"Even without a Green New Deal, the United States and other developed nations will keep marching on climate progress."
MIT’s Kerry Emanuel Says Policymakers Should Prioritize Nuclear Energy Over Social Policy Goals
As the world looks for serious solutions to climate change in the coming weeks at COP, global leaders and delegates would do well to heed the words of Dr. Kerry Emanuel and embrace nuclear energy.
Jet Fuel Made From This Crop Could Cut Emissions by Up to 68%, New Analysis Proves
"According to a new study, we could reduce these emissions by up to 68 percent – by switching to a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) derived from plants. Specifically, the non-edible oilseed crop Brassica carinata, a variety of mustard plant. And it could be more cost-effective than petroleum fuel."
How marsh grass protects shorelines
"Marsh plants, which are ubiquitous along the world’s shorelines, can play a major role in mitigating the damage to coastlines as sea levels rise and storm surges increase. Now, a new MIT study provides greater detail about how these protective benefits work under real-world conditions shaped by waves and currents."
Carbon emissions spiking despite clean energy surge
"[The report] shows how, despite surging renewables, the global energy system remains far from an emissions-slashing pathway that achieves Paris agreement goals for limiting global warming."
Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. roads vulnerable to flooding — report
"First Street’s latest report builds on its growing analysis of the nation’s flood risk. The foundation-funded group gained national attention last year when it counted the number of homes that face a 1 percent annual chance of being flooded and found millions of homes to be at risk even though federal flood maps placed them outside of local flood zones."
‘Digital farming’ aims to cut emissions, toxic runoff
"The climate potential is significant. If farmers start to broadly use these microbes, supporters say, it could cut the planet’s greenhouse gases by 3 percent. As a bonus, synthetic microbes can reduce farmland water pollution, too."
Battle of the giants: Why saving giant sequoia isn’t just about climate change
"But for scientists that study wildfires, we know that climate change isn’t the only monster in this battle to save giant sequoia. Our current approach to forest management is the other beast lurking in the shadows and its effects can be more insidious than climate change. That’s because it’s a problem that we’ve created for ourselves but seem to lack the courage to address."
Even With Climate Change, the World Isn’t Doomed
"[H]igher GDP means better health, lower mortality, greater access to education and in general a better standard of living. By 2050 the problem of air pollution will be mostly solved. And that’s only one of the many issues humanity has shorn down over the last 100 years, according to data 21 top economists and I gathered."
Deadwood Releasing 10.9 Gigatons of Carbon Every Year – More Than All Fossil Fuel Emissions Combined
"'We found both the rate of decomposition and the contribution of insects are highly dependent on the climate, and will increase as temperatures rise. Higher levels of precipitation accelerate the decomposition in warmer regions and slow it down in lower temperature regions.'"