greenhouse gases

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This EPA Rollback Has a Twist
This EPA Rollback
Has a Twist
Aug 29, 2019 8:30 AM CDT

This EPA Rollback Has a Twist

Agency moves to loosen methane regulations, but big companies like Exxon oppose the idea

(Newser) - The EPA has begun the process of overturning an Obama-era rule on the emission of methane at oil and gas operations, reports the Wall Street Journal . The move is in line with the Trump administration's anti-regulatory philosophy, but environmentalists are incensed because methane is seen as a major contributor...

Senate Shuns Green New Deal
Green New Deal
Fizzles in Senate
Mar 26, 2019 5:10 PM CDT

Green New Deal Fizzles in Senate

But Democrats call it a 'sham' vote

(Newser) - The Senate on Tuesday defeated a proposal to take up the Green New Deal as both parties shunned an opportunity to debate a comprehensive climate change plan offered by Democrats. Majority Republicans forced the vote as they seek to turn the Green New Deal into a wedge issue in the...

Greenhouse Gas Levels Haven't Been This Bad in 3M Years

Researcher says the gravity has 'not sunk in'

(Newser) - Congratulations, you've lived to see a planet transformed back to the Pliocene Epoch , at least in terms of greenhouse gas levels. "The window of opportunity for action is almost closed," says the UN's World Meteorological Organization after its annual assessment found concentrations of carbon dioxide in...

Ocean Study Has Horrific Implications for Climate Change Fight
Ocean Study Has
Horrific Implications
for Climate Change Fight
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Nov 4, 2018 8:43 AM CST

Ocean Study Has Horrific Implications for Climate Change Fight

Heat is going into oceans, not space, researchers say

(Newser) - A recent United Nations report warned that the world had just a dozen years left to avoid some of the most catastrophic effects of climate change. A new study suggests that assessment was far too optimistic. Researchers using a new method to calculate the amount of heat absorbed by the...

White House Takes Third Step to Ease Greenhouse Gas Rules

Administration plans to weaken restrictions on the release of methane gas

(Newser) - The Trump White House thinks the previous administration went overboard on rules about greenhouse gases, and it's about to make its third big move to correct that. After earlier moves on carbon dioxide pollution from autos and coal plants , this time it's all about methane, reports the New ...

'Environment Crime' May Have Just Been Traced to One Nation

Recent uptick in CFC-11 emissions could mess up ozone layer recovery; they may originate in China

(Newser) - Across the world, someone has been illegally producing an ozone-destroying gas banned more than 30 years ago. Now, investigators and the New York Times may have pinpointed the culprit behind the CFC-11 chlorofluorocarbon: factories making foam insulation in remote parts of China. Putting CFC-11 in the insulation, which is used...

Scientists 'Astounded' by Mysterious Rise in Banned Chemical

Source of CFC-11 is somewhere in East Asia

(Newser) - More than 30 years ago, world governments dealt with an alarming hole in the ozone layer with the Montreal Protocol, which banned damaging chemicals including the chlorofluorocarbon CFC-11. But it looks like somebody failed to get the memo. Scientists say they've detected a mysterious rise in emissions of the...

Report: Tourism Much Worse for Planet Than Thought

Carbon emissions are around 3 times earlier estimates, researchers say

(Newser) - Globe-trotting tourists are doing a lot more damage to the planet than previously thought, according to a new study that takes more than just air miles into consideration. In the study, published in the journal Nature , researchers determined that tourism accounts for around 8% of global carbon emissions, around three...

The Gulf Stream Is Dying, and That&#39;s Bad
Dying Gulf Stream May
Trigger a Global Nightmare
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apr 22, 2018 10:20 AM CDT

Dying Gulf Stream May Trigger a Global Nightmare

Scientists say climate change plays a role

(Newser) - Scientists are raising alarm bells after two studies found that the Gulf Stream—an ocean current key to regulating Earth's climate—is the weakest it's been in 1,600 years, the Guardian reports. The culprit is apparently melting sea ice and glaciers, which inject fresh water into the...

