4 March 2019 (NCEI) – Deadly severe wildfires in California have scientists scrutinizing the underlying factors that could influence future extreme events. Using climate simulations and paleoclimate data dating back to the 16th century, a recent study looks closely at long-term upper-level wind and related moisture patterns to find clues. The new research published by the Proceedings of the […]
By Jeffrey M. Jones 18 April 2019 WASHINGTON, D.C. (Gallup) – As Christian and Jewish Americans prepare to celebrate Easter and Passover, respectively, Gallup finds the percentage of Americans who report belonging to a church, synagogue or mosque at an all-time low, averaging 50% in 2018. U.S. church membership was 70% or higher from 1937 […]
By Emily Dixon 17 April 2019 (CNN) – Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg met Pope Francis after his weekly audience at the Vatican on Wednesday. The Swedish 16-year-old carried a sign reading “Join the Climate Strike,” which she showed the Pope after he greeted her. A day earlier, Thunberg urged European Union leaders to “panic” […]
By Emma Rumney; Editing by Hugh Lawson 15 April 2019 JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – One month after Cyclone Idai tore through southern Africa bringing devastating floods, aid agencies say the situation remains critical with some communities in worst-hit Mozambique only just being reached with aid. The storm made landfall in Mozambique on 14 March 2019, flattening […]
By Matteo Willeit 3 April 2019 (RealClimate) – A new study published in Science Advances shows that the main features of natural climate variability over the last 3 million years can be reproduced with an efficient model of the Earth system. The Quaternary is the most recent geological Period, covering the past ~2.6 million years. It is defined […]
By Coral Davenport 15 April 2019 WASHINGTON (The New York Times) – The Interior Department’s internal watchdog has opened an investigation into ethics complaints against the agency’s newly installed secretary, David Bernhardt. Mr. Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries, was confirmed by the Senate last week to head the agency, which oversees […]
By Joel Connelly 11 April 2019 (SeattlePI) – President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to block states from using a provision of the Clean Water Act to delay or prevent big oil and coal projects such as a proposed coal export terminal in Longview on the Columbia River. The states of Washington […]
By Elizabeth Shogren 8 April 2019 (Reveal) – Under Republican and Democratic presidents from Nixon through Obama, killing migratory birds, even inadvertently, was a crime, with fines for violations ranging from $250 to $100 million. The power to prosecute created a deterrent that protected birds and enabled government to hold companies to account for environmental […]
By J. Oliver Conroy 15 April 2019 (The Guardian) – On a recent Saturday in Brooklyn, against the unlikely backdrop of a huge blue-and-white Ikea outlet, several dozen volunteers hand-churned compost. Decomposing food scraps emit considerable heat, and the 6ft-tall compost heaps were warm to the touch. As shovels and pitchforks pierced the compost, gusts […]
By Damian Carrington 15 April 2019 (The Guardian) – Microplastic is raining down on even remote mountaintops, a new study has revealed, with winds having the capacity to carry the pollution “anywhere and everywhere”. The scientists were astounded by the quantities of microplastic falling from the sky in a supposedly pristine place such as the […]
