Cutting greenhouse gas emissions at U.S. power plants could help save some water too, a new analysis concludes.
Coal-fired and nuclear power plants are among the nation’s thirstiest water users, Munish Chandel and two colleagues at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, report in Energy Policy. In 2005, electricity generators sucked up roughly 143 billion […] Read More »
The European Union (EU) is often lauded for its ambitious goals when it comes to curbing climate change and protecting biodiversity. By 2020, for example, it has pledged to halt biodiversity losses and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from 1990 levels. But efforts to reach the two goals are likely to come into increasing […] Read More »
Hydropower is often touted as a solution to climate change. Some critics have been skeptical, however, pointing to studies suggesting that the reservoirs behind dams can emit oodles of carbon dioxide and methane, particularly in tropical regions. But those concerns appear to be overblown, concludes a new study.
When rivers are dammed, the flooding often […] Read More »
On the morning of May 11, 1944, nearly 1,500 heavy bombers lifted off from bases in England, headed for targets in Nazi Germany. As the giant aircraft lumbered into formations, the wispy streaks of contrails marked their passage. Now, climate scientists are using weather data collected during those long ago combat missions to gain insight […] Read More »
“It’s an obvious fraud!,” the poet Ronald Strahan once wrote of the platypus. “Someone has stuck the front end of a duck, with the skill of a weaver, to part of a beaver.” But the unique water-loving, egg-laying creature might not adapt so well to climate change, a new study from Australia warns.
The platypus […] Read More »
Fruits trees and flowers aren’t the only organisms doing it. Turns out some cows are also breeding on a different schedule due to a shifting climate. An iconic British cattle breed is conceiving young earlier in the spring due to warmer temperatures, a new study finds. But that means some calves are born in winter, […] Read More »
Turns out we still don’t like to stray too far from a refreshing drink. A global analysis finds that, despite urbanization and modern pipelines that can carry water long distances to users, over 50% of the world’s population still lives a short walk from a river, lake or pond. But people in some parts of […] Read More »
If green is your color, then cotton may be your cloth. A new effort to rank commonly-used textiles by their environmental impact has found that organic cotton tops the list of the least damaging threads, while synthetic acrylic finished last.
“Surprisingly, very little research has been carried out to assess the currently available fibers in […] Read More »
Talk about going to extremes. A sophisticated radio collar has helped scientists document the extraordinary journey of an Alaskan polar bear, including a 9-day swim from the coast out to Arctic sea ice. But the study also suggests that the journey cost the mother bear her cub – and that if climate change makes such […] Read More »
By Judith D. Schwartz
In reports of rising CO2 levels, it’s easy to get the impression that the carbon-and-oxygen molecule is a kind of toxin, some alien vapor coughed up by a century-plus of heedless industrialism now coming back to haunt us. But on closer inspection, it seems that the problem isn’t the carbon […] Read More »
Researchers working in one of the world’s most-studied chunks of tropical forest are weighing in on a simmering debate over the forces driving some long-term shifts in tropical ecosystems. Although the study in Panama finds little support for one contested theory, it does suggest long-term climate changes may be reshuffling tropical trees.
Over the last […] Read More »
A complex conservation problem just got even more complicated. A new study finds that shifting climate and ocean conditions appear to have played a dominant role in recent worldwide declines of endangered loggerhead sea turtles. The conclusion suggests that efforts to protect nesting beaches and keep turtles out of fishing nets will be just part […] Read More »
Narwhals are best known for their long, unicorn-like tusks. But it is the Arctic whale’s thick muscles that may be a better guide to how the species will cope with climate change. A new analysis of muscle fibers finds that narwhals are world-class endurance swimmers – and that could be a problem in a fast-changing […] Read More »
OK, maybe “Turbines for Trashed Landscapes” wouldn’t be the right slogan. But a new analysis concludes the U.S. could get all the windpower it wants by building wind farms on “disturbed” lands that don’t have much value for wildlife.
U.S. officials have a set a goal of using windpower to produce 20% of the nation’s […] Read More »
It’s not just about sheer numbers when it comes to predicting how human population growth will affect climate change. An array of demographic factors – from age and sex to household size and wealth – can have sometimes surprising impacts, a new survey finds. So far, however, “population is rarely mentioned in policy debates on […] Read More »
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Changing the BatteryFlamingos stand precariously on top of one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium—the very stuff that powers our mobile world
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Shrink to FitHumanity appears to be ushering in new age of minifauna, a kind of Lilliputian world full of runts and dwarves |
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Chasing RainbowsLured by a utopian visions, agencies dropped billions of trout into thousands of lakes. Now, they’re determined to undo the damage they caused. |
