carbon

In Buddhist tradition, the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" monkeys are not dwelling on evil thoughts, but their image is often used to refer to a lack of moral responsibility.

12 November 2023

Climate news digest: Autumn 2023

Here are some of the top climate news items this autumn.

Karl Wenner installed the wetland on 70 of his 400 acres in southern Oregon.

22 October 2023

How a farmer turned his fields into a wildlife sanctuary

Karl Wenner’s Oregon land once leaked pollution into a nearby lake. Now, 70 acres are home to waterfowl, turtles and endangered fish. “This place wanted to be a wetland.”

Each dot represents where funding has been announced or awarded resulting from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Information is also available about funding awards on separate maps for Alaska, Hawai'i, Mariana Islands and Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

26 August 2023

We’re all benefiting from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — especially Republicans

One year after its passage, Republican congressional districts have received nearly $74 billion in announced or awarded funding, with less than $10 billion in funding for Democratic districts.

This diagram illustrates the mechanisms by which carbon moves into and out of coastal wetlands: (1) Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is taken in by trees and plants during the process of photosynthesis. This is called sequestration. (2) Dead leaves, branches, and roots containing carbon are buried in the soil, which is frequently, if not always, covered with tidal waters. This oxygen-poor environment causes very slow breakdown of the plant materials, resulting in significant carbon storage. (3) A small amount of carbon is lost back to the atmosphere through respiration, while the rest is stored in the leaves, branches, and roots of the plants.

29 May 2023

Activist Supreme Court supremely undermines role of wetlands in carbon sequestration

Conservative justices disregard science and precedent in controversial 5-4 ruling severely limiting protections in the Clean Water Act.

Researchers have newly estimated how Earth's global mean surface temperature (GMST) will continue rising, albeit relatively briefly, even if all greenhouse gas emissions suddenly stop. The graph's thick dashed line represents the expected extra 0.2 degrees Celsius rise in GMST, followed by a sharp decline, indicating even more cooling with the cessation of all GHG emissions. Previous research focused only on carbon dioxide emissions (dotted line). The orange line reflects a rising GMST if emissions continue under a moderate business-as-usual scenario.

25 August 2022

More global heating ‘baked in’ than previously thought, but so is more cooling, new research finds

Focusing only on reducing CO2 emissions misses the warming already baked into the system, as well as the extra cooling we’d enjoy if all emissions stop.

Tropical forests create year-round cooling, and collectively all forests keep Earth about 0.5 degrees Celsius cooler, according to new research.

24 March 2022

Forests cool the planet as well as store carbon, new research finds

The role forests have countering the effects of global warming is far more impactful than originally thought, new research finds.

The 2013 Alder Fire (pictured above) in Yellowstone National Park was one of five at the time caused by lightning strikes and fueled by warmer and drier weather and spread by strong winds. Lightning is attributed to 55 percent of burned acreage between 2016 and 2020. In 2020, California's largest fires were caused by lightning.

8 May 2021

How climate and wildfire risk are linked

An April 16 special broadcast by Seattle’s KOMO-TV on “the future of wildfires in our part of the world” provided a broad overview of the…

Mother Nature attempts to ease tensions between rival siblings Snow Miser and Heat Miser in 1974's "The Year Without a Santa Clause."

1 January 2021

2020: The year without a climate conference

The classic holiday movie “The Year Without a Santa Claus” introduced us to two unforgettable bickering siblings: Snow Miser and Heat Miser. While their subplot…

Biodiversity -- and carbon -- abound in a kelp forest.

3 July 2020

How sea otters are good for the climate and other things

Sea otters play a key role in the marine nearshore environment. They are a “keystone” species, which means without their presence, an ecosystem would change…

About Climate Change

How global warming is affecting our health and other things.

carbon

Climate news digest: Autumn 2023

How a farmer turned his fields into a wildlife sanctuary

We’re all benefiting from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law — especially Republicans

Activist Supreme Court supremely undermines role of wetlands in carbon sequestration

More global heating ‘baked in’ than previously thought, but so is more cooling, new research finds

Forests cool the planet as well as store carbon, new research finds

How climate and wildfire risk are linked

2020: The year without a climate conference

How sea otters are good for the climate and other things