A Year of Climate Extremes, In Photos
Yale E360
DECEMBER 31, 2024
From floods in Brazil to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, extreme weather exacted a devastating toll in 2024.
2024
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Five Things the “Nuclear Bros” Don’t Want You to Know About Small Modular Reactors
Union of Concerned Scientists
APRIL 30, 2024
Even casual followers of energy and climate issues have probably heard about the alleged wonders of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). This is due in no small part to the “ nuclear bros ”: an active and seemingly tireless group of nuclear power advocates who dominate social media discussions on energy by promoting SMRs and other “advanced” nuclear technologies as the only real solution for the climate crisis.
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New study suggests the Atlantic overturning circulation AMOC “is on tipping course”
Real Climate
FEBRUARY 9, 2024
A new paper was published in Science Advances today. Its title says what it is about: “Physics-based early warning signal shows that AMOC is on tipping course.” The study follows one by Danish colleagues which made headlines last July, likewise looking for early warning signals for approaching an AMOC tipping point (we discussed it here ), but using rather different data and methods.
New Environmental Laws Focus on Public Health
Legal Planet
OCTOBER 23, 2024
The California State Legislature is now finally in its off-season. Governor Newsom had until Monday, September 30 th to sign or veto bills that the legislature passed and sent to his desk. In a final tally of bills, according to CalMatters , Governor Newsom vetoed approximately 18% of the nearly 1,000 bills that landed on his desk in the final days of session, or close to 1 in 5 bills.
Smart Tech + Human Expertise = How to Modernize Manufacturing Without Losing Control
Speaker: Andrew Skoog, Founder of MachinistX & President of Hexis Representatives
Manufacturing is evolving, and the right technology can empower—not replace—your workforce. Smart automation and AI-driven software are revolutionizing decision-making, optimizing processes, and improving efficiency. But how do you implement these tools with confidence and ensure they complement human expertise rather than override it? Join industry expert Andrew Skoog as he explores how manufacturers can leverage automation to enhance operations, streamline workflows, and make smarter, data-dri
Ask a Scientist: How Close Are We to a Clean Energy Transition?
Union of Concerned Scientists
OCTOBER 15, 2024
After the hottest summer on record, the world continues to witness extreme weather fueled by the burning of fossil fuels. In the United States alone, we’re in the midst of a record-setting hurricane season, with back-to-back destructive hurricanes, Helene and Milton, causing immense destruction in Florida and neighboring states. Both hurricanes were exacerbated by warmer ocean surface temperatures, and are examples of “what hurricanes will look more like in the future,” according to Dr.
Fossil fuel lobbyists are once again swarming Canada’s COP29 delegation
Enviromental Defense
NOVEMBER 14, 2024
Statement from Julia Levin, Associate Director, National Climate Fossil fuel lobbyists are once again swarming the international climate negotiations, including within Canada’s official delegation. According to Environmental Defence’s analysis of the UN’s Provisional List of Registered Participants at COP29, 28 people with ties to the fossil fuel sector were given Party badges by Canada.
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Drilling Into the Differences Between Offshore Oil Drilling and Offshore Wind
Ocean Conservancy
NOVEMBER 15, 2024
It took Hurricane Helene just three days to travel from the overly warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the mountains of North Carolina, causing incredible damage and loss of life. Hurricane Milton also moved fast, intensifying from a Category 1 to a Category 5 hurricane in a single day, before hitting Florida with incredible winds, tornados and flooding.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation: 'Get Real' When Considering A Christmas Tree
PA Environment Daily
NOVEMBER 26, 2024
By Kristen Heberlig, CBF Resiliency Program Manager in PA When considering a Christmas tree this holiday season, “getting real” helps the environment and local economy at the same time. Unlike artificial trees, real Christmas trees are recyclable and renewable resources that clean our water and our air and provide important habitat for wildlife. Buying a real Christmas tree every year also supports Pennsylvania growers, which is good for the economy.
