Will Humans Become Hobbits?
A hobbit in the movie, and what real-life hobbits (homo floresiensis) looked like when they flourished on the island of Flores in Indonesia for about 80,000…
After the Sixth Extinction
This smiling fellow, known as Thalattoarchon saurophagis, was cruising the oceans about 244 million years ago in what are now the mountains of central Nevada, snapping up smaller fish for dinner. And that, we’re told, is good news. Here’s why.
Most Americans Call Climate Change a High Priority
Some recent facts from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication: * Most Americans (77%) say global warming should be a “very high”, “high”, or “medium”…
2012: Hottest Year on Record
Unless the United States suddenly goes into a massive deep freeze for the next two weeks, this year is going to come out as the hottest…
Don’t Bet on a Climate Agreement in Qatar
Lots of luck trying to get the nations of the world to do anything meaningful about our rapidly warming planet. As the talks in Qatar enter…
Sea Levels Rising Ever Faster
New research shows that sea levels are rising considerably faster than previously calculated. The study shows that children being born today can expect to see low-lying…
History of Climate Change Negotiations in 83 Seconds
If you’re bewildered by things like “carbon offsets”, are trying to figure out what they’re all talking about at yet another summit (this time in Qatar),…
Worst Place to Hold a Climate Conference
It’s a bit like McDonalds hosting a conference on the obesity epidemic. You can’t help wondering who decided that the best location for what may be the world’s last-chance climate convention would be the fabulously wealthy Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar.
U.N. Says We’re in Big Climate Trouble
Forget the “fiscal cliff.” Unless dramatic, sacrificial action is taken right now, we’ll have taken the whole planet over the environmental cliff within eight years –…
How Congress Will Address Climate Change
Who will be the new chairman of the Congressional Science Committee in the House of Representatives? Someone who believes what science tells us? Or perhaps one…
The End of the World: 2028, Says Bill McKibben
Echoing Bill Clinton’s famous “It’s arithmetic” speech during the election campaign, environmental activist Bill McKibben is saying: “Just do the math.” On a lecture tour around…
Aquatic Animals Shrink as Oceans Warm
Global warming is causing aquatic animals to shrink – up to 10 times more than land-dwellers. That’s the conclusion of a major study of animals from…
Mother Nature’s Extra Vote
Last week, Mother Nature cast an early vote, with Hurricane Sandy reminding us all that there’s just one overarching priority for the next administration and the next Congress. This week another storm is brewing.
Last night, when President Obama spoke to his supporters and to the nation, he laid out his priorities for the next four years:
How the Jet Stream Is Causing Weather Extremes
Here’s a simple explanation, from The Wildlife News, of the jet stream and how it can cause some of the extremes of weather we’ve been seeing…
Why Sandy Won’t Change Anything
A vast storm shuts down the largest population area of the United States. Millions of people are without power, transportation, even their homes. New York’s Gov. Cuomo says it seems like “we have a 100-year flood every two years now … We have a new reality when it comes to these weather patterns.”
So, do we now “get it” that huge changes are now taking place on our planet?
Beauty in a Sandy Wind Map
This is Hurricane Sandy as she appeared in a wind map by the folks at HINT-FM on Monday evening, when the eye of the storm was…
Mother Nature Comments on the Debates
Although President Obama, Gov. Romney and the debate moderators all chose not to raise the topic of climate change, Mother Nature may get the last word.…
How the World Ends – in Silence
Proverbially, the world ends either with a bang or with a whimper. But last night we learned that it will end, instead, in silence.
In a debate that was all about how we relate to the rest of the world, neither President Obama nor Gov. Romney ever mentioned the global devastation being wrought by climate change, the mass extinctions that are unfolding, the multiple pandemics that can break loose at any moment, the poisoning of the land, the oceans and the air we breathe, or any of the other enormous threats we face.
It’s Getting Hotter, but Lots of Us Still Don’t Believe It
Are the trees still green where you live? If they are, your memory is not playing tricks on you. Fall really is starting later. But millions of Americans must not be looking out of their windows. A new survey shows that a large number of us are still buying into the propaganda that nothing unusual is really happening.
Bye-Bye, Great Barrier Reef
Before and after on the Horseshoe Reef area of the Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef – the largest and most iconic coral reef…