global warming

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Ancient Texts Fill Blanks in Climate History

Accounts by monks, soldiers, doctors help track global warming

(Newser) - Scientists are poring over the diaries of 17th century Swiss monks and Parisian physicians for data to help judge changes in Europe’s climate, the AP reports. Piecing together records from things as disparate as military campaigns and cherry blossom festivals dispels any doubt that the Earth is heating up,...

Earth Flunks Its Annual Physical
Earth Flunks Its Annual Physical
Sep 14, 2007 4:15 AM CDT

Earth Flunks Its Annual Physical

Most vital signs bad as planet suffers from greenhouse gas

(Newser) - Most of the Earth's vital stats are "pronouncedly bad," according to a research institute that tracks 44 indicators of the world's health. Only six were positive. More wood was harvested this year than ever before, meat production and consumption hit record highs, people ate 156 million metric tons...

Auto-Emission Ruling Boosts States' Rights

Federal judge rules against carmakers on standards for greenhouse gases

(Newser) - Vermont can set its own greenhouse emissions standards to curb gases that contribute to global warming, a federal judge ruled yesterday in a decision that boosts states’ rights. Automakers sued the state after it adopted standards originally made law in California, saying the regulations were impractical and would upend the...

Bad News Plagues Bears
Bad News Plagues Bears
Sep 9, 2007 3:09 PM CDT

Bad News Plagues Bears

As ice caps melt, trophy hunters take aim, polar bears belong on endangered list

(Newser) - It's bad enough when 40% of your habitat will disappear by mid-century, but add trophy hunters taking advantage of a loophole in US law, and it's not a good time to be a polar bear, the Independent on Sunday reports. The bears are not listed as endangered so 950 pelts...

APEC Leaders Agree to Take on Global Warming

But pact isn't ambitious enough, critics say

(Newser) - Leaders of 21 Pacific Rim nations yesterday pledged to “slow, stop, and then reverse” greenhouse emissions, at the annual APEC summit. The group—which includes developing nations and top emitters Russia, China, Japan, and the US—could influence UN climate change negotiations. But critics call the pact unambitious, citing...

Arctic Thaw Set at 40% by 2050
Arctic Thaw Set at 40% by 2050
Sep 7, 2007 6:47 PM CDT

Arctic Thaw Set at 40% by 2050

Researchers put 40% of Arctic underwater by 2050

(Newser) - At least 40% of the polar icecap will be gone by 2050, Seattle scientists predicted today, putting the meltdown way ahead of earlier predictions that so much ice would take a century to vanish. Greenhouse gases, which linger in the atmosphere for up to 50 years, are primarily responsible for...

Thousands Flee Felix
Thousands Flee Felix
Sep 4, 2007 6:15 AM CDT

Thousands Flee Felix

Up to 15,000 stranded in their homes

(Newser) - Hurricane Felix, which grew with record-breaking speed over the weekend into a Category 5 storm, made landfall this morning in a lightly populated area near the border of Honduras and Nicaragua and continued moving west. Tens of thousands of Hondurans took shelter yesterday but up to 15,000 lacked transport,...

Felix Reaches Category 5
Felix Reaches Category 5
Sep 3, 2007 8:58 AM CDT

Felix Reaches Category 5

Storm Heads for Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula

(Newser) - Hurricane Felix grew into a Category 5—the most dangerous—storm last night, packing winds of 127 mph as it roared west across the southern Caribbean, heading for Central America. Felix is predicted to brush the Honduras coastline tomorrow, and hit Belize on Wednesday, the AP reports.

Do Carbon 'Offsets' Really Offset Anything?

Inconvenient Truth director says offsets have 'symbolic quality'

(Newser) - Everyone from Al Gore to Coldplay has jumped on the carbon offset bandwagon, but the Los Angeles Times reports that their payments don’t actually make the air any cleaner. Here's how they work: "Offset” companies invest in existing clean energy and win the right to sell “reductions”...

Massive Ice Island Finds Itself in a Jam

Floating danger now safely wedged in canal, scientists hope

(Newser) - An ice island that became a global warming icon when it separated from the Canadian Arctic mainland is now caught in a remote channel—and scientists believe it's stuck there indefinitely. The Ayles Ice Island, born two years ago and slightly larger than Manhattan, had been moving rapidly and was...

