By Tim Radford20 March 2014 (Climate News Network) – Methane or natural gas is a greenhouse gas. Weight for weight, it is more than 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a century, and researchers have repeatedly examined the contribution of natural gas emitted by ruminant cattle to global warming. But Gabriel Yvon-Durocher […]
By WESTON MORROW29 November 2013 FAIRBANKS, Alaska (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner) – Ounce for ounce, methane has an effect on global warming more than 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and it’s leaking from the Arctic Ocean at an alarming rate, according to new research by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Their article, […]
By Peter Frumhoff, director of science & policy 21 November 2013 (UCS) – Today’s publication in the journal Climatic Change by Richard Heede on Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854–2010 provides a robust scientific basis for motivating fresh thinking and dialogue about responsibility for taking action to […]
Geneva, 6 November 2013 (WMO) – The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2012, continuing an upward and accelerating trend which is driving climate change and will shape the future of our planet for hundreds and thousands of years. The World Meteorological Organization’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin shows […]
By Wendy Koch9 October 2013 NORTH POLE, Alaska (USA TODAY) – Up the road from Santa Claus Lane, past the candy cane-striped streetlamps, Cathy Richard’s backyard has a problem that not even elves — or the big guy in red — could fix. The wood deck moves up and down, like a slow-motion sleigh. “You […]
3 September 2013 (World Bank) – Some of the easiest targets for lowering greenhouse gas emissions are right in front of us every day: black carbon from diesel-fueled vehicles and solid fuel cooking fires, methane from solid waste, hydrofluorocarbons from aerosols. These are short-lived climate pollutants, named for their relatively short lifespan in the atmosphere. […]
By Kerry Sheridan6 August 2013 WASHINGTON (AFP) – The world lost record amounts of Arctic sea ice in 2012 and spewed out all-time high levels of greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels, international climate scientists said Tuesday. Last year was among the top 10 on record for global land and surface temperature since modern data […]
By Nafeez Ahmed 5 August 2013 (The Guardian) – Debate over the plausibility of a catastrophic release of methane in coming decades due to thawing Arctic permafrost has escalated after a new Nature paper warned that exactly this scenario could trigger costs equivalent to the annual GDP of the global economy. Scientists of different persuasions […]
By Nafeez Ahmed 24 July 2013 (The Guardian) – A new paper in the journal Nature argues that the release of a 50 Gigatonne (Gt) methane pulse from thawing Arctic permafrost could destabilise the climate system and trigger costs as high as the value of the entire world’s GDP. The East Siberian Arctic Shelf’s (ESAS) […]
By John Abraham 7 July 2013 (The Guardian) – Perhaps I have been naïve, but for many years I have held the view that economists were good decision makers and that part of being a good decision maker was to seek out good information. Well-informed decisions, I thought, allowed people to earn better returns, to […]