Climate Change

Along Oakland’s coast, 19 inches would wash over runways at Oakland International Airport, railway lines and roads that lead to the Port of Oakland and some of the treatment facilities at the vast wastewater treatment plant in West Oakland.

NRG Energy vowed on Wednesday (July 2014) to press ahead with a proposal to build a power plant in coastal Southern California even after a city council expressed opposition, citing fears it could be inundated by rising sea water. The City Council of Oxnard approved a non-binding moratorium on the plan to build a natural gas-fired power plant to replace two of its older facilities, which require major upgrades or face decommissioning in 2020.

“I would throw the markets out and start over with something different,” said Doreen Stabinsky, a professor of global environmental politics at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Me. “I think we can’t be sidetracked by playing around with a market, because this objective is so important, so pressing and so difficult.”

Two weeks ago, Pope Francis said: "if we destroy Creation, in the end it will destroy us." Following a Vatican summit on sustainability convened by one of us that discussed the dangers of climate change and global warming, the Pope's stern warning asked all of us to be better stewards of nature. But many people wonder what they can do to join the fight against global warming beyond buying a Prius and installing solar panels in their homes.

The EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan drew praise from environmental advocates who have long hoped that Washington would finally take action to limit greenhouse gas emissions and address the threat of climate change. Criticism, perhaps predictably, came from a combination of climate change deniers, coal-reliant communities worried about potential job loss, and business interests bemoaning possible higher energy costs.

Will the U.S. shale boom turn out to be a bust? The recent decline in oil prices has left some questioning whether it can be sustained.

Don’t expect the landmark U.S.-China climate change agreement to nudge the world’s rising thermostat downward much on its own, scientists say. While they hail it as a start, experts who study heat-trapping carbon dioxide don’t see the deal, announced Wednesday in Beijing, making significant progress without other countries joining in. ...

Does Elevated CO2 Alter Silica Uptake in Trees?