Blogging the End of the World™
1 March 2018 (AFP) – Puerto Rico’s power grid broke down again on Thursday, leaving some 800,000 customers without power, as the US Caribbean possession struggles to recover five months after Hurricane Maria slammed the island. Justo Gonzalez, head of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), said that one of the island’s main transmission […]
By Joanna Walters 26 February 2018 (The Guardian) – The dwindling North Atlantic right whale population is on track to finish its breeding season without any new births, prompting experts to warn again that without human intervention, the species will face extinction.Scientists observing the whale community off the US east coast have not recorded a […]
By Jason Samenow 26 February 2018 (The Washington Post) – The sun won’t rise at the North Pole until March 20, and it’s normally close to the coldest time of year, but an extraordinary and possibly historic thaw swelled over the tip of the planet this weekend. Analyses show that the temperature warmed to the […]
By Steve LeBlanc 25 February 2018 BOSTON (Associated Press) – One promise of ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft was fewer cars clogging city streets. But studies suggest the opposite: that ride-hailing companies are pulling riders off buses, subways, bicycles and their own feet and putting them in cars instead.And in what could be a […]
By Nicole Winfield 26 February 2018 ROME (Associated Press) – The Arctic storm dubbed the “Beast from the East” set record temperatures across much of Europe on Monday and brought a rare snowstorm to Rome, paralyzing the city and giving its residents an unusual chance to ski, sled, and build snowmen in its famous parks […]
By Barbara Fraser 23 February 2018 (Nature) – The jaguar was found floating in a drainage canal in Belize City, Belize, on the day after Christmas last year. Its body was mostly intact, but the head was missing its fangs. On 10 January 2018, a second cat — this time, an ocelot that may have […]
By Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, and Jimmy NarangDecember 2016 (The Equality of Opportunity Project) – A defining feature of the “American Dream” is upward income mobility: the ideal that children have a higher standard of living than their parents. Our work shows that children’s prospects of earning more than […]
By Dr. Jeff Masters 23 February 2018 (Weather Underground) – An unusually severe winter flood event is underway across the center of the U.S., from Texas to Michigan, thanks to heavy rains that fell during the week, fed by record to near-record atmospheric moisture for this time of year. The most significant flooding thus far […]
By Daniel Beekman 3 February 2018 (The Seattle Times) – Attention, Seattle residents: Have you noticed more steady, long-lasting rainstorms in a city better known for gray skies, short showers and drizzle? Turns out you’re on to something. Over the last 15 years, the city’s had more extreme rain, according to a new study by […]
15 February 2018 (EDF) – Methane emissions from Pennsylvania’s oil and gas sites may be more than five times higher than what oil and gas companies report to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), according to a new analysis from Environmental Defense Fund.Methane is both a powerful climate pollutant and the primary ingredient of […]
