Climate Change

This video address Hurricane Sandy and the relationship of this super-storm to climate change. 350.org founder Bill McKibben says the storm is a wake-up call. Climate scientist Greg Jones from Southern Oregon University says: "This is a unique event and as a climate scientist I worry that these events will be more frequent." The storm killed 66 people in the Caribbean and the most recent figures put the death toll in the US at almost one hundred people. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. says the megastorm comes at a time when President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney have refused...

Hurricane Sandy wreaked massive destruction on the U.S. east coast. What is particularly noteworthy is the fact that this super-storm traversed a section of ocean that is typically too cold to form hurricanes. In addition to 90 mph (144 kph) winds and massive amounts of rain there was up to 3 feet of snow in West Virginia and other areas. The storm was accompanied by record low barometric pressure that pushed the storm far inland. Hurricane Sandy combined with two other weather systems to become a huge mega-storm. The super-storm ploughed well into the Midwest causing waves exceeding 24 feet...

With its heatwaves and drought, the summer of 2012 has been hot. In fact, the Northeast has experienced the hottest period from January to July ever recorded and July 2012 was the hottest month ever in the contiguous US. Although the weather has been balmy this year, extreme heat and drought are not anything new. According to an EPA report, seven of the top ten warmest years on record for the continental U.S. have occurred since 1990. The frequency of heat waves have also steadily risen since the 1960’s and the percentage of the US population experiencing heat waves has...

There are a number of myths about CO2 that continue to circulate despite scientific evidence to the contrary. These myths are often perpetuated by the uninformed or those with an agenda to protect non-sustainable corporate interests. With the aim of exposing some of the major fallacies here is quick summary of the science debunking eight CO2 myths. Myth # 1 : CO2 Levels are Not Rising Objective measurement of atmospheric increases in carbon dioxide was confirmed beginning in the 1930s, and these observations were corroborated in the late 1950s with the development of highly accurate measurement techniques. In 1959 Charles...

Increased concentrations of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) are causing a host of environmental problems. CO2 is the chief culprit in what is known as global warming, however the effect of GHG's on our environment extend beyond warming, so it may be more accurate to refer to these effects as climate change. In an effort to more clearly define these effects some are using the term 'global weirding.' Global Weirding "Global weirding" was coined by Hunter Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, this term refers to an increase in severe or unusual environmental activity. This definition includes the seemingly paradoxical...