News & More
Before the terrorist attacks that left more than 125 people dead and hundreds wounded in Paris on Friday, November 13, 2015, the city was set to host the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, starting on November 30, 2015.
News & More
On July 25, 2015, the MSV Fennica, a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker which was carrying oil-drilling equipment to the Arctic, arrived in Portland, Oregon, for repairs.
Alaska
Alaska is on fire. Even where I live in Wisconsin, I can feel it. A NASA photo shows that a plume of smoke from those northern blazes extends all the way down through the Midwest. But that’s not the only reason why I should care about Alaska’s fires.
Videos
Last year, 2014, was the warmest on record since 1880, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. What is even more telling is that nine of the 10 warmest years since modern records began have now occurred since 2000.
News & More
To help meet our growing energy needs, in recent years we have increasingly turned to wind power. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that in 2014, 4.4 percent of the electricity we generated came from wind. However, the wind industry is set to expand exponentially from the current 60,000 megawatts of capacity to 300,000 by 2030.
Videos
We know that the world’s forests—boreal, temperate and tropical—play a large role in sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2)—as long as drought, harvesting, insect damage and wildfires don’t overpower them. But we may have another “champion” helping us to combat rising CO2 levels: whales.
News & More
Suppose we meet for a cup of coffee, and in the course of our conversation, I tell you that 2014 was officially the hottest year on record.
News & More
At the most recent United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Lima, Peru, in December 2014, more than 190 countries—including the United States—voluntarily agreed to limit carbon emissions in order to keep the world from warming another 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of this century.
Conservation
One of my favorite things about writing a regular eco-travel and environmental column is getting to read the comments that come in. Sometimes readers are complimentary, sometimes they are critical and sometimes they challenge me. Such is the case with an article I recently wrote on soil and climate change.
News & More
Americans may finally be getting more concerned about climate change, according to the Pew Research Center. In a brand-new survey about policy priorities that was conducted January 7–11, 2015, the organization found that more of us now view “global warming” as an important consideration for the president and Congress.
Videos
Have you heard of “cli-psy”? It’s a new field of study about why we have trouble accepting climate change facts. Watch this short video explaining the reasons.
Conservation
Feeding the world’s population in the coming years is going to be a challenge. The United Nations estimates that by 2100, there will be an average of 11 billion people on Earth; that’s 4 billion more than there are today. Several solutions have been suggested, such as farming and eating insects.
