greenhouse gases

Study: To Counter Global Warming, Focus Far More On Methane

February 10, 2022 Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News. Educate! climate crisis, Environment, greenhouse gases, Methane

The Environmental Protection Agency is drastically undervaluing the potency of methane as a greenhouse gas when the agency compares methane’s climate impact to that of carbon dioxide, a new study concludes. The EPA’s climate accounting for methane is “arbitrary and unjustified” and three times too low to meet the goals set in the Paris climate agreement, the research report, published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found. The report proposes a new method of accounting that places greater emphasis on the potential for cuts in methane and other short-lived greenhouse gasses to help limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. “If you want to keep the world from passing the 1.5 degrees C threshold, you’ll want to pay more attention to methane than we have so far,” said Rob Jackson, an earth system science professor at Stanford University and a co-author of the study.

Are We Really Past The Point Of No Return On Climate?

November 17, 2020 Olivia Rosane, Ecowatch. Educate! Carbon emissions, climate crisis, greenhouse gases, Sea level rise

A controversial new climate study has found that, even if greenhouse gas emissions were halted tomorrow, it might not be enough to stop temperatures from continuing to rise. The study, published in Scientific Reports Thursday, was conducted by two researchers at the BI Norwegian Business School. They used the ESCIMO climate model to determine that, even if emissions ceased tomorrow, the permafrost would continue to thaw for hundreds of years. "According to our models, humanity is beyond the point-of-no-return when it comes to halting the melting of permafrost using greenhouse gas cuts as the single tool," lead author and professor emeritus of climate strategy Jorgen Randers told AFP.

The World Is On Lockdown – Where Are The Carbon Emissions Coming From?

April 29, 2020 Shannon Osaka, Grist.org. Educate! climate crisis, Global Recession, greenhouse gases, Pandemic

Pedestrians have taken over city streets, people have almost entirely stopped flying, skies are blue (even in Los Angeles!) for the first time in decades, and global CO2 emissions are on-track to drop by … about 5.5 percent. Wait, what? Even with the global economy at a near-standstill, the best analysis suggests that the world is still on track to release 95 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted in a typical year, continuing to heat up the planet and driving climate change even as we’re stuck at home. A 5.5-percent drop in carbon dioxide emissions would still be the largest yearly change on record, beating out the financial crisis of 2008 and World War II. But it’s worth wondering: Where do all of those emissions come from? And if stopping most travel and transport isn’t enough to slow down climate change, what will be?

Climate Models Got It Right On Global Warming

December 16, 2019 By Chelsea Harvey, Scientificamerican.com Educate! Climate Science, Global Warming, greenhouse gases

There’s a favorite argument among doubters of mainstream climate science: Climate models overestimate the rate at which the Earth is warming. That claim surfaces time and again and is frequently based on single examples of uncertainty or cherry-picked data. Various studies have gone back and closely examined individual climate models in recent years and have generally found that they’re working pretty well. A study released yesterday has taken the exercise to the next level. The research takes a comprehensive look at all the global climate models published from the 1970s to 2007...

Under Cap & Trade California’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Increase

November 18, 2019 By Lisa Song, Propublica.org Educate! California, Climate Change, emissions, greenhouse gases, Oil, pollution

Gov. Jerry Brown took the podium at a July 2017 press conference to lingering applause after a steady stream of politicians praised him for helping to extend California’s signature climate policy for another decade. Brown, flanked by the U.S. and California flags, with a backdrop of the gleaming San Francisco Bay, credited the hard work of the VIPs seated in the crowd. “It’s people in industry, and they’re here!” he said. “Shall we mention them? People representing oil, agriculture, business, Chamber of Commerce, food processing. … Plus, we have environmentalists. ...”

