east throughout the week. By Wednesday, most of the Great Lakes will have single digit high temperatures and parts of the Tennessee Valley will struggle to rise above freezing.” Milder weather across the Northeast over the weekend pushed temperatures into the 60s Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius) in Washington and Philadelphia and the 50s in New York City and Boston , AccuWeather Inc. said on its website . Highs […]

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There are likely a lot of East Coasters wishing they lived in sunny, dry (and comparatively warm) California right now. But Californians know their weather is anything but a blessing these days with a drought that’s being called “unprecedented.” The situation has even sparked a trip from President Obama, who visited the epicenter of California’s massive agriculture industry, the Central Valley, on Friday and announced $100 million in livestock disaster assistance, $5 million in targeted assistance for hard-hit areas, $5 million for watershed protection programs, $60 million for food banks and 600 new sites for a summer meals program, $3 million in emergency water assistance for rural communities, and a commitment from the federal government to reduce water use and focus nation-wide on climate resilience. While the funding and programs may be welcome for immediate assistance, solving California’s water crisis will require more than a big checkbook. Water in […]

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With a growing population and improving diets there is a need to double our food supply by 2050. Identify three measures you would take to meet this demand. Identify one of your measures from your list and post your solution into the discussion – be prepared to defend your choice! That is a big question to throw in a climate change course. I am presently doing an online course – Climate Change: Challenges and solutions – offered by the University of Exeter (UK). So please indulge me as I also use this blog for some climate course work. This article is for week 6, section 6.5 of the course on ‘Tackling food security’. Food security is one helluva big area to try and come to terms with. Earth’s population is just over 7 billion people. It is projected by the United Nations in a June 2013 report on global […]

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An unwelcome sign for electricity users is emerging from the waters of Folsom Lake: the remnants of a Gold Rush mining town submerged for almost 60 years has resurfaced amid California ’s record dry spell. Just west of the stone ruins, Folsom Power plant is silent, its six-story-high columns without enough water to propel their turbines. It’s one of dozens of hydroelectric stations shut or running at reduced rates because of the worst drought in the state’s history. “Seeing this town is intriguing and at the same time so scary,” said Heidi Anderson, a 55-year-old registered nurse who drove from Sacramento to explore the crumbling remnants of the 19th century town known as Mormon Island. “That power plant there obviously isn’t making power because there isn’t any water. Where has it all gone? What’s happening?” California had the least rain and snow water in data going back to 1895 […]

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There is no relief in sight from the historic drought ravaging every corner of California, and where there’s drought, there’s fire. In the thick of winter and normally wet months, 545 fires have broken out so far this year, burning 1,142 acres. That is a staggering 330 percent increase in fires over the same Jan. 1 to Feb. 15 period last year and a 150 percent jump in burned acreage. “This is unprecedented,” said Capt. Michael Mohler of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Current conditions are as severe as during the hottest summer months, and Cal Fire is bracing for the worst. It has already brought in 125 additional firefighters, who normally come on board when fire season starts in late May in the North and in June in Southern California. Facilities where firefighting aircraft are based usually close in the winter. Not this […]

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