Record Heat Fries Phoenix
Record Heat Fries Phoenix
Aug 30, 2007 3:44 PM CDT

Record Heat Fries Phoenix

Nearly a month’s worth of temps topping 110

(Newser) - Phoenix citizens can’t blunt this hot spell with claims of “dry heat”: The city’s just marked its 29th day in a year of 110-degree temperatures. Urbanization and global warming are likely factors in the chart-topping season, though Phoenicians have been spared a highest-ever figure, the AP reports—...

5 Last-Ditch Plans to Save Earth
5 Last-Ditch Plans to Save Earth
Aug 22, 2007 2:25 PM CDT

5 Last-Ditch Plans to Save Earth

Crank up your ingenuity and combat climate change the MacGyver way

(Newser) - If reducing emissions was Plan A to save the earth from global warming, these plans from Popular Science would be more like Plan ... Z:
  1. Make more Arctic ice—out of saltwater.
  2. Cool the oceans, which feed storms with warm water, by sucking up cold water from the ocean floor with
...

Drilling Hits Norway's Conscience
Drilling Hits Norway's Conscience
Aug 21, 2007 6:33 PM CDT

Drilling Hits Norway's Conscience

Concern over climate change has stalled Scandinavian nation's government

(Newser) - A friendly little nation is facing the ethics of new economic power, as Norway asks itself whether to drill for 73 billion barrels of Arctic oil or leave it for others to uncover. The tiny country is the world's fifth largest exporter of oil, third largest of gas - and...

As Ice Shrinks, Islands Emerge
As Ice Shrinks, Islands Emerge
Aug 21, 2007 7:44 AM CDT

As Ice Shrinks, Islands Emerge

New, unclaimed territories raise fears of accelerated global warming

(Newser) - The melting of ice in the Arctic Ocean has revealed previously undiscovered islands, one approximately the size of a basketball court. Reuters reports that the formerly submerged islands are unclaimed by any government but lie near Svalbard, the Norwegian territory north of the Arctic Circle. The discoveries raise fears that...

Scientists Work on Life From Scratch

Creation of an artificial organism could be 3 to 10 years away

(Newser) - A synthetic life form constructed in a lab from basic components could make its debut in the next 3 to 10 years, scientists say. Researchers are hard at work on creating a cell, which hopefully would be able to reproduce on its own. "It's going to be a big...

Rodent Attacks Demolish Spanish Crops

As 750M voles enjoy the all-day buffet, farmers resort to their wits

(Newser) - As many as 750 million voles have descended on farmland in central Spain, and with government response slow, farmers are taking matters into their own hands. The reason the number of rodents has exploded over the past few months is unclear, the Christian Science Monitor reports, but a likely explanation...

Straw Goes Green
Straw
Goes
Green
Aug 20, 2007 11:59 AM CDT

Straw Goes Green

Eco-friendly building material branches out beyond fairy tales

(Newser) - The newest surprise climate-saving tool is straw walls, and the Big Bad Wolf may have underestimated the First Little Pig’s shelter, the Washington Post reports. Instead of drywall or insulation, contractors stack the farm waste around buildings’ skeletons and then coat it with plaster. The eco-friendly result looks like...

Heat Wave Claims 49 Lives
Heat Wave Claims 49 Lives
Aug 19, 2007 11:48 AM CDT

Heat Wave Claims 49 Lives

Triple-digit temperatures take toll in Midwest, Southeast

(Newser) - The heat wave sweeping across the Midwest and Southeast has claimed at least 49 lives over the past week. Officials in Alabama and Memphis reported the 10 most recent deaths on Saturday, mostly elderly citizens. The weather forecast for next week predicts some relief from the triple digit-temperatures that has...

Global Warming Protesters B-r-r All on Glacier

(Newser) - Hundreds of naked people bared all on a Swiss glacier to protest global warming yesterday. The arresting demonstration was photographed by New York artist Spencer Tunick, known for his photos of nude gatherings, as temperatures hovered around 50 degrees.

Deserts Eat Up China's Usable Land
Deserts Eat
Up China's Usable Land
Aug 16, 2007 5:03 PM CDT

Deserts Eat Up China's Usable Land

In arid provinces, farms and families feel pinch of policy gone awry

(Newser) - With China's deserts spreading another 950 square miles each year, the government is evicting families and replanting farms to stem the tide, the Christian Science Monitor reports from Gansu province. With 20% of the world's population but 7% of its arable land, China's decades-old problem has worsened due to overfarming,...

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