Ponderosa pine forests in California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range have been an important source of storage for atmospheric carbon. But a drought and pest invasion from 2012 to 2015 wiped out these trees. Now, researchers have found that it is unlikely for the forests to recover to their densities before the megadrought. From 2012 to […]
The climate crisis has contributed to a major loss of coral reefs, and now, a three-year-long study has identified further threats to reef systems as ocean temperatures increase. Ocean warming can trigger viral outbreaks that impact coral reefs, according to the newly published research. The researchers looked at corals in the South Pacific in one […]
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the availability of $450 million through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for clean energy projects — like solar farms — on current and former mining sites, a White House press release said. There are about 17,750 mine land sites in the U.S. covering 1.5 million acres. These […]
Oil prices rose by more than six percent on Monday after Saudi Arabia and other oil producing nations announced a surprise production cut of 1.15 million barrels per day from May through December. The announcement, coming a little more than a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices skyrocketing, is another example of […]
A federal judge on Monday denied a motion by environmental groups challenging oil giant ConocoPhillips’ $7 billion Willow project in Alaska’s Western Arctic. The ruling allows the construction of roads and a gravel mine planned for the last three weeks of the construction season to move forward. The lawsuit initially filed by the groups asserted […]
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is released into the atmosphere in various ways, including during the production and transportation of fossil fuels, the burning of biomass, the decay of organic matter in landfills and… when cows burp. In the UK, there are about 9.4 million cows and calves, and they could be given […]
The U.S. held its first auction of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico in more than a year on Wednesday. The sale — mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) — garnered $264 million in offers from oil companies, including BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil. The auction in federal waters came just […]
In a major diplomatic win for a Pacific nation extremely vulnerable to the climate crisis, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to deliver a first-ever advisory opinion on climate change and human rights. The resolution, championed by Vanuatu, will ask the ICJ to […]