By Blanche Verlie 14 March 2019 (The Conversation) – Today, at least 50 rallies planned across Australia are expected to draw thousands of students who are walking out of school to protest climate change inaction. These Australian students join children from over 82 countries who are striking to highlight systemic failure to address climate change. […]
19 February 2019 (Silencing Science Tracker) – On 19 February 2019, a bill (House File 428) was introduced in the Iowa legislature that would, if enacted, reinstate “the science standards utilized by school districts in this state during the 2014-2015 school year.” This would effectively prevent use of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which were […]
By Anna M. Phillips28 February 2019 (Los Angeles Times) – The Senate on Thursday confirmed Andrew Wheeler to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, handing the reins of the agency responsible for ensuring clean air and safe drinking water to a former coal industry lobbyist. The 52-to-47 vote removed the word “acting” from Wheeler’s title, installing […]
By Christopher C. Burt 8 March 2019 (Weather Underground) – On 2 March 2019, Dover, Tasmania, attained an all-time record high of 40.1°C (104.3°F), the hottest reading ever observed in that Australian state during the month of March. Just the next day (March 4 in the U.S.) a temperature of -46°F was measured at Elk […]
By Zing Tsjeng 27 February 2019 (Vice) – What if I told you there was a paper on climate change that was so uniquely catastrophic, so perspective-altering, and so absolutely depressing that it’s sent people to support groups and encouraged them to quit their jobs and move to the countryside? Good news: there is. It’s […]
By Laura Poppick 25 February 2019 (Scientific American) – Escaping predators, digestion and other animal activities—including those of humans—require oxygen. But that essential ingredient is no longer so easy for marine life to obtain, several new studies reveal. In the past decade ocean oxygen levels have taken a dive—an alarming trend that is linked to […]
By Damian Carrington 4 March 2019 (The Guardian) – The number of heatwaves affecting the planet’s oceans has increased sharply, scientists have revealed, killing swathes of sea-life like “wildfires that take out huge areas of forest”. The damage caused in these hotspots is also harmful for humanity, which relies on the oceans for oxygen, food, […]
By Drake Bennett and Mark Chediak 28 February 2019 (Bloomberg Businessweek) – Laine Mason arrived at work on Nov. 8 expecting a busy day: Strong winds were forecast, which meant falling branches and toppled trees, and with them the possibility of downed power lines. Mason, who lives in the Northern California town of Corning, works […]
NEW YORK, 18 February 2019 (AP) – A scientist who raised early alarms about climate change and popularized the term “global warming” has died. Wallace Smith Broecker was 87. The longtime Columbia University professor and researcher died Monday at a New York City hospital, according to a spokesman for the university’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Kevin […]
By Robin McKie 17 February 2019 (The Guardian) – Dramatic rises in atmospheric methane are threatening to derail plans to hold global temperature rises to 2C, scientists have warned. In a paper published this month by the American Geophysical Union, researchers say sharp rises in levels of methane – which is a powerful greenhouse gas […]
