Report estimates Pennsylvania oil and gas methane emissions nearly five times higher than state’s figures

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 […]

Summer in February: 80°F in Massachusetts, 78°F in New York City – “It is simply amazing to beat a state temperature record by some 8°F!”

Dr. Jeff Masters 22 February 2018 (Weather Underground) – Astonishing summer-like heat cooked the Eastern U.S. on Wednesday, smashing all-time records for February warmth in cities in at least ten states, from Georgia to Maine. At least 24 cities recorded their hottest February temperature on record on Wednesday, including New York City (78°), Hartford, CT […]

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 […]

Across advanced economies, boom turns to bust for millennial generation

By Andrew Atkinson 19 February 2018 (Bloomberg News) – The income boom enjoyed by people born between 1966 and 1980 has turned to “bust” for the generation that followed them, according to a report published Monday.In an analysis of eight high-income countries, the Resolution Foundation think tank found that millennials in their early 30s have […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

If the world builds every coal plant that’s planned, climate change goals are doomed – “When we continue with the existing coal-fired power plants, and build the new ones, we are closing the door to the two-degree target”

By Chris Mooney 7 February 2018 (The Washington Post) – The much-heralded demise of the coal industry may be overstated, a new scientific analysis asserts — finding that if all planned plants were constructed, the world would have little chance of meeting its climate change goals. The new study, by Ottmar Edenhofer of the Mercator […]

Video: U.S. deficits headed for “potentially apocalyptic” $2 trillion

12 February 2018 (MSNBC) – President Trump released his fiscal 2019 budget on Monday, 12 February 2018. Steve Rattner says the country’s budgetary outlook is “potentially apocalyptic”. Photo: MSNBC Rattner: Deficits headed for $2 trillion

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