Climate Change

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...

As a massive storm ravages North America we should remember that one extreme weather event does not constitute evidence of climate change. However, when we examine all the extreme weather events taking place around the world over the course of the last year, we develop a convincing portrait of the early effects of climate change. Global warming is the chief suspect behind a wide range of extreme weather events including storms and floods. The higher temperatures associated with global warming cause more water evaporation, which increases the chances of heavy precipitation events, such as floods and snowstorms. In January, 2011,...

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...