Greenhouse Gas

Glacier National Park has cut way back on its greenhouse-gas liability, at least temporarily. Yesterday, a federal judge approved a "first-of-its-kind" settlement requiring the government to suspend 38,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana in order to assess how they contribute to climate change. The victory comes after a coalition of environmental organizations sued the state, arguing that the industry uses inefficient technologies, and creates enormous amounts of waste and greenhouse gas emissions—such as by venting natural gas directly into the atmosphere.

The leases will undergo a new round of extensive environmental reviews. And while it remains somewhat unclear how the potential greenhouse gases from the industry will be quantified, the ruling is likely to shape further developments in the fossil fuel industries.  More

California is a tan-seeker's paradise; the beaches are full all summer long with happy-go-lucky sunbathers. But the latest visitors to the state's sandy shores have not come for a tan—instead, they've arrived as harbingers of climate change disaster yet to come. Over the past few months, dozens of starving and sick sea lion pups have washed up on Southern California beaches. Marine mammal experts say an increasing scarcity of prey due to warming sea temperatures is the primary cause.

Veterinarians from Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach have worked to rehabilitate 27 of the famished sea lions since December, but only nine of them have survived. Those tending to the stranded and sick pups say that ocean warming from El Nino has caused a significant reduction in the number of squid and fish sea lions typically consume. More

The bad news for birds just keeps rolling in: Not only do birds have to worry about climate change disrupting their migratory patterns, they're now faced with warming temperatures causing them to shrink in size. More

Wouldn't it be great if party etiquette dictated that guests who made the biggest mess had to stay late to clean up? Well, on a grand scale, that’s becoming a reality: China and India, two of the world's most prolific greenhouse gas polluters, are willing to make just such a concession. The two countries will join over 100 nations that have signed on to the Copenhagen climate change accord. More

If Stephen King's “The Dead Zone” scared you, beware the real life phenomenon of dead zones--areas of the ocean where oxygen levels have dropped too low to support most marine life.

Thus far, dead zones have been attributed to agricultural run-off, but scientists have recently discovered that they’re also caused by climate change. More

The annual deluge of spring pollen may seem a long way off in areas still buried in snow, but those of us with seasonal allergies know it won't be long now before it arrives. And I've got worse news: the sneezing, congestion and dry eyes of allergy season are likely to plague us for longer stretches of time in the years to come because of climate change. More

If you caught my Jenga-Iceberg analogy last week, you know that as ice shelves disappear from Antarctic peninsula, the threat of rising sea levels and retreating glaciers increases. Well, one critical piece has just been pulled from the precarious balance: Scientists have reported that a Luxembourg-size iceberg has split from the Antarctic continent and could potentially disrupt global ocean patterns and weather systems for decades. More

The ultimate carbon combo

Before you jump into your Hummer and head to Walmart for some frozen steaks this weekend, you might want to take a look at the results of new study from NASA: On-road transportation and raising animals for consumption are the biggest net contributors to climate change. More

If you've played the game of Jenga, you're familiar with the disastrous mess that results from the removal of a key wooden block. Now imagine that those blocks are massive ice shelves and when they're removed, the collapse that follows doesn't just spill onto your coffee table, but will likely bring about catastrophic consequences around the globe. Well, it seems that those are the stakes we're dealing with now. More

Despite the relentless efforts of certain right-wing talk show hosts to undermine public trust in climate science, evidence still continues to mount to the contrary. Top researchers of both hurricanes and climate change have agreed that we are very likely to see stronger, albeit fewer, hurricanes in the coming years because of climate change. The new study reinforces a report published last month by one of the participants, whic anticipates less frequent, but more powerful Atlantic hurricanes expected to inflict serious damage to the U.S. coast.

And let me reiterate that these projections are coming from accredited scientists who have committed their lives to researching and modeling climate trends to help us better prepare for the future, as opposed to television personalities who have a vested interest in keeping their ratings (read: salaries) high. But I digress. According to the Huffington Post: More