Upcoming Developments in International Governance of Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal
Law Columbia
OCTOBER 25, 2024
The next week has the potential to bring important developments for international governance of marine carbon dioxide removal (CDR). That’s because the parties to the London Convention and London Protocol are meeting from October 28 to November 1 in London to discuss, among other things, governance of ocean alkalinity enhancement and ocean sinking of biomass (e.g. seaweed) for carbon storage.
Guest Post: Is the Future of Organic Food at Risk? Research Funding Holds the Answer
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)
NOVEMBER 19, 2024
Photo credit: Matt Ryan/Sandra Wayman Editor’s Note: This blog post is a guest post authored by Gordon Merrick, Senior Policy and Programs Manager at the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) and Mark Schonbeck, Research Associate, also at OFRF, which is an NSAC member. The world is increasingly recognizing the value of sustainable food systems, and organic agriculture plays a vital role in this movement.
The Key to Sustainable Energy Optimization: A Data-Driven Approach for Manufacturing
Speaker: Kevin Kai Wong, President of Emergent Energy Solutions
In today's industrial landscape, the pursuit of sustainable energy optimization and decarbonization has become paramount. ♻️ Manufacturing corporations across the U.S. are facing the urgent need to align with decarbonization goals while enhancing efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, the lack of comprehensive energy data poses a significant challenge for manufacturing managers striving to meet their targets. 📊 Join us for a practical webinar hosted by Kevin Kai Wong of Emergent Ene
Melting Sea Ice Giving Rise to More Storms Around Antarctica
Yale E360
DECEMBER 26, 2024
The decline of sea ice around Antarctica is fueling more frequent storms in the Southern Ocean, a new study finds.
Plastic Pollution and Climate Change: Understanding Their Interconnected Impact on Our Planet
Earthava
NOVEMBER 13, 2024
The post Plastic Pollution and Climate Change: Understanding Their Interconnected Impact on Our Planet appeared first on Earthava. Plastic pollution poses a significant threat not only to ecosystems but also to the climate. Plastic waste contributes to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases during its production, degradation, and incineration.
Twenty years of blogging in hindsight
Real Climate
NOVEMBER 23, 2024
It’s 20 years since we started blogging on climate here on RealClimate (December 10, 2004). We wanted to counter disinformation about climate change that was spreading through various campaigns. In those days it was an unusual move that prompted a welcome from Nature. One thing that I didn’t anticipate then was the vast global scale that fake news and conspiracy theories later would attain.
How to Make Trees Worth More Standing Than Cut Down
Legal Planet
OCTOBER 14, 2024
West of Sydney, Australia, lies the Blue Mountains, a range of plateaus and panoramic canyons forested with eucalyptus trees. Oil in the leaves produces a bluish haze, hence the name of the area. Twenty-five years ago, in 1999, a new NGO called Forest Trends brought together a small international group to the town of Katoomba to brainstorm over increasing capital flows to protect nature, how to “make trees worth more standing than cut down.
Implementing D.E.J.I. Strategies in Energy, Environment, and Transportation
Speaker: Antoine M. Thompson, Executive Director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition
Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (DEJI) policies, programs, and initiatives are critically important as we move forward with public and private sector climate and sustainability goals and plans. Underserved and socially, economically, and racially disadvantaged communities bear the burden of pollution, higher energy costs, limited resources, and limited investments in the clean energy and transportation sectors.
How Many Minerals Do We Really Need for EV Batteries?
Union of Concerned Scientists
DECEMBER 18, 2024
Electric vehicles (EVs) are a cleaner option than gasoline alternatives and are essential for reducing emissions that cause climate change and illnesses. UCS has estimated the minerals needed to electrify passenger vehicle sales in the United States and our recent report has exciting findings– we can electrify using less minerals than previously thought!
What Ontario stands to lose in Premier Ford’s push for more cars everywhere
Enviromental Defense
NOVEMBER 1, 2024
What do the proposed Highway 413, the Bradford By-Pass, the 401 Mega-Tunnel, ripping up and banning bike lanes, extending the “temporary” gas tax rebate for the fourth time or canceling license plate renewal fees have in common? The answer of course is cars. Do more highways and less bike lanes actually reduce gridlock? The simple answer is no, more highways don’t make traffic better.
