The Elephant
The climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
The ElephantThe climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
Visit: e360.yale.edu
Hundreds of Ancient Viruses Discovered Deep Inside Tibetan Glacier
2024-08-29 (or before) in Yale E360Nations Are Undercounting Emissions, Putting UN Goals at Risk
2024-04-04 (or before) in Yale E360Because of lax rules, national inventories reported to the United Nations grossly underestimate many countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. The result, analysts say, is that the world can not verify compliance with agreed emissions targets, jeopardizing global climate agreements.
In Texas, the Heat Index Is Rising Faster Than the Temperature
2024-03-25 (or before) in Yale E360How a Solar Revolution in Farming Is Depleting World’s Groundwater
2024-03-02 (or before) in Yale E360Farmers in hot, arid regions are turning to low-cost solar pumps to irrigate their fields, eliminating the need for expensive fossil fuels and boosting crop production. But by allowing them to pump throughout the day, the new technology is drying up aquifers around the globe.
Tagged under: Fossil Fuels
Boiling, Filtering Water Can Get Rid of Microplastics, Study Finds
2024-03-01 (or before) in Yale E360UN Carbon Removal Estimates 'By No Means Feasible,' Scientists Warn
2024-02-08 (or before) in Yale E360Tagged under: Sustainability | Carbon Capture and Storage
Clearing Skies: Opening a New Path on Climate and the Future
2023-12-26 (or before) in Yale E360Adapting to climate change does not address the societal systems and values that spawned the current crisis. What’s needed is “systemic adaptation” that fundamentally changes our economy, our politics, and our priorities in ways that put community and the planet first.
How Mounting Demand for Rubber Is Driving Tropical Forest Loss
2023-12-16 (or before) in Yale E360The growing market for rubber is a major, but largely overlooked, cause of tropical deforestation, new analysis shows. Most of the rubber goes to produce tires, more than 2 billion a year, and experts warn the transition to electric vehicles could accelerate rubber use.
Tagged under: Deforestation | Trees
Road Hazard: Evidence Mounts on Toxic Pollution from Tires
2023-09-26 (or before) in Yale E360Researchers are only beginning to uncover the toxic cocktail of chemicals, microplastics, and heavy metals hidden in car and truck tires. But experts say these tire emissions are a significant source of air and water pollution and may be affecting humans as well as wildlife.
Tagged under: Microplastics and Nanoplastics | Wildlife
From Carbon Sink to Source: The Stark Changes in Arctic Lakes
2023-09-21 (or before) in Yale E360For millennia, lakes in Greenland’s tundra have locked up huge loads of carbon in their sediment. But as the Arctic becomes warmer and wetter, scientists believe these lakes could be turning into sources of carbon, which would have important consequences for the world’s climate.
Tagged under: Climate Change | Arctic
Rivers in the Sky: How Deforestation Is Affecting Global Water Cycles
2023-08-27 (or before) in Yale E360A growing body of evidence indicates that the continuing destruction of tropical forests is disrupting the movement of water in the atmosphere, causing major shifts in precipitation that could lead to drought in key agricultural areas in China, India, and the U.S. Midwest.
Tagged under: Deforestation | Drought | Climate Change | Rivers | Trees | India
For Decades, Our Carbon Emissions Sped the Growth of Plants — Not Anymore
2023-08-15 (or before) in Yale E360Tagged under: Climate Change
It’s Not Just Climate: Are We Ignoring Other Causes of Disasters?
2023-07-08 (or before) in Yale E360Climate change is increasingly seen as the cause of natural catastrophes, from floods to famines. But a growing number of scientists are cautioning that blaming disasters solely on climate overlooks the poor policy and planning decisions that make these events much worse.
Tagged under: Climate Change | Famine and Food Insecurity
How Warming Ruined a Crab Fishery and Hurt an Alaskan Town
2023-06-11 (or before) in Yale E360As the world warms, extended spikes in ocean temperatures are triggering the collapse of key marine populations. For the Aleut community of St. Paul, Alaska, the loss of the snow crab fishery is having a profound economic impact and raising questions about the future.
