https://www.savetheredwoods.org/press-releases/research-confirms-significant-role-of-redwood-forests-in-californias-climate-fight/ Source: Save the Redwoods League and Humboldt State University.  Excerpt: Newly published research from Save the Redwoods League and Humboldt State University (HSU) confirms the exceptionally large role that redwood forests can play in California’s strategy to address climate change. The research demonstrates that old-growth coast redwood forests store more carbon per acre than any other forest type. ...The findings cap 11 years of research through the League’s Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative (RCCI), which has also revealed that younger second-growth coast redwood forests grow quickly enough to result in substantial carbon storage in a relatively short period. This makes a strong case for investing in the restoration of previously logged redwood forests. ...Prior to industrial logging, California had more than 2 million acres of ancient redwoo...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/climate/climate-change-methane.html Source:  By   Coral Davenport , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The Senate voted on Wednesday to effectively reinstate an Obama-era regulation designed to clamp down on emissions of methane, a powerful, climate-warming pollutant that will have to be controlled to meet President Biden’s ambitious climate change promises. Taking a page from congressional Republicans who in 2017 made liberal use of a once-obscure law to roll back Obama-era regulations, Democrats invoked the law to turn back   a Trump methane rule enacted late last summer . That rule had eliminated Obama-era controls on leaks of methane, which seeps from oil and gas wells. The 52-42 vote was the first time congressional Democrats have used the law, called the Congressional Review Act, which prohibits Senate filibusters and ensures one administration’s last-minute regulations can be swiftly overturned with a simple majority vote in bot...

https://eos.org/articles/a-massive-methane-reservoir-is-lurking-beneath-the-sea Source:  By Fanni Daniella Szakal, Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Methane bubbles regularly reach the surface of the Laptev Sea in the East Siberian Arctic Ocean (ESAO), each of them a small blow to our efforts to mitigate climate change. The source of the methane used to be a mystery, but a joint Swedish-Russian-U.S. investigation recently discovered that an ancient gas reservoir is responsible for the bubbly leaks. Methane in the Laptev Sea is stored in reservoirs below the sea’s submarine permafrost or in the form of  methane hydrates —solid ice-like structures that trap the gas inside. It is also produced by microbes in the thawing permafrost itself. Not all of these sources are created equal: Whereas microbial methane is released in a slow, gradual process, disintegrating hydrates and reservoirs can lead to sudden, eruptive releases. Methane is escaping as the Laptev’s submarine permafrost is thawe...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/04/26/california-car-climate-waiver/ Source:  By  Juliet Eilperin  and  Dino Grandoni , The Washington Post.  Excerpt: The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that it will move to grant California permission to set more stringent climate requirements for cars and SUVs, a reversal of a key Trump administration policy. The step, coming days after the Transportation Department withdrew Trump-era restrictions of state tailpipe emission rules, could help pave the way for a  broader climate deal with the nation’s automakers . The EPA will hold a virtual public hearing on its proposal June 2, and will take comment on the plan until July 6....  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/04/23/climate-summit-job-biden/ Source:  By B rady Dennis ,  Steven Mufson  and  Sean Sullivan , The Washington Post.  Excerpt: President Biden used the waning hours of a White House climate summit to hammer home a message aimed as much at Americans as at the dozens of world leaders he had convened: Combating the Earth’s warming is not simply a responsibility, but a chance to boost battered economies. “Today’s final session is not about the threat climate change poses,” Biden said Friday morning from the East Room. “It’s about the opportunity that addressing climate change provides, an opportunity to create millions of good-paying jobs around the world in innovative sectors.”.... 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/climate/climate-change-economy.html Source:  By  Christopher Flavelle , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Rising temperatures are likely to reduce global wealth significantly by 2050, as crop yields fall, disease spreads and rising seas consume coastal cities, a major insurance company warned Thursday, highlighting the consequences if the world fails to quickly slow the use of fossil fuels. The effects of climate change can be expected to shave 11 percent to 14 percent off global economic output by 2050 compared with growth levels without climate change, according to a  report from Swiss Re , one of the world’s largest providers of insurance to other insurance companies. That amounts to as much as $23 trillion in reduced annual global economic output worldwide as a result of climate change. ...The findings could influence how the industry prices insurance and invests its mammoth portfolios....  

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/climate/biden-emissions-target-economy.html Source:  By  Brad Plumer , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Hitting the targets could require a rapid shift to electric vehicles, the expansion of forests nationwide, development of complex new carbon-capture technology and many other changes, researchers said....  

