Climate News and Resources

One of the country’s largest builders of coal-fired power plants will give investors detailed warnings about the risks that global warming poses to its business under a deal with New York’s attorney general.
Nicholas Confessore, courtesy of the New York Times

Clean energy’s dirty secret is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not.
By Matthew L. Wald, courtesy of the New York Times

Climate change could profoundly alter the weather, animal life and even the very shape of Maryland over the next century, making heat waves deadlier and leaving one corner of the Eastern Shore under water, a state-appointed commission said yesterday.
By David A. Fahrenthold and Sandhya Somashekhar, courtesy of the Washington Post

Years ago, no one thought twice about felling the rainforest around this village in West Africa.
By Arthur Max of the Associated Press, courtesy of the Washington Post

American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in half a century, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that domestic gas fields were in irreversible decline.
Clifford Krauss, courtesy of the New York Times

In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday.
By Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press, courtesy of the Washington Post

Rapidly melting ice on Alaska's Arctic is opening up a new navigable ocean in the extreme north, allowing oil tankers, fishing vessels and even cruise ships to venture into a realm once trolled mostly by indigenous hunters.
By Rachel D'Oro of the Associated Press, courtesy of the Washington Post

Africa already is suffering from "climate shocks," the president of Ghana told a 160-nation climate conference Thursday, joining a chorus of calls to speed up the pace of talks on a new agreement to rein in carbon emissions.
By Arthur Max of the Associated Press, courtesy of the Washington Post

Oil production has begun falling at all of the major Western oil companies, and they are finding it harder than ever to find new prospects even though they are awash in profits and eager to expand.
By Jad Mouawad, courtesy of The New York Times

What will happen when America can't afford to fly?
by Bradford Plumer, courtesy of The New Republic

The imminence and severity of the problems posed by the accelerating changes in the global climate are becoming increasingly evident. Heat waves are becoming more severe, droughts and downpours are becoming more intense, the Greenland Ice Sheet is shrinking and sea level is rising, and the increasing acidification of the oceans is threatening calcifying organisms. The environment and the world’s societies are facing increasing stress.
Courtesy of the UN Foundation

Extreme temperatures around the world are likely to rise dramatically as a result of global warming, a new study finds. Some heavily populated parts of the world — including the American Midwest — could face heat waves in which the temperature soars above 120 degrees by the end of this century.
Courtesy of NPR

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports both public and private sector action to control greenhouse gas emissions. In order to be effective, such action must be based on sound science, rational debate and realistic solutions. Unfortunately, on climate change, this has not been the case.
By William Kovacs, courtesy of www.politico.com

While 47% of Americans say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports building more nuclear power plants, the 41% who say they are less likely is higher than the percentage for any of nine other energy strategies tested in a new USA Today/Gallup poll.
Courtesy of Gallup, Inc.

The wind industry has arrived in force in upstate New York, but some residents say the companies have brought with them an epidemic of corruption and intimidation.
By Nicholas Confessore, courtesy of the New York Times

Ringed by volcanic rock, sandy beaches and the blue swell of the Indian Ocean, France's Reunion island is hardly a major polluter. But hit by rising fuel costs and worried about the impact of global warming, particularly on its delicate flora and fauna, the small island nation has set itself the ambitious goal of cutting its greenhouse gas emissions to zero.
By Ed Harris of Reuters, courtesy of the Washington Post

Flooded subways. Bridges deteriorating in the hot sun. Rising seas nipping at the edges of Manhattan. Those scenarios are up for review by a panel of scientists, government officials and private sector representatives studying how the city's infrastructure will hold up to climate change.
By Sara Kugler of the AP, courtesy of the Washington Post

Striking new research in the Southern California mountains suggests recent warming is behind a massive die-off and rapid migration to higher ground by nine different plants - from desert shrubs to white firs.
By Alicia Chang of the AP, courtesy of the Washington Post

The Columbia Journalism Review has weighed in on the Rosenbaum critique of climate reporting (the Review was his main focus.] Boy, did Ron Rosenbaum ever do a selective reading of Dot Earth last week when he wrote a column for Slate on journalists’ responsibility to cover dissent on global warming (and other issues).
By Andrew C. Revkin, courtesy of the New York Times

Not only have they rebelled against the status quo by ripping out their gas-guzzling engines and replacing them with zero-emission electric motors, they say just about anyone can do it.
By Curt Merrill of CNN.com

The Environmental Protection Agency concluded, at least for now, that the national goal of reducing oil use trumps any effect on food prices from making fuel from corn.
By Matthew L. Wald, courtesy of the New York Times

With the inauguration of a new president in January come widespread expectations of a more aggressive federal approach to confronting global warming. Whoever wins the White House, he will not lack for advice on the topic. This October, the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP), based at the University of Colorado at Denver, is expected to offer up an exhaustive agenda for a president's first 100 and 1,000 days.

Sometimes the most logical, most obvious solutions are the most difficult to see.
An Editorial by Bob Herbert, courtesy of the New York Times

Barack Obama is once again betting that his eloquence can persuade price-weary consumers _ read that as voters _ to take the long view and not jump at a short-term fix when it comes to soaring energy prices.
By Mike Glover of the AP, courtesy of the Washington Post

Second-Quarter Earnings Total $11.68 Billion
As political heat rises over high oil prices, Exxon Mobil yesterday announced the biggest quarterly profit of any corporation in U.S. history, breaking its own previous record with $11.68 billion in earnings during the second quarter.
By Steven Mufson, courtesy of the Washington Post

The skirmish over drilling is the opening to a much bigger fight over environmental policy.
By Paul Krugman, courtesy of the New York Times