EartherClimate Change

The Great Barrier Reef Has a Surprisingly Morbid History

It’s no secret the Great Barrier Reef is in dire straights thanks to human-caused global warming. But it turns out dramatic upheaval is nothing new for the world’s largest living thing. The Great Barrier Reef has suffered five large-scale die-offs over the past 30,000 years, all of them tied to abrupt changes in sea level … Continued

EartherClimate Change

This Climate Visualization Belongs in a Damn Museum

There’s a new global warming illustration that’s fit for the Museum of Modern Art or the Getty. Seriously, just look at that stunner up there. Ed Hawkins, the climate scientist who made the viral temperature spirals, is back at it again with another striking view of our warming planet. His latest visualization strips out all … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Breaking: Trump Administration Climate Change Report Mentions Climate Change

The resistance is on a roll. Fresh off the small victory of the NASA administrator saying accurate things about climate change, the National Park Service has released a report on climate change that mentions climate change. Last month, Reveal obtained a draft of a National Park Service report on sea level rise that showed mentions … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Why Is an Ozone-Destroying Chemical Coming Back, and How Do We Stop It?

The ozone hole, which we’ve previously described as the “quintessential ‘80s problem” became alarmingly relevant again this week. Scientists reported that emissions of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11), an ozone-destroying substance banned under the Montreal Protocol, have apparently been rising since 2012. Despite a global treaty prohibiting CFC-11’s use, someone’s breaking the law. So, why is someone fucking with … Continued

EartherClimate Change

GOP Member of Science Committee Thinks Falling Rocks Are Causing Rising Sea Levels

Mo Brooks is just a plain-spoken man from Alabama with some theories on climate change. Luckily, because everything is terrible, he’s a congressman and sits on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee so he has a platform to float some of his entirely unfounded ideas like, for instance, sea levels are rising because rocks … Continued

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Jim Bridenstine, Welcome to the Resistance

In any other country in the world, this would not be news. But nevertheless, take a deep breath and get ready to hear something big: a Trump administration official used scientifically accurate terms to talk about climate change. I know. Big. Recently-minted NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine held a town hall with NASA employees on Thursday … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Bering Sea Ice Is Basically Gone

Bering Sea ice has been battered all year by warm waters and wild winter heat waves. But at least it won’t have to suffer any more, because now it’s nearly all gone, basically a month ahead of schedule. The bizarre saga of Arctic sea ice this winter has extended into spring, with the Bering Sea … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Scott Pruitt Wined and Dined a Catholic Cardinal Accused of Sexual Abuse to Talk Climate Change Denial

The ever-growing list of stuff Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has been accused of is already incredible. But here’s something that truly boggles the mind: Last year, Pruitt met with a Roman Catholic cardinal who also happens to be facing charges of “multiple historic sexual offenses” just because said cardinal doesn’t believe in global … Continued

EartherClimate Change

This Beautiful Watercolor Painting Contains a Dark Climate Message

Art doesn’t need to live in museums or galleries. It can live on the cover of scientific journals, educating the masses in creative ways. That’s where climate change artist Jillian Pelto’s latest artwork is going, at least. A science graduate student at the University of Maine, Pelto creates beautiful watercolor pieces to help communicate scientific … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Climate Denial is a Form of American Exceptionalism

America is already great, my friends, at least when it comes to climate denial. New research published this week in Nature Climate Change shows the U.S. is without peers when it comes to denying the basic science of climate change. Scientists surveyed people in 25 countries around the world, and found there’s no country quite … Continued

EartherClimate Change

That Time It Reached 55 Degrees In Antarctica During Winter 

In recent years, warm winds have caused winter temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula to spike well above freezing. The winds have spurred major melt, causing lakes to form on ice sheets that can eventually accelerate their collapse. Oh, and climate change could make the conditions that spurred the winds worse. Great! These insights, which come … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Old Arctic Sea Ice Is Virtually Gone—and That’s Bad [Update]

The winter of discontent in the Arctic has morphed into a spring of discontent. Shocking new data shows that the region has lost almost all its old sea ice. Its disappearance, driven by warming waters and rising air temperatures, means the region is losing a bulwark against even more dramatic sea ice loss. On Thursday, … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Carbon Dioxide Has Never Been Higher in Humanity’s Existence

It’s time for your annual reminder humans have pushed the planet into a state unseen in millions of years. Carbon dioxide measurements at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii averaged 410.31 parts per million (ppm) in April. That bests last May’s record of 409.65 ppm, is well above the pre-industrial value of 280 ppm, and means … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Australia Pledges $379 Million to Help Save the Great Barrier Reef, But It Won’t Be Enough

The government of Australia announced on Sunday a plan to spend 500 million Australian dollars (roughly $379 million) on saving the Great Barrier Reef—the largest single investment ever committed towards the reef’s future, but that environmental activists say is still too little to preserve it in the face of climate change and ocean acidification. Per … Continued

EartherClimate Change

The Arabian Sea’s Suffocating ‘Dead Zone’ Is Even Larger Than We Imagined

Since the early 1960s, scientists have known about the so-called “dead zone” in the Gulf of Oman, a patch of water practically devoid of all oxygen. As anyone who has ever owned an aquarium knows, even fish require oxygen, but as a surprising new survey shows, the Arabian Sea features an oxygen-starved aquarium the size … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Scott Pruitt Announces EPA to Be More Transparent, Doesn’t Invite Press

Environmental Protection Agency administrator and noted luxury travel enthusiast Scott Pruitt made a big announcement about his commitment to transparency on Tuesday. There was just one little hitch: The press wasn’t invited to attend. Pruitt proposed a rule dubbed “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science,” which the agency said in a press release, “will ensure that … Continued

EartherClimate Change

President Trump’s EPA Says Burning Wood is Carbon Neutral, Like Wind and Solar Energy

The awkwardly named Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has declared that burning wood is carbon neutral. In the eyes of the Trump regime, burning wood for energy is now just as environmentally friendly as wind and solar power, despite the fact that burning biomass releases greenhouse gases. “Today’s announcement grants America’s foresters much-needed certainty and clarity … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Scientists Are Fed Up With This

The first 16 months of Donald Trump’s presidency have been pretty ugly for science. The administration has kicked inconvenient research to the curb in its decision making, pulled out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, removed sound science from public websites, and muzzled federal scientists. Scientists are sick of it, and they’re letting the … Continued

EartherClimate Change

Climate Change Will Only Make California’s Weather Whiplash Worse

When it comes to California, the concept of an average winter wet season is as useless as a bike on Los Angeles’ 405 freeway. Witness the recent multi-year drought, followed by one of the wettest winters on record in 2016-17. Or just check out this past winter, which started out bone dry before a wild … Continued

EartherClimate Change

The Machines That Could Darken the Sun to Stop Climate Change

Climate change is an increasingly dangerous antagonist, and we’re not doing a great job curtailing it. Which is why, in the not too distant future, we may have to undertake a new, Manhattan Project-style endeavor to hold back the rising mercury. Once a fringe idea, there’s now a growing possibility we’ll build machines that will, … Continued