Solutionary Rail Means Deep Cuts To Greenhouse Gases

October 4, 2019 Solutionary Rail, The Backbone Campaign. Create! Climate Change, greenhouse gases, New Economy

Electrify the trains: Electric cars and trucks will require resource-intensive battery manufacture and disposal. Electrifying the railroad, on the other hand, can take advantage of the fixed infrastructure of rail transport; like some bus lines in cities today, electric locomotives could receive electrical power by catenary wire accessed by a pantograph or an electrified third rail. An additional advantage of electric locomotives results from equipping them for regenerative braking – different from today’s diesel-powered trains equipped for dynamic braking, where energy is lost as heat.

Thousands Of Amazon Employees Walk Out For Climate Strike

September 22, 2019 Zoya Teirstein, Grist. Resist! Amazon, climate crisis, climate strike, greenhouse gases

“Were gonna strike cause the waters are rising, we’re gonna strike cause people are dying,” an Amazon organizer sang into a bullhorn in front of a crowd of around 3,000 at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle on Friday. Behind him, the Amazon spheres — two geodesic domes reminiscent of Buckminster Fuller’s failed experiment — glinted in the sunlight. Someone held a sign in front of the spheres reading: “Spheres are cool. Don’t wanna live in one.” Amazon employees have been organizing in the name of climate change for months now. Earlier this summer, more than 7,500 employees backed a climate change resolution that called on the tech giant to adopt an aggressive climate plan. Shareholders voted the resolution down. But the company’s climate activists refused to take “no” for an answer.

Study: Fracking Prompts Global Spike In Atmospheric Methane

August 16, 2019 By Blaine Friedlander, News.cornell.edu Educate! Fracking, greenhouse gases, Methane

As methane concentrations increase in the Earth’s atmosphere, chemical fingerprints point to a probable source: shale oil and gas, according to new Cornell research published Aug. 14 in Biogeosciences, a journal of the European Geosciences Union. The research suggests that this methane has less carbon-13 relative to carbon-12 (denoting the weight of the carbon atom at the center of the methane molecule) than does methane from conventional natural gas and other fossil fuels such as coal. This carbon-13 signature means that since the use of high-volume hydraulic fracturing – commonly called fracking...

The 9-Percent Lie: Why Are The USDA And EPA Hiding The Fact That Half Of All US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Come From Industrial Food, Farming And Land Use?

July 30, 2019 Ronnie Cummins, Organicconsumers.org Educate! EPA, Farming, Food, greenhouse gases, Land, USDA

The Climate Emergency is finally getting the attention of the media and the U.S. (and world) body politic, as well as a growing number of politicians, activists and even U.S. farmers. This great awakening has arrived just in time, given the record-breaking temperatures, violent weather, crop failures and massive waves of forced migration that are quickly becoming the norm. Global scientists have dropped their customary caution. They now warn us that we have to drastically reduce global emissions—by at least 45 percent...

Washington Commits To 100% Clean Energy And Other States May Follow Suit

May 9, 2019 Phil McKenna, Insideclimatenews.org Create! Clean Energy, Climate Change, greenhouse gases, Reform

In the absence of federal action on climate change, more states are setting ambitious targets to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Washington became the latest on Tuesday when Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law requiring that 100 percent of the state's electricity come from clean energy sources by 2045. Washington is now the fifth state or territory—following Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Puerto Rico—to commit to 100 percent clean electricity, and at least six other states are considering similar legislation.

Names And Locations Of The Top 100 People Killing The Planet

May 7, 2019 Staff, Decolonialatlas.wordpress.com Educate! Climate Change, emissions, greenhouse gases, Ruling Class

Just 100 companies are responsible for more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. The guys who run those companies – and they are mostly guys – have gotten rich on the backs of literally all life on Earth. Their business model relies on the destruction of the only home humanity has ever known. Meanwhile, we misdirect our outrage at our neighbors, friends, and family for using plastic straws or not recycling. If there is anyone who deserves the outrage of all 7.5 billion of us, it’s these 100 people right here.

