Climate Change

Editor's note: Fellow Kevin Kennedy has published a report, Putting a Price on Carbon: Evaluating A Carbon Price and Complementary Policies for a 1.5° World, for the World Resources Institute website. Read the Executive Summary and download the full report.

Illinois’ largest electric utility is trying a new approach to its energy efficiency programs for low- and moderate-income customers: working with community action agencies.

When the sun sets on the human race, and the cause of death isn’t an asteroid scorching the Earth, whoever or whatever comes after our kind might uncover the documents that defined us—the Magna Carta, any number of national constitutions and international treaties, classic works of fiction. And more recently, that canon has come to include a series of special reports from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, warning of the unfolding catastrophe we’ve created for ourselves.

The most recent IPCC report on the ocean and cryosphere is among dozens released during the last 30 years, but its message is the most bold and urgent to date: If the world’s nations do not act with urgency, we – and future generations – will suffer from these changes. What can we do?, asks Fellow Cassandra Brooks.

Fellow Ayana Elizabeth Johnson spoke at the September 20th Climate Strike in New York City where, she says, "I was the oldest person to address a gloriously large and diverse crowd."

Abstract

Abstract

2019 Fellow Tamara Marcus studies methane emissions from permafrost thaw with Ruth Varner, professor of Earth sciences and director of the Earth Systems Research Center in the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire. In addition to researching the impact of warming on carbon emissions from Arctic Lakes, Marcus is exploring how indigenous communities understand and apply weather and climate data.

Despite constant pressure from the oil and natural gas lobby, the 2016 EPA methane standards for the oil and gas industry still stand strong, writes Fellow Sarah Smith.