The Costs of Climate Change and Extreme Weather Are Passing High-Water Mark

Hurricane Sandy made it clear: as the climate warms, population grows, and sea level rises, extreme weather will hurt more. That's why we need to fix flood insurance.

A report released last month by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) found that by the end of the century, NFIP could have to insure 80% more properties than it does today, and the average loss on each property could rise by as much as 90%. Keeping up a system that provides subsidized flood insurance for those who live in the riskiest areas is barely doable now -- when those risks increase thanks to sea-level rise, it will be impossible. "To keep risks manageable and therefore insurable, all of us need to get serious about broad-scale financial solutions to this crisis."

The Costs of Climate Change and Extreme Weather Are Passing High-Water Mark

Scientists Take a Second Look at Concerns and Potential for Geoengineering

Earlier this week, the National Research Council convened a committee to review approaches that could cool the world, with the goal of creating a scientific foundation that could help resolve political, ethical and legal issues surrounding these controversial techniques.  Geoengineering refers to techniques that deliberately change the climate at scale, like dispersing aerosols and sucking greenhouse gases straight out of the air.  The National Research Council is the working arm of the United States National Academies, which include the National Academy of Sciences.

Scientists Take a Second Look at Concerns and Potential for Geoengineering

CIA Backs $630,000 Scientific Study on Controlling Global Climate

Battery Seen as Way to Cut Power Losses in High Heat

Disruptions have plagued utilities for years: how do they keep extra electricity on hand and ready to keep the power on while air-conditioners strain utilities’ capacity?

If testing goes well, batteries from Eos Energy Storage hold the promise of providing storage that until now has been unaffordable on a large scale.

Eos projects that its cost will be $160 a kilowatt-hour, and that it would provide electricity cheaper than a new gas power plant built to help fulfill periods of high demand. Other battery technologies can range from $400 to $1,000 a kilowatt-hour.

Battery Seen as Way to Cut Power Losses in High Heat

World Bank to Limit Financing of Coal-Fired Plants

The World Bank's board on Tuesday agreed to a new energy strategy that will limit financing of coal-fired power plants to "rare circumstances," as the Washington-based global development powerhouse seeks to address the impact of climate change.

World Bank to Limit Financing of Coal-Fired Plants

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Massive Iceberg Breaks Away from the Pine Island Glacier in the Antarctic

On July 8, 2013, a huge area of the ice shelf, about a quarter the size of Rhode Island and some 200 feet thick, broke away from the Pine Island glacier, the longest and fastest flowing glacier in the Antarctic, and is now floating in the Amundsen Sea in the form of a very large iceberg.

Massive Iceberg Breaks Away from the Pine Island Glacier in the Antarctic

US Passes 10 GW Installed Solar PV Capacity Milestone

The United States is now one of four countries to achieve 10 gigawatts of solar power capacity, and installations are only expected to accelerate.

US Passes 10 GW Installed Solar PV Capacity Milestone

Peak Water: What Happens When the Wells Go Dry?

Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water.

We drink on average four liters of water per day, in one form or another, but the food we eat each day requires 2,000 liters of water to produce, or 500 times as much. Getting enough water to drink is relatively easy, but finding enough to produce the ever-growing quantities of grain the world consumes is another matter.

Peak Water: What Happens When the Wells Go Dry? - by Lester R. Brown

Coal Emissions in China Slash 5.5 Years Off Life Expectancy

The life expectancy of people living in northern China is 5 1/2 years less than in southern China as a result of the north's notoriously bad air pollution, largely due to the burning of coal, according to a new study.

Coal Emissions in China Slash 5.5 Years Off Life Expectancy

UN Reports ‘Unprecedented’ Global Warming, Climate Extremes Since 2000

The planet has warmed faster since the turn of the century than ever recorded, almost doubling the pace of sea-level increase and causing a 20-fold jump in heat-related deaths, the United Nations said.

The decade through 2010 was the warmest for both hemispheres and for land and sea, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said today in an e-mailed report examining climate trends for the beginning of the millennium. Almost 94 percent of countries logged their warmest 10 years on record, it said.

“The decadal rate of increase between 1991-2000 and 2001-2010 was unprecedented,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said in a statement. “Rising concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are changing our climate, with far-reaching implications for our environment and our oceans.”

UN Reports ‘Unprecedented’ Global Warming, Climate Extremes Since 2000

At Georgetown, Mr. Obama reaffirmed the pledge he made in Copenhagen that the United States would reduce its emissions by about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. Without mandated cuts in emissions from American power plants, which Mr. Obama announced he would address using his executive powers, there is little hope that the United States can meet that goal.
For a president who has been on the defensive over the National Security Agency's surveillance operations and his failure to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the climate change plan offers a chance to reset his image overseas. It carries echoes of what once made him so popular, tempered with the pragmatism of a leader in his second term.

Obama Seeks New U.S. Role in Climate Debate

A New Report Says Less Carbon Pollution and More Manufacturing Can Go Hand-In-Hand

A new report by the Center for American Progress suggests ... we can, in fact, combat global warming and boost manufacturing at the same time, providing jobs to working class Americans.

A New Report Says Less Carbon Pollution and More Manufacturing Can Go Hand-In-Hand

Growing Doubts on the Numbers from Fracking Giant Chesapeake Energy

A growing chorus of independent analysts and law enforcement agencies have their doubts and have questioned whether shale drillers are overhyping their financial prospects and overestimating how much oil or gas they can profitably pull from the ground. Just this week, one of America's biggest agricultural lenders, the Netherlands-based Rabobank, announced that it would no longer lend money to companies that invest in shale gas extraction (nor to farmers worldwide who lease their land to these drillers).


Growing Doubts on the Numbers from Fracking Giant Chesapeake Energy

Obama Announces Power Africa Plan to Double Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa

President Obama announced a new plan to double electricity access in Sub-Saharan Africa this weekend during his trip to Africa.
The plan, called Power Africa, will include a $7 billion pledge from the U.S., financed primarily by $5 billion in funds from the Export-Import Bank and $1.5 billion by the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The program is also funded by $9 billion from private entities, with General Electric among the top contributors.


Obama Announces Power Africa Plan to Double Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa

Atmospheric CO2 Has Big Consequences for Tiny Bacteria That Are Foundation of Most of Life in Sea

Climate change may be weeding out the bacteria that form the base of the ocean's food chain, selecting certain strains for survival, according to a new study.

Atmospheric CO2 Has Big Consequences for Tiny Bacteria That Are Foundation of Most of Life in Sea