How six Americans changed their minds about global warming – “I liken it to a religious conversion, and not just because I saw something I’d never seen before — I felt a deep sense of repentance”

By Livia Albeck-Ripka 21 February 2018 (The New York Times) – The Rev. Richard Cizik used to believe climate change was a myth. The science had to be rigged, he thought; those who believed in it were just tree-huggers. But in 2002, a friend convinced Mr. Cizik to go to a conference about climate change, […]

Europe’s cities face more extreme weather than previously thought – “This level of change could be beyond breaking point”

21 February 2018 (Newcastle University) – A landmark study shows the impact of flooding, droughts and heatwaves by 2050-2100 will exceed previous predictions. The research, by Newcastle University, UK, has for the first time analysed changes in flooding, droughts, and heatwaves for all European cities using all climate models. Published today in the academic journal […]

See how Mount Rainier glaciers have vanished over time, with this eye-opening photo project – “It’s not just a little trend”

By Sandi Doughton 21 February 2018 (The Seattle Times) – A series of panoramic photographs taken during the Great Depression is offering a new view of ecological change across the Pacific Northwest, including the dramatic retreat of glaciers on the region’s most iconic peak. In 1934, when a young Forest Service photographer lugged his 75-pound […]

Arctic sea ice extent sinks to new record low

6 February 2018 (NSIDC) – The new year was heralded by a week of record low daily ice extents, with the January average beating out 2017 for a new record low. Ice grew through the month at near-average rates, and in the middle of the month daily extents were higher than for 2017. However, by […]

January 2018 was Earth’s 5th warmest January on record and featured three billion-dollar weather disasters

By Dr. Jeff Masters 19 February 2018 (Weather Underground) – January 2018 was the planet’s fifth warmest January since record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) on Tuesday. NASA also rated January 2018 as the fifth warmest January on record, with the only warmer Januarys being 2016, 2017, 2007, […]

Mountain pine beetle has jumped the Rockies, is spreading across Alberta to Saskatchewan – “In the past, it was too cold for the beetle to survive there, but now it’s warm enough”

By Daisy Simmons 22 January 2018 (Yale Climate Connections) – Canada’s vast conifer forests are being destroyed by tiny beetles that are on the move. Mountain pine beetles are native to western North America, but as the climate warms, the beetle’s range is expanding.Six: “It’s actually jumped the Rockies and has spread across Alberta to […]

Puerto Rico to slash energy reserves amid cash shortfall – One-third of residents still without power five months after Hurricane Maria

By Danica Coto 18 February 2018 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Associated Press) – Puerto Rico’s power company said Sunday that it will reduce its operating reserve to save money amid a cash shortfall as officials warned that the move could destabilize the U.S. territory’s fragile electrical grid. William Rios, director of generation at Puerto Rico’s […]

Graph of the Day: Global map of changes in sea surface height, 1992-2014

By Katie Weeman and Patrick Lynch; Edited by Mike Carlowicz 20 February 2018 (NASA) – Global sea level rise has been accelerating in recent decades, according to a new study based on 25 years of NASA and European satellite data. This acceleration has been driven mainly by increased ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica, and […]

Leaked U.N. draft report sees “very high risk” the planet will warm beyond key limit

By Chris Mooney 14 February 2018 (The Washington Post) – A draft United Nations climate science report contains dire news about the warming of the planet, suggesting it will likely cross the key marker of 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, of temperature rise in the 2040s, and that this will be exceedingly difficult […]

Bitcoin freeloads on institutions’ trust, consumes as much electricity as Singapore each day, warns BIS – “A combination of a bubble, a Ponzi scheme, and an environmental disaster”

By Martin Arnold 6 February 2018 (Financial Times) – Central banks must clamp down on bitcoin and stop such cryptocurrencies “piggybacking” on mainstream institutions and becoming a “threat to financial stability”, the head of the Bank for International Settlements has warned.Agustín Carstens, general manager of the BIS — known as the bank for central banks […]

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