Uncertain Futures Are A Warning For World To Act As One

March 17, 2019 Tim Radford, Climate News Network. Organize! Clean Energy, climate crisis, greenhouse gases

London − US scientists have peered ahead in more than five million ways, and they do not like the uncertain futures they see there. Unless the world collectively and in concert takes drastic steps to slow or halt global warming, generations to come face an intolerable prospect. And even if humans do switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, economise on resources and restore the world’s forests and grasslands, there is still no guarantee that disaster will not happen. That is because the outcome depends not just on the steps humans take now, but on one of the great, unresolved scientific questions: just how sensitive is climate to shifts in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Peak Carbon Emissions By 2020, Or Else!

October 13, 2018 Robert Hunziker, Counterpunch.org Create! Carbon, Climate Change, emission, greenhouse gases

That’s the message from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which has come out from under the shadows of Paris 2015 swinging like a heavyweight champion boxer, and in fact they’ve taken the gloves off in preparation for bare-knuckled fisticuffs. The world’s leading scientists met at the Forty-Eighth Session of the IPCC and First Joint Session of Working Groups I, II, and III, 1-5 October 2018 in Incheon, Republic of Korea and openly declared that civilization is on track for collapse because of reckless use of fossil fuels, unless the beast is corralled, meaning start reacting now, no more waiting around! Peak emissions must be achieved by 2020, a slap in the face wakeup call issued by the gathering of scientists in South Korea...

Study Shows Limits Of Cap-And-Trade In California

November 29, 2017 Larry Buhl, capitalandmain.com Educate! Air Pollution, California, greenhouse gases, New Economy

By Larry Buhl for Capital and Main - On November 11, shortly after he began his speech at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, California Governor Jerry Brown encountered jeers and chants from Native American and climate justice activists who denounced fracking and the state’s market-based solutions to greenhouse gas emissions by yelling, “Keep it in the ground.” A visibly rattled Brown snapped at the protesters, saying “Let’s put you in the ground so we can get on with the show here,” before he softened and thanked them for “bringing the diversity of dissent.” Brown has been hailed as a climate hero for signing the ambitious California Senate Bill 32, which mandates the statewide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as his public opposition to the regressive climate policies of the Trump administration. But he’s also drawn scorn for his lack of opposition to fracking, his refusal to close the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility, and for his ardent support of cap-and-trade, which some environmentalists say shouldn’t be the lynchpin of progressive climate policy. In an email, Jean Su, associate conservation director at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups organizing the Bonn protest, countered Brown’s assertion that cutting oil demand is more urgent than cutting oil supply. “California can’t be a model of climate leadership while oil companies continue to produce millions of barrels per year of some of the dirtiest crude on the planet,” Su said. Coinciding with the Bonn protest comes a new study examining cap-and-trade, Brown’s signature greenhouse gas trading program.

Climate Emergency: Greenhouse Gas Levels Surge To Historic Levels

November 3, 2017 D. Lascaris, therealnews.com Educate! Climate Change, Global Warming, greenhouse gases

By D. Lascaris for The Real News Network - This is Dimitri Lascaris for the Real News Network. On October 30th, the World Meteorological Association issued a greenhouse gas bulletin reporting that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged at record-breaking speed in 2016 to 403.3 parts per million. According to the bulletin, the rate of increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the past 70 years, is nearly 100 times larger than that at the end of the last ice age. Such abrupt changes in the atmospheric levels of CO2 have never been seen before. Rapidly increasing atmospheric levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases have the potential to initiate unprecedented changes in climate systems, leading to, "severe ecological and economic disruptions," said the report. Scientists say that recent devastating hurricanes in the US and the Caribbean are examples of major disasters that may have been made much more destructive by human-caused climate change. With us to discuss the World Meteorological Association's report, and what these record levels of CO2 in Earth's atmosphere mean, we are joined by Dr. Kevin Trenberth. Dr. Trenberth is a distinguished senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, climate and global dynamics laboratory. He joins us today from Boulder, Colorado. Thank you for joining us again today, Kevin.

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