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/microbes-are-siphoning-massive-amounts-carbon-earth-s-tectonic-plates Source:  By  Raleigh McElvery , Science Magazine.  Excerpt: A few kilometers below our feet lies a hidden world of microbes whose chemical reactions are shaping the long-term habitability of the planet. A new study suggests some of these microbes are siphoning off massive amounts of carbon as it enters Earth, using it to fuel their own sunless ecosystems. ...Researchers say the microbes represent an overlooked factor in efforts to balance Earth’s deep carbon cycle. ...These microbes could be  sequestering 2% to 22% of the carbon previously thought to reach the deep mantle , the researchers report today in Nature Geoscience. ...  

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/gravity-based-batteries-try-beat-their-chemical-cousins-winches-weights-and-mine-shafts Source:  By  Cathleen O’Grady , Science Magazine.  Excerpt: EDINBURGH, U.K.—Alongside the chilly, steel-gray water of the docks here stands what looks like a naked, four-story elevator shaft—except in place of the elevator is a green, 50-ton iron weight, suspended by steel cables. Little by little, electric motors hoist the weight halfway up the shaft; it is now a giant, gravity-powered battery, storing potential energy that can be released when needed. ...Gravitricity is one of a handful of gravity-based energy storage companies attempting to improve on an old idea: pumped hydroelectric power storage. Engineers would dam up a reservoir on a hill, pump water to it at times of low demand (usually at night), and release it to generate electricity. ...Lithium-ion batteries, the technology of choice for utility-scale energy storage, can charge and ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/climate/wood-pellet-industry-climate.html Source:  By Gabriel Popkin, The New York Times.  Excerpt: ...a huge factory that dries and presses wood into roughly cigarette-filter-sized pellets roared to life.... The slumberless factory’s output is trucked to a port in Chesapeake, Va., and loaded on ships bound for Europe, where it will be burned to produce electricity and heat for millions of people. It’s part of a fast-growing industry that, depending on whom you ask, is an unwelcome source of pollution or a much-needed creator of rural jobs; a forest protector, or a destroyer. In barely a decade, the Southeast’s wood pellet industry has grown from almost nothing to 23 mills with capacity to produce more than 10 million metric tons annually for export. It employs more than 1,000 people directly, and has boosted local logging and trucking businesses. ...The open question is whether a world increasingly desperate to avert climate disaster will...

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/04/young-people-moment-climate-crisis-became-real/ Source:  By Mary Retta, Mother Jones.  Excerpt: ...originally ... in  Teen Vogue …. Watching An Inconvenient Truth in your middle-school science class. Hearing  Greta Thunberg ’s calls to join weekly school strikes. Driving away from smoldering wildfires engulfing dry California hillsides. These are some of the moments that made young people realize the climate crisis will define their lives—and the future of human life on Earth. We’ve heard the facts so many times that it’s easy to become numb to them: The world is  steadily growing warmer , certain parts of the world are facing  extreme droughts or floods , many  wildlife populations are shrinking —and things are only projected to grow worse, with  carbon emissions rising  and countries  contributing to mass deforestation . Despite these emergencies,  many politicians , including Arka...

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/04/biden-calls-to-cut-us-emissions-in-half-by-2030/ Source:  By Piper McDaniel, Mother Jones.  Excerpt: President Biden today addressed 40 world leaders at a virtual climate summit, emphasizing the urgency of the climate crisis and announcing plans to reduce US emissions   by 50 to 52 percent by 2030 . “By maintaining those investments and putting these people to work, the United States sets out on the road to cut greenhouse gases in half—in half—by the end of this decade,”   Biden said.   “That’s where we’re headed as a nation.”....   See also Washington Post articles,   As Biden convenes world leaders, U.S. pledges to cut emissions up to 52 percent by 2030   and   Biden ushers in a new era of climate geopolitics .

https://www.nytimes.com/article/climate-change-global-warming-faq.html Source:  By Julia Rosen, The New York Times. Excerpt: The science of climate change is more solid and widely agreed upon than you might think. But the scope of the topic, as well as rampant disinformation, can make it hard to separate fact from fiction. Here, we’ve done our best to present you with not only the most accurate scientific information, but also an explanation of how we know it. [Topics:] How do we know climate change is really happening? How much agreement is there among scientists about climate change? Do we really only have 150 years of climate data? How is that enough to tell us about centuries of change? How do we know climate change is caused by humans? Since greenhouse gases occur naturally, how do we know they’re causing Earth’s temperature to rise? Why should we be worried that the planet has warmed 2°F since the 1800s? Is climate change a part of the planet’s natural warming and cooling c...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/arts/design/climate-change-clock-new-york.html ] Source:  By  Colin Moynihan , The New York Times.  Excerpt: The display in New York’s Union Square, which reports the window to address global warming, now also measures the rising use of renewable energy....

