https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/world/europe/uk-diesel-petrol-emissions.html Source:   By Stephen Castle, The New York Times For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: LONDON — Scrambling to combat a growing air pollution crisis, Britain announced on Wednesday that sales of new diesel and gas cars would reach the end of the road by 2040, the latest step in Europe’s battle against the damaging environmental impact of the internal combustion engine. Britain’s plans match a similar pledge made this month by France, and are part of a growing global push to curb emissions and fight climate change by promoting electric cars. Carmakers are also adjusting, with Volvo notably saying recently that it would phase out the internal combustion engine in the coming years and BMW deciding to build an electric version of its popular Mini car in Britain....

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/are-humans-to-blame-for-worsening-heat-waves-in-china Source:   By Emily Underwood, Eos/AGU For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: A new study suggests that even hotter events will follow unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. At least 40 people died during China’s record-breaking 2013 heat wave, when temperatures spiked to more than 105°F. The deadly event was just one of a string of intensifying heat waves that have hit the country over the past 50 years, and a new study finds that these events can be attributed in part to human-made climate change. Under business-as-usual carbon emissions, such extreme temperatures will become the new normal across roughly 50% of China’s landmass, the authors warn....

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/climate/global-warming-air-travel.html Source:   By Aneri Pattani, The New York Times For Investigation:   Excerpt: Rising temperatures and more frequent heat waves could force up to 30 percent of airplanes to delay takeoffs in the coming decades, causing cancellations, missed connections and other hassles for passengers, and dealing a financial blow to the industry, a new study finds. As air warms, its density decreases. The wings of a plane moving down the runway on a hot day generate less lift. If it’s hot enough, the plane won’t be able to take off at all, according to the study, published in the journal Climatic Change. The plane can either delay departure or lighten its load by removing fuel, cargo or passengers. The consequences could affect passengers, airlines and airports worldwide, said Radley Horton, co-author and climatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory....

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/climate/greenhouse-gases-spike-noaa-global-warming.html Source:   By Lisa Friedman, The New York Times For Investigation:    10.3 Excerpt: The climate-warming influence of greenhouse gas emissions rose more quickly last year than it has in nearly three decades, an increase scientists attributed in part to a strong El Niño weather pattern, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported this week. The Annual Greenhouse Gas Index also shows that the warming ability of global emissions of greenhouse gases, primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity, increased 40 percent between 1990 and 2016, a significant measure of man’s influence on the climate. Unlike most news releases accompanying the index during the Obama administration, NOAA’s announcement this year does not directly link human activity to emissions. “The role of greenhouse gases on influencing global temperatures is well understood by scientists,

Source:   By Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle 2017-07-12. . . For GSS Climate Change chapter 8. Excerpt: Coastal neighborhoods in several [San Francisco] Bay Area cities are likely to face such frequent flooding from rising sea levels over the next century that residents will simply pack up and leave, according to a new study of the effects of climate change. Every local county will be dealing with frequent inundation of its bay shoreline by 2100, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists . The group said its report and accompanying maps, published in the peer-reviewed journal Elementa, are the first nationwide effort to identify the point at which coastal communities face the no-win decision of having to flee or fight sea level rise.... http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Scientists-expect-floods-in-Bay-Area-from-rising-11284750.php

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/07/12/massive-iceberg-breaks-off-antarctica/102637874/ Source:   By Doyle Rice, USA TODAY For Investigation:   Excerpt: One of the largest icebergs ever recorded broke off from an ice shelf in Antarctica, British scientists announced Wednesday. The 1 trillion ton iceberg, with twice of the volume of Lake Erie, broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf between Monday and Wednesday, according to Project MIDAS, which has been monitoring the shelf. At 2,200 square miles, the chunk of floating ice is nearly the size of Delaware. ...The calving reduced the size of the ice shelf by some 12%. “We have been anticipating this event for months, and have been surprised how long it took for the rift to break through the final few kilometers (miles) of ice," [Adrian Luckman, a professor of Swansea University and the lead investigator of Project MIDAS] said. ...Project MIDAS said there is no evidence to directly link the calving of the icebe

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/business/energy-environment/france-cars-ban-gas-diesel.html Source:   By Jack Ewing, The New York Times For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: France is joining a growing movement to force the extinction of vehicles that run on fossil fuels, saying on Thursday that it would aim to end the sale of gasoline and diesel cars by 2040. The target is less ambitious than ones set by countries like Norway and India. Still, coming from a major car-producing country, France’s declaration gave additional momentum to efforts to fight climate change and urban smog by promoting the use of electric cars. ...On Wednesday, Volvo said that all of its new models beginning in 2019 would be either battery-powered cars or hybrids that combined electric motors with diesel or gasoline engines....    See also: Volvo to use electric motors in all cars from 2019 .

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/floating-solar-farms-catch-california Source:   By Corey Binns, NRDC OnEarth For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: In Sonoma, California, the most important renewable resource will always be grapes. Sonoma’s vineyards, framed by picturesque rolling green hills, produce some of the best wines on the planet; tourists flock to the region to sample the latest pinots and admire the scenery. “People like the rolling, grassy hills,” says local resident Dale Roberts. But as principal engineer at the Sonoma County Water Agency, Roberts is focused on another homegrown renewable: clean energy. So behind the scenes in Sonoma, he’s been busy “juicing” the landscape in a way that’s quite different from the neighboring vintners’ activities. To be specific, Roberts and his colleagues have begun to launch floating solar panels on six of the agency’s ponds, which hold recycled water saved for irrigation during drought years. When all panels are up and running, by the end o

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/01/climate/china-energy-companies-coal-plants-climate-change.html Source:   By Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: When China halted plans for more than 100 new coal-fired power plants this year, even as President Trump vowed to “bring back coal” in America, the contrast seemed to confirm Beijing’s new role as a leader in the fight against climate change. But new data on the world’s biggest developers of coal-fired power plants paints a very different picture: China’s energy companies will make up nearly half of the new coal generation expected to go online in the next decade. These Chinese corporations are building or planning to build more than 700 new coal plants at home and around the world, some in countries that today burn little or no coal, according to tallies compiled by Urgewald, an environmental group based in Berlin. Many of the plants are in China, but by capacity, roughly a fifth of these new coal powe