The Year in Climate: Record Heat, an Election, a Push for Justice and Reasons for Hope
Inside Climate News
DECEMBER 30, 2024
2024 was a year that might as well have been a decade. Heres what happened, as documented by Inside Climate News reporters. By Dan Gearino, ICN Staff In a year of record-setting heat, intensifying extreme weather and a bitterly partisan presidential election in which climate change was almost never mentioned, the transition away from fossil fuels made significant progress that was still not nearly enough.
Our Fight for the Future at COP29
Ocean Conservancy
NOVEMBER 11, 2024
Fifty-two years. 26 Congresses. 10 U.S. presidents. That’s how long Ocean Conservancy has been advancing policies that secure a healthy ocean and a thriving planet. Through political shifts and economic tides, the organization has stayed the course. Protecting our blue planet isn’t just a matter of politics; it is our duty—to ourselves, to future generations and to the planet we call home.
Shaping a Resilient Future: Climate Impact on Vulnerable Populations
Speaker: Laurie Schoeman Director, Climate & Sustainability, Capital
As households and communities across the nation face challenges such as hurricanes, wildfires, drought, extreme heat and cold, and thawing permafrost and flooding, we are increasingly searching for ways to mitigate and prevent climate impacts. During this event, national climate and housing expert Laurie Schoeman will discuss topics including: The two paths for climate action: decarbonization and adaptation.
PA Republican Senators Introduce Bill To Punish Local Elected Officials Who Want To Protect Their Constituents From The Documented Adverse Health, Environmental Impacts Of Shale Gas Development
PA Environment Daily
NOVEMBER 8, 2024
On November 7, PA Republican Senators introduced Senate Bill 1346 that punishes local elected officials who want to better protect their constituents from the documented adverse health and environmental impacts of shale gas development. The legislation would prohibit municipalities from receiving Act 13 drilling impact fees if they set protective standards on the development of natural gas that “imposes a standard or condition on well development that conflicts with or exceeds those contained” i
Why the World Needs a New UN Study on the Effects of Nuclear War
Union of Concerned Scientists
OCTOBER 29, 2024
Coming up for a vote in early November is a resolution advanced by the Ireland and New Zealand delegations to the United Nations (UN) to commission a critical new scientific study on the effects of nuclear war. The study, which would be the first under UN auspices in more than 30 years, would be run by an independent scientific panel of 21 members and would examine the physical effects and societal consequences of a nuclear war on local, regional, and planetary scales.
Why Climate Scientists Are Sounding the Alarm on the Ocean Circulation System AMOC
Union of Concerned Scientists
NOVEMBER 12, 2024
Last month, 44 climate scientists from 15 countries wrote an open letter to the Nordic Council of Ministers highlighting the risk of a potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a critical ocean current system in the Atlantic Ocean. In the letter, the climate scientists stress that the risk of an AMOC collapse due to climate change has been greatly underestimated according to new observational evidence.
Gas Plants Have a Real Climate Problem. So Do Some Proposed Approaches for Addressing It.
Union of Concerned Scientists
OCTOBER 15, 2024
Power plants fueled by methane gas have a serious climate problem. The fuel, commonly known as natural gas, now powers the biggest portion of US electricity generation—more than 40 percent. It has also grown to be the largest source of carbon pollution from the US power sector, even as zero-carbon renewable energy has been growing by leaps and bounds.
Sustainability at Retail
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Sustainability impacts every nation, company, and person around the world. So much so that, in 2015, the United Nations (UN) issued a call for action by all countries to work toward sustainable development. In response to this and as part of a global Sustainability at Retail initiative, Shop! worked collaboratively with its global affiliates to address these critical issues in this white paper.
California Must Not Abandon its Climate Leadership
Legal Planet
NOVEMBER 4, 2024
On November 8, the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, is slated to consider approving amendments to California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The program has been so successful in replacing high carbon petroleum-based fuels with lower emissions vehicle fuels that interest groups from all sides of the political spectrum have come forward to demand radical changes that they argue will fix problems.