https://eos.org/articles/landslides-mar-the-pearl-of-africa Source:  By Hope Mafaranga, Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Uganda is known as the “Pearl of Africa” because of its stunning natural beauty and biodiversity. Its lush vegetation is associated with regular tropical rainfall, but the East African nation is now struggling to deal with more frequent and intense rains that are causing landslides. ...many forests in the area have been turned into farms. The thin topsoil of converted forest often fails to retain water during heavy downpours, increasing the farm’s vulnerability to flood. In addition,  terraced agriculture  is not popular among farmers “because they believe terraces promote water infiltration, which triggers landslides,” Kitutu added. ... Clovis Kabaseke , however, said farmers can be trained on how to successfully engage in terraced agriculture. Kabaseke is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Mountains of the Mo...

https://eos.org/geofizz/five-culinary-winners-and-losers-of-climate-change Source:  By  Jenessa Duncombe , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: ...All over the world, the cultivation of food decorates the fabric of our landscape. Yet warming temperatures are remaking our surroundings—and with them, our culinary world. The cultivation of crops is shifting northward or to higher elevations. Just like animals, some crops are losing ground to climate change, whereas others are gaining it. Here we take a look at several winners and losers of global delicacies over the next century. Loser: European Spirits ...Winner: Czech Truffles ...Loser: Spanish Olive Oil ...Winner: Canadian Wine ...Too Soon to Call: Ethiopian Coffee....  

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/california-hunt-greenhouse-gas-leaks-and-super-emitters-monitoring-satellites Source:  By  Paul Voosen , Science Magazine.  Excerpt: In December 2016, soon after advisers to President Donald Trump threatened to shut off NASA’s climate-observing satellites, California Governor Jerry Brown made a famous promise: “If Trump turns off the satellites,” he said  while addressing  a geoscience meeting, “California will launch its own damn satellites.” That promise is now a reality, with California and partners set to launch by 2023 two satellites to spot and monitor plumes of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and methane. If all goes right, dozens more could follow. The $100 million  Carbon Mapper  project, announced today and financed by private philanthropists including Michael Bloomberg, will advance efforts to track concentrated emissions of greenhouse gases, which rise from fossil fuel power plants, leaky pipe...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/world/asia/us-china-climate-john-kerry.html Source:  By  Steven Lee Myers  and  Chris Buckley , The New York Times.  Excerpt: John Kerry, President Biden’s climate envoy, is pressing China to do more to address global warming. But he faces an emboldened Beijing leadership that thinks the United States has lagged behind. ...both countries are publicly pledging to do more to fight global warming. The problem will be working together on it. ...On Thursday, President Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry,  met in Shanghai  with his counterpart to press China on reducing its carbon emissions, at a time when an emboldened Communist Party leadership has become increasingly dismissive of American demands. In Beijing’s view, the United States still has much ground to recover after walking away from the  Paris climate agreement , the 2015 accord to address the catastrophic effects of warming. ...“The U.S. has neither the mor...

https://eos.org/opinions/sediment-mismanagement-puts-reservoirs-and-ecosystems-at-risk Source:  By Desirée Tullos, Peter A. Nelson, Rollin H. Hotchkiss, and David Wegner, Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Dams store water flowing down rivers and streams in reservoirs, providing protection from floods. Dams also serve as sources of electrical power, and they provide water for domestic and irrigation uses and flat-water recreation. By design and default, most dams in the United States also store sediment, indefinitely. Sediment accumulation behind U.S. dams has drastically reduced the total storage capacity of reservoirs. Sedimentation is estimated to have reduced the absolute water storage capacity of U.S. reservoirs by 10%–35%. Consequently, on a per capita basis, the water storage capacity of U.S. reservoirs today is about what it was in the 1940s–1950s, despite there being more dams [ Randle et al. , 2019]. ...At the same time, reaches downstream of dams have been deprived of sediment, r...