Tagged under: Oceans | Climate Change | Fish | Collapse | Alaska | Sealife
Why Saving World’s Peatlands Can Help Stabilize the Climate
2023-06-06 (or before) in Yale E360Peatlands make up 3 percent of the earth’s landscape, yet absorb large amounts of carbon and harbor surprising biodiversity. Although peat bogs and fens are under increasing environmental threat, efforts to protect and restore these ecosystems are gathering momentum.
Tagged under: Peat
Youth Climate Lawsuit Against Federal Government Headed for Trial
2023-06-04 (or before) in Yale E360Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing
2023-06-04 (or before) in Yale E360High-profile initiatives to plant millions of trees are being touted by governments around the world as major contributions to fighting climate change. But scientists say many of these projects are ill-conceived and poorly managed and often fail to grow any forests at all.
Tagged under: Climate Change | Trees
Avoiding a 'Ghastly Future': Hard Truths on the State of the Planet
2023-05-26 (or before) in Yale E360A group of the world’s top ecologists have issued a stark warning about the snowballing crisis caused by climate change, population growth, and unchecked development. Their assessment is grim, but big-picture societal changes on a global scale can still avert a disastrous future.
Tagged under: Climate Change
Panama’s Indigenous Groups Wage High-Tech Fight for Their Lands
2023-05-14 (or before) in Yale E360With help from U.S. organizations, Panama’s Indigenous people are using satellite images and other technologies to identify illegal logging and incursions by ranchers on their territory. But spotting the violations is the easy part — getting the government to act is far harder.
As Ocean Oxygen Levels Dip, Fish Face an Uncertain Future
2023-05-11 (or before) in Yale E360Global warming not only increases ocean temperatures, it triggers a cascade of effects that are stripping the seas of oxygen. Fish are already moving to new waters in search of oxygen, and scientists are warning of the long-term threat to fish species and marine ecosystems.
Tagged under: Oceans | Fish | Sea Level
New Research Sparks Concerns That Ocean Circulation Will Collapse
2023-04-23 (or before) in Yale E360Scientists have long feared that warming could cause a breakdown of ocean circulation in the North Atlantic. But new research finds the real risk lies in Antarctica’s waters, where melting could disrupt currents in the next few decades, with profound impacts on global climate.
Tagged under: Oceans | Climate Change | Antarctic | Collapse | Climate Change Impacts
Crisis on the Colorado
2023-01-28 (or before) in Yale E360Tagged under: Colorado River
For U.S. Companies, the Race for the New EV Battery Is On
2022-12-29 (or before) in Yale E360Spurred by federal mandates and incentives, U.S. manufacturers are pushing forward with developing new battery technologies for electric vehicles. The holy grail is a battery that is safer, costs less, provides longer driving range, and doesn’t use imported “conflict” minerals.
Tagged under: Batteries | Minerals
How an Early Oil Industry Study Became Key in Climate Lawsuits
2022-12-23 (or before) in Yale E360For decades, 1960s research for the American Petroleum Institute warning of the risks of burning fossil fuels had been forgotten. But two papers discovered in libraries are now playing a key role in lawsuits aimed at holding oil companies accountable for climate change.
Tagged under: Climate Change | Fossil Fuels
Three Myths About Renewable Energy and the Grid, Debunked
2022-09-03 (or before) in Yale E360Renewable energy skeptics argue that because of their variability, wind and solar cannot be the foundation of a dependable electricity grid. But the expansion of renewables and new methods of energy management and storage can lead to a grid that is reliable and clean.
Tagged under: Renewable Energy | Solar Energy | Electricity | Electricity Grid | Wind Power
Forty Percent of the World’s Bird Populations Are in Decline, New Study Finds
2022-08-15 (or before) in Yale E360Why Clouds Are the Key to New Troubling Projections on Warming
2022-08-15 (or before) in Yale E360Recent climate models project that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 above pre-industrial levels could cause temperatures to soar far above previous estimates. A warming earth, researchers now say, will lead to a loss of clouds, allowing more solar energy to strike the planet.
Methane Levels Hit New High, While the Cause of Rising Emissions Remains a Mystery
2022-07-05 (or before) in Yale E360Tagged under: Methane
Pollen and Heat: A Looming Challenge for Global Agriculture
2022-06-14 in Yale E360Farmers and scientists are increasingly observing that unusually high springtime temperatures can kill pollen and interfere with the fertilization of crops. Researchers are now searching for ways to help pollen beat the heat, including developing more heat-tolerant varieties.
