The huge carbon footprint of cement (and what we can do about it)
When you manufacture cement, you heat up limestone and other clay-like materials to an astounding 2,552 degrees Fahrenheit (1,400 Celsius). Creating temperatures that high requires an awful lot of energy and (usually) a large amount of fossil fuels. Not only…
A small asteroid hit us last weekend
Asteroid 2019 MO exploded in our atmosphere with an energy of about 3 to 5 kilotons of TNT. Such events happen once or twice yearly, astronomers say. Most are unexpected, but this space rock was detected hours before it struck.
Scientists Suggest Turning Methane Into Carbon Dioxide Could Reduce Global Warming – Forbes
A group of climate researchers from Stanford University have proposed that an effort to turn one of the worst greenhouse gases, methane, into carbon dioxide – not the worst greenhouse, but much more abundant – could still work out positive for the…
‘Our Small Towns Are Toppling Like Dominoes’: Why We Should Cut Some Farmers a Check – The New York Times
How we address an expanding list of crises related to global warming is the most demanding question of our day. So far, our approaches have been piecemeal, enormously costly and largely unsuccessful. A common denominator for many of these crises…
Unusually high methane levels detected on Mars
Last week, the Curiosity rover detected its largest yet measurement of methane. It’s exciting because microbial life is an important source of methane on Earth, though it can also be created in other ways.
What if We Paid Farmers to Fight Global Warming? – The New York Times
How we address an expanding list of crises related to global warming is the most demanding question of our day. So far, our approaches have been piecemeal, enormously costly and largely unsuccessful. A common denominator for many of these crises…
New evidence on the reliability of climate modeling
For decades, scientists studying a key climate phenomenon have been grappling with contradictory data that have threated to undermine confidence in the reliability of climate models overall. A new study settles that debate with regard to the Hadley cell, a tropical atmospheric circulation widely studied by climate scientists because it controls precipitation in the subtropics and also creates a region called the intertropical convergence zone, producing a band of major, highly-precipitative storms.
Damage to the ozone layer and climate change forming feedback loop
Increased solar radiation penetrating through the damaged ozone layer is interacting with the changing climate, and the consequences are rippling through the Earth’s natural systems, effecting everything from weather to the health and abundance of sea mammals like seals and penguins.
Itâs twilight time: 15 favorite photos
“Love prefers twilight to daylight” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
How trees affect the weather
(University of Utah) New research led by University of Utah biologists William Anderegg, Anna Trugman and David Bowling find that some plants and trees are prolific spendthrifts in drought conditions — ‘spending’ precious soil water to cool themselves and, in the process, making droughts more intense.
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