EPA Prepares to Gut Obama's Signature Move on Autos

Chief Scott Pruitt plans to weaken fuel efficiency standards set to go in place

(Newser) - The EPA is preparing to make a big move as early as next week to weaken landmark fuel-efficiency goals put in place by the Obama administration, reports the New York Times . The Obama-era rules would have required cars and SUVs to hit 55mpg by 2025, but Trump and EPA chief...

'The War on Coal Is Over': EPA Rolls Back Obama Plan

Scott Pruitt says previous White House exceeded authority with 'clean power plan'

(Newser) - The Trump administration will abandon the Obama-era Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said Monday. "The war on coal is over," he said, per the New York Times . Speaking in Kentucky coal country, Pruitt said he will sign a proposed rule...

Why This Scene May Cease to Exist in California After 2040

Assemblyman wants to ban sales of cars fueled by gas, diesel by that deadline

(Newser) - If Phil Ting has his way, California girls will soon be cruising down Highway One and never having to stop for gas. When the state Legislature returns at the start of 2018, the Dem assemblyman says he'll introduce a bill that would ban the sale of new cars fueled...

Environmentalists Horrified by Trump's Pick to Run EPA

Oklahoma AG Scott Pruitt has been busy suing the EPA

(Newser) - Environmentalists who thought Donald Trump's meeting with Al Gore might signal a more moderate environmental policy had those hopes crushed Wednesday with the news that Trump wants Oklahoma's attorney general to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Scott Pruitt, whose official biography calls him "a leading advocate against...

Surprise Global Warming Contributor: Reservoirs

They produce as much yearly greenhouse gas emissions as Brazil

(Newser) - There's a new enemy in the battle against global warming: reservoirs. Researchers studying more than 250 of the world's reservoirs found they produce the equivalent of 1 gigaton of carbon dioxide every year, the Washington Post reports. According to Popular Science , that's about the same amount of...

California Is Going After Its Farting Cows

It's all part of Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to fight climate change

(Newser) - California Gov. Jerry Brown kept up his assault on climate change Monday, pushing through a law meant to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from dairy farms and landfills. "You know, when Noah wanted to build his ark, most of the people laughed at him?" Brown said, per the Sacramento Bee , adding...

America's Worst Methane Hot Spot Might Be an Easy Fix

It's mostly tied to natural gas production: NASA study

(Newser) - For more than a decade, scientists have been aware of a methane hot spot the size of Delaware in the Four Corners region of the US. Now they know what's responsible. A NASA study finds more than 250 sources of the leak in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah,...

Climate Change Hits 'New Milestone'

Temperatures and greenhouse-gas levels hit new highs

(Newser) - This year is on track to be a record 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than the 19th-century average, hitting a symbolic milestone in the temperature rise that scientists blame mostly on human activities, Britain's weather service said Monday. To measure global warming, scientists compare today's...

How Your Coffee Grounds Can Help Save the World

Heating used grounds with potassium hydroxide enables methane storage

(Newser) - As if coffee isn't amazing enough already. A team of researchers—who, yes, got the idea over a cup of coffee—are reporting in the journal Nanotechnology that soaking spent coffee grounds in potassium hydroxide and then heating the grounds in a furnace creates a material that can store...

Mysterious Blue Clouds May Portend Disaster

Noctilucent clouds are forming in unlikely conditions

(Newser) - Like scientific mysteries? Then consider the electric-blue clouds that are becoming more common and appearing in unexpected parts of the world, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Called "noctilucent clouds" or "night-shining clouds," they were first reported above polar regions in 1885 and have appeared every summer since,...

Scientists Devise Way to Clean Up Cow Burps

Small molecule could also curb greenhouse gas emissions

(Newser) - Cows are notorious methane gas producers, belching somewhere between 132 and 264 gallons of gas produced by food fermenting in the rumen (one of the four parts of their stomachs) every day. As the Washington Post reports, that's so significant that ruminant animals—including sheep and goats—actually contribute...

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