Tagged under: Farming
Ocean Acidifying Faster Than Any Time in 300 Million Years, Study Says
2021-08-14 (or before) in Yale E360Tagged under: Oceans
With Temperatures Rising, Can Animals Survive the Heat Stress?
2021-06-28 (or before) in Yale E360A growing number of studies show that warming temperatures are increasing mortality in creatures ranging from birds in the Mojave Desert, to mammals in Australia, to bumblebees in North America. Researchers warn that heat stress could become a major factor in future extinctions.
Tagged under: Birds | Extinction | Bees
A Big Oil Project in Africa Threatens Fragile Okavango Region
2021-06-20 (or before) in Yale E360A Canadian company is drilling exploratory wells in Namibia for what could be a major oil and gas find. Local residents and conservationists fear the project could use up scarce water supplies and cause widespread ecological disruption downstream in the world-renowned Okavango Delta.
Tagged under: Africa | Namibia
How Pressuring Corporations Can Save the Amazon from Destruction
2021-05-27 (or before) in Yale E360As the Amazon undergoes another wave of deforestation, a blueprint for halting the runaway exploitation can be found in Southeast Asia, where pressure campaigns on companies and improved government monitoring are finally slowing the devastation caused by the palm oil industry.
Tagged under: Deforestation | Amazon Rainforest
In Boost for Renewables, Grid-Scale Battery Storage Is on the Rise
2021-05-04 (or before) in Yale E360Driven by technological advances, facilities are being built with storage systems that can hold enough renewable energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes. The advent of “big battery” technology addresses a key challenge for green energy — the intermittency of wind and solar.
Tagged under: Renewable Energy | Batteries | Solar Energy | Wind Power | Electricity Grid
Why 'Carbon-Cycle Feedbacks' Could Drive Temperatures Even Higher
2021-04-09 (or before) in Yale E360New research indicates that parts of the Amazon and other tropical forests are now emitting more CO2 than they absorb. Some scientists are concerned this development, which is not yet incorporated into climate models, could put the temperature goals set by the Paris Agreement out of reach.
Tagged under: Amazon Rainforest | Trees
Green Hydrogen: Could It Be Key to a Carbon-Free Economy?
2020-11-08 (or before) in Yale E360Green hydrogen, which uses renewable energy to produce hydrogen from water, is taking off around the globe. Its boosters say the fuel could play an important role in decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors of the economy, such as long-haul trucking, aviation, and heavy manufacturing.
Tagged under: Renewable Energy | Hydrogen
The New Climate Math: The Numbers Keep Getting More Frightening
2020-10-02 (or before) in Yale E360Scientists keep raising ever-louder alarms about the urgency of tackling climate change, but the world’s governments aren’t listening. Yet the latest numbers don’t lie: Nations now plan to keep producing more coal, oil, and gas than the planet can endure.
Tagged under: Coal | Climate Change
As Climate Change Worsens, A Cascade of Tipping Points Looms
2020-09-22 (or before) in Yale E360New research warns that the earth may be approaching key tipping points, including the runaway loss of ice sheets, that could fundamentally disrupt the global climate system. A growing concern is a change in ocean circulation, which could alter climate patterns in a profound way.
Tagged under: Oceans | Tipping Points | Climate Change
Climate Models Underestimate CO2 Emissions from Permafrost by 14 Percent, Study Finds
2020-07-06 (or before) in Yale E360In Greenland’s Melting Ice, A Warning on Hard Climate Choices
2020-01-25 (or before) in Yale E360Greenland is melting at an unprecedented rate, causing vast quantities of ice to disappear and global sea levels to rise. The fate of the ice sheet is not sealed, but unless CO2 emissions are sharply cut, the long-term existence of Greenland’s ice is in doubt.
Tagged under: Ice Melting | Sea Level
How China’s Big Overseas Initiative Threatens Global Climate Progress
2019-01-10 (or before) in Yale E360China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a colossal infrastructure plan that could transform the economies of nations around the world. But with its focus on coal-fired power plants, the effort could obliterate any chance of reducing emissions and tip the world into catastrophic climate change.
Tagged under: Coal | Climate Change
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