3 d. ago Godfather of climate science decries Trump plan to shut Nasa lab above Seinfeld diner: ‘It’s crazy’

Over breakfast at Tom’s Restaurant, right below the historic Giss lab, James Hansen calls Doge’s decision a ‘big mistake’Perched above the New York City diner made famous by the TV show Seinfeld, Tom’s Restaurant, a small research laboratory became, improbably, crucial to humanity’s understanding of our changing climate and of the universe itself.Now, it is being shut down by Donald Trump’s administration. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Shell suffers investor revolt over gas production impact on climate plans

Just over a fifth of shareholder votes backed proposals for more disclosure on how increasing LNG production meets Shell’s environmental commitments.

Society

2 w. ago Keir Starmer slams Kemi Badenoch as 'climate defeatist' but she says he's 'on another planet' in net zero row

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was first to raise winter fuel payment cuts, saying her party ‘wouldn’t balance (the public finances) on the back of pensioners’

Politics

3 w. ago Puerto Rico drops climate lawsuit after DoJ sues states to block threats to big oil

Territory’s voluntary move comes as Trump administration makes good on pledge to end lawsuits against oil and gasPuerto Rico has voluntarily dismissed its 2024 climate lawsuit against big oil, a Friday legal filing shows, just two days after the US justice department sued two states over planned litigation against oil companies for their role in the climate crisis.Puerto Rico’s lawsuit, filed in July, alleged that the oil and gas giants had misled the public about the climate dangers associated with their products. It came as part of a wave of litigation filed by dozens of US states, cities and municipalities in recent years. Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago Red Pockets by Alice Mah review – finding hope amid the climate crisis

A professor’s quest to make sense of her eco-anxiety takes her from her ancestral village in China to Cop 26 and beyondEco-anxiety is not an official medical diagnosis, but everyone knows what it means. The American Psychological Association defines it as “the chronic fear of environmental cataclysm that comes from observing the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concern for one’s future and that of next generations”. Fear of the future, an ache for the past, the present awash with disquiet: into this turmoil Alice Mah’s new book appears like a little red boat, keeping hope afloat against all odds.Mah is a professor of urban and environmental studies at the University of Glasgow as well as an activist passionately concerned with pollution, ecological breakdown and climate justice. Her previous books, Petrochemical Planet and Plastic Unlimited, catalogued the catastrophic impacts of the petrochemical industry on the natural and human world. In Red ...

Events

3 w. ago Justice Department sues Hawaii, Michigan over plans to sue fossil fuel companies for climate harm

The Justice Department is suing two states over their planned lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for harms caused by climate change

Society

3 w. ago Arctic plant study reveals an ‘early warning sign’ of climate change upheaval

A warming tundra has seen unexpected shifts, raising the alarm about fragile ecosystems and those who rely on themScientists studying Arctic plants say the ecosystems that host life in some of the most inhospitable reaches of the planet are changing in unexpected ways in an “early warning sign” for a region upended by climate change.In four decades, 54 researchers tracked more than 2,000 plant communities across 45 sites from the Canadian high Arctic to Alaska and Scandinavia. They discovered dramatic shifts in temperatures and growing seasons produced no clear winners or losers. Some regions witnessed large increases in shrubs and grasses and declines in flowering plants – which struggle to grow under the shade created by taller plants. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Hawaii plans to increase hotel tax to help it cope with climate change

Hawaii lawmakers are ready to hike a tax imposed on travelers staying in hotels, vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations and earmark the new money for programs to cope with a warming planet

Society

3 w. ago Trump’s assault on climate make UN talks an ‘uphill battle’, says Cop30 chair

Environmental rollbacks and tariffs makes meeting challenging, says summit president André Corrêa do LagoCrucial United Nations climate talks this year will be a “slightly uphill battle” due to economic turmoil and Donald Trump’s removal of the US from the effort to tackle global heating, the chair of the upcoming summit has admitted.Governments from around the world will gather in Belem, Brazil, in November for the Cop30 meeting, where they will be expected to announce new plans to deal with the climate crisis and slash greenhouse gas emissions. Very few countries have done so yet, however, and the world remains well off track to remain within agreed temperature limits designed to avert the worst consequences of climate breakdown. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago UN climate talks will be ‘uphill battle’ amid Trump rollbacks, says Cop30 chair

Tariffs and environmental cuts will make meeting challenging, says summit president André Corrêa do LagoCrucial United Nations climate talks this year will be a “slightly uphill battle” due to economic turmoil and Donald Trump’s removal of the US from the effort to tackle global heating, the chair of the upcoming summit has admitted.Governments from around the world will gather in Belem, Brazil, in November for the Cop30 meeting, where they will be expected to announce new plans to deal with the climate crisis and slash greenhouse gas emissions. Very few countries have done so yet, however, and the world remains well off track to remain within agreed temperature limits designed to avert the worst consequences of climate breakdown. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Climate plan based on phasing out fossil fuels doomed to fail, says Tony Blair

Former PM claims net zero policies losing public support and says there should be greater focus on carbon captureTony Blair has called for the government to change course on climate, suggesting a strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term or encourages people to limit consumption is “doomed to fail”.In comments that have prompted a backlash within Labour, the former prime minister suggested the UK government should focus less on renewables and more on technological solutions such as carbon capture. Continue reading...

Society

3 w. ago Loss of FEMA program spells disaster for hundreds of communities and their projects

For hundreds of communities nationwide, plans to protect against natural disasters and climate change have been upended because of the Trump administration's elimination of a federal grant program

Events

4 w. ago Pacific island states urge rich countries to expedite plans to cut emissions

Developed countries pressed to submit national plans well before Cop30 as time runs out to avoid 1.5C temperature riseRich countries are dragging their feet on producing new plans to combat the climate crisis, thereby putting the poor into greater danger, some of the world’s most vulnerable nations have warned.All governments are supposed to publish new plans this year on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but so far only a small majority have done so, and some of the plans submitted have been inadequate to the scale of action needed. Continue reading...

Events