https://eos.org/articles/turfs-dirty-little-secret Source:  By  Jenessa Duncombe , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Australian scientists have found that grassy sports fields used for soccer, cricket, and baseball can release a potent greenhouse gas into the environment. A yearlong study at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Vic., suggests that mowing, fertilizing, and applying herbicides to turfgrass sports fields contributes to the release of large amounts of nitrous oxide. “This study is another indication that urbanization has complex impacts on our environment,” said  Amy Townsend-Small , a biogeochemist who was not involved with the research. “Even though most cities are working toward increasing their amount of green space, this doesn’t always help meet climate goals.” ...Nitrous oxide is the third most emitted greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide and methane. Although it makes up only  7%  of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, it has 265 times the gl...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/climate/business-executives-climate-change.html Source:   By  Lisa Friedman , The New York Times.  Excerpt: More than 300 businesses, including Google, McDonalds and Walmart, are pushing the Biden administration to nearly double the United States’ target for cuts to planet-warming emissions ahead of an April 22 global summit on climate change. In a  letter  to President Biden released on Tuesday morning, chief executive officers from some of the nation’s largest companies will call on the administration to set a new Paris Agreement goal of slashing the nation’s carbon dioxide, methane and other planet-warming emissions at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. That is roughly what most major environmental groups want, and the corporate executives called the target “ambitious and attainable.”....  

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/climate/nft-climate-change.html Source:  By  Hiroko Tabuchi , The New York Times.  Excerpt: Making the digital artworks requires colossal amounts of computing power, and that means greenhouse gases. When Chris Precht, an Austrian architect and artist, first learned about nonfungible tokens, the digital collectibles taking the art world by storm, he was so enthralled, he said, he “felt like a little kid again.” So Mr. Precht, who is known for his work on  ecological architecture , was devastated to learn that the artworks, known as NFTs, have an environmental footprint as mind-boggling as the gold-rush frenzy they’ve whipped up. “The numbers are just crushing,” he said from his studio in Pfarrwerfen, Austria, announcing that he was canceling his plans, one of a growing number of artists who are swearing off NFTs, despite the sky-high sums some have fetched at auctions. “As much as it hurts financially and mentally, I can’t.” ...by...

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/04/sink-your-grief-how-one-scientist-confronts-emotional-toll-climate-change Source:  By  David Malakoff , Science Magazine.  Excerpt: “I was trained to be calm, rational, and objective, to focus on the facts,” sustainability scientist Kimberly Nicholas recalls in her new book,  Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World . But as research has increasingly revealed how climate change will forever alter the ecosystems and communities she loves, she has struggled to address her feelings of sadness. “My dispassionate training,” the Lund University researcher writes, has “not prepared me for the increasingly frequent emotional crises of climate change,” or how to respond to students who come to her to share their own grief. It’s a situation many scientists and professors are facing these days, Nicholas writes. “Being witness to the demise or death of what we love has started to look an awful lot like the job descriptio...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/science/locust-swarms-africa.html Source:  By Rachel Nuwer, The New York Times.  Excerpt: In 2020, billions of the insects descended on East African countries that had not seen locusts in decades, fueled by unusual weather connected to climate change. Kenya had last dealt with a plague of this scale more than 70 years ago; Ethiopia and Somalia, more than 30 years ago. Nineteen million farmers and herders across these three countries, which bore the brunt of the damage, saw their livelihoods severely affected. ...With swarms suddenly covering an area of Kenya larger than New Jersey, officials were tasked with creating a locust-combating operation virtually from scratch. Collecting dependable, detailed data about locusts was the first crucial step. ...Rather than try to rewrite the locust-tracking software for newer tablets, Mr. Cressman thought it would be more efficient to create a simple smartphone app that would allow anyone to collect da...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/07/climate/debt-climate-change.html Source:  By  Somini Sengupta , The New York Times.  Excerpt: How does a country deal with climate disasters when it’s drowning in debt? Not very well, it turns out. Especially not when a global pandemic clobbers its economy. Take Belize, Fiji and Mozambique. Vastly different countries, they are among dozens of nations at the crossroads of two mounting global crises that are drawing the attention of international financial institutions: climate change and debt. They owe staggering amounts of money to various foreign lenders. They face staggering climate risks, too. And now, with the coronavirus pandemic pummeling their economies, there is a growing recognition that their debt obligations stand in the way of meeting the immediate needs of their people — not to mention the investments required to protect them from climate disasters. ...The combination of debt, climate change and environmental degradation “...

https://eos.org/articles/chasing-carbon-unicorns Source:  By Rishika Pardikar, Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: According to a new report, net zero targets many governments are pursuing are distractions from the urgent need to drastically reduce carbon emissions In the past few months, many governments have  announced net zero carbon emission targets . These targets update the nationally determined contributions ( NDCs ) at the heart of the Paris Agreement. ... Net zero  describes the goal of removing as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as is emitted. ...The net zero targets outlined by NDCs and corporations ...include nature-based solutions like  planting more trees  to sequester carbon, developing  carbon capture  and storage technologies, and investing in  carbon offsets  (largely defined as a reduction in carbon emissions made by one party to compensate for emissions made by another). But net zero targets described by NDCs and businesses...