Zonally averaged methane (CH4) growth rate versus sine‐of‐latitude (equal area) and time for 2005–2018. Graphic: Nisbet, et al., 2019 / Global Biogeochemical Cycles

The methane detectives: On the trail of a global warming mystery – “The bottom line is that methane is going up and doesn’t look like it will stop anytime soon”

By Jonathan Mingle 13 May 2019 (Undark) – Every week, dozens of metal flasks arrive at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, each one loaded with air from a distant corner of the world. Research chemist Ed Dlugokencky and his colleagues in the Global Monitoring Division catalog the canisters, and then use a series of […]

Power companies have a plan to save the earth, but it probably won’t work – “In the absence of some kind of national program or policy, we shouldn’t expect to see some dramatic decline in emissions”

Power companies have a plan to save the earth, but it probably won’t work – “In the absence of some kind of national program or policy, we shouldn’t expect to see some dramatic decline in emissions”

By Neil Katz and Joe McCarthy 9 May 2019 (The Weather Channel) – Last month, a thousand well-heeled bankers, scrappy startups and energy CEOs sat down at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in a swanky New York hotel to discuss the billions they would spend over the next 20 years to build cleaner energy […]

Natural climate solutions aren’t enough – “There is still an emissions gap that requires decarbonizing energy and industry”

By Rob Jordan 28 February 2019 (Stanford Report) – In the fight to slow climate change, nature is a powerful weapon. In fact, natural climate solutions, such as reducing deforestation and changing farming practices, can soak up excess carbon in the atmosphere and prevent certain emissions so effectively that it might be tempting to think […]

Recording reveals oil industry execs laughing at Trump access – “We have unprecedented access to people that are in these positions who are trying to help us, which is great”

By Lance Williams 23 March 2019 (Reveal) – Gathered for a private meeting at a beachside Ritz–Carlton in Southern California, the oil executives were celebrating a colleague’s sudden rise. David Bernhardt, their former lawyer, had been appointed by President Donald Trump to the powerful No. 2 spot at the Department of the Interior. Just five […]

25th anniversary edition of WMO’s State of the Climate report shows accelerating global warming impacts – “The data released in this report give cause for great concern”

28 March 2019 (WMO) – The physical signs and socio-economic impacts of climate change are accelerating as record greenhouse gas concentrations drive global temperatures toward increasingly dangerous levels, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization. The WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018, its 25th anniversary edition, highlights […]

Trump regulation rollbacks will result in more than 200 million tons of additional greenhouse emissions each year – “The Trump administration has taken historically unprecedented actions to roll back years of environmental progress”

WASHINGTON, D.C., 5 March 2019 (NYU School of Law) – Today, the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at the NYU School of Law announced the release of a Special Report detailing the extensive climate change and public health damage caused by the Trump administration’s environmental deregulatory agenda. In its Special Report, titled “Climate & […]

3-5°C temperature rise is now “locked-in” for the Arctic

Nairobi, 13 March 2019 (UN News) – Even if the world were to cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, winter temperatures in the Arctic would rise 3-5°C by 2050 and 5-9°C by 2080, devastating the region and unleashing sea level rises worldwide, finds a new report by UN Environment. Meanwhile, rapidly thawing permafrost […]

Sharp rise in methane levels threatens world climate targets – “What we are now witnessing is extremely worrying”

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 […]

Early spring rain boosts methane from thawing permafrost by 30 percent – “Permafrost regions are sensitive to the thermal effects of rain”

By Sarah McQuate4 February 2019 (UW News) – Arctic permafrost is thawing as the Earth warms due to climate change. In some cases, scientists predict that this thawing soil will release increasing amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that is known to trap more heat in our planet’s atmosphere. Now a University of Washington-led […]

Decreasing snow cover causes increasing methane production in frozen lakes

25 January 2019 (Uppsala University) – New, unexpected consequences of climate change keep presenting themselves. A new study from Uppsala University and SLU shows that a decreased snow cover on frozen lakes in boreal forests may inhibit the activity of methane degrading bacteria beneath the ice, thereby causing an increased net production of methane, a […]

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