2024 Year in Review: Clean Energy Progress Steeped in Solar and Storage
Union of Concerned Scientists
DECEMBER 30, 2024
The end of every year is a great time for taking stock of what the year has broughtincluding in terms of clean energy in the power sector. As it turns out, 2024 has provided a whole lot of clean energy progress as fodder for that stock-taking. Heres a taste, from US projects, technologies, electrons, and investment, to happenings in the world as a whole.
CPUC Should Set a Date for Closing Aliso Canyon
Legal Planet
NOVEMBER 26, 2024
The Aliso Canyon gas storage facility blowout in 2015-16 was the largest methane gas leak in the history of the United States. In addition to the climate effects from the methane leakage — 109,000 metric tons, the equivalent of burning over 1 billion gallons of gasoline — there were tremendous health impacts on neighboring communities and even throughout California.
Soaring Insurance Rates Show Climate Change Is a Pocketbook Issue
Union of Concerned Scientists
DECEMBER 17, 2024
As 2024 winds down, with its parade of climate-and extreme weather-fueled disasters , people across the nation are feeling the sharp pinch of rising insurance premiums and dropped policies. There are other factors at play hereincluding growing development in flood-prone and wildfire-prone areas and fundamental inequities and information gaps in the insurance marketbut all of that is being exacerbated by worsening flooding, wildfires and intensified storms.
How to Drive Cost Savings, Efficiency Gains, and Sustainability Wins with MES
Speaker: Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions
Is your manufacturing operation reaching its efficiency potential? A Manufacturing Execution System (MES) could be the game-changer, helping you reduce waste, cut costs, and lower your carbon footprint. Join Nikhil Joshi, Founder & President of Snic Solutions, in this value-packed webinar as he breaks down how MES can drive operational excellence and sustainability.
Six Things to Know about Rights of Nature
Legal Planet
DECEMBER 3, 2024
Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature protests in NYC. Photo credit: Lisa Weatherbee This Fall, I have been co-teaching a course on Rights of Nature with the historian Jill Lepore. This is the first time either of us have taught the subject and it has proven a wonderful opportunity to explore with our students this emerging movement — one that some have praised as “ A Legal Revolution That Could Save The World ” and others decried as “ A Wrong Turn ” or worse.
NEPA in the Supreme Court (Part I)
Legal Planet
NOVEMBER 11, 2024
In what could turn out to be another loss for environmental protection in the Supreme Court, the Court is about to decide a major case about the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The case, Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County , has important implications for issues such as whether NEPA covers climate change impacts.
Chasing Glaciers: A Runner’s Quest Through a Changing Landscape
Union of Concerned Scientists
NOVEMBER 26, 2024
In 2022 I visited Glacier National Park for the first time with two close friends. We spent five days backpacking through the backcountry, and I was enthralled by the park’s vastness and beauty and the chance to see glaciers for the first time in my life. While I loved camping out in the wild, as a trail runner I couldn’t help but think of ways to travel lighter, cover more territory, and see even more of this breathtaking landscape.
We Need to Change Our Assumptions About Gas Plant Reliability
Union of Concerned Scientists
NOVEMBER 18, 2024
Gas power plants have a problem. And it’s a problem that affects all of us. In extreme weather, when electricity demand is at its highest and the grid needs gas plants the most, gas plants have been failing at alarming rates. In the worst instance , widespread gas plant failures led to rolling blackouts that impacted millions of people for days on end.
Will UN Climate Talks in Azerbaijan Deliver on Finance and Emission Reductions?
Union of Concerned Scientists
OCTOBER 31, 2024
The annual UN climate talks, COP29, will kick off on November 11, just days after the US elections and in a year of numerous consequential elections around the world. Coming at the end of what is certain to be the hottest year on record , with millions of people experiencing devastating climate-fueled disasters and global heat-trapping emissions still rising , this COP has a sobering backdrop.
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