Global Warming

May 23, 2013

PG&E Ranks Among Cleanest U.S. Power Producers

A new national report on emissions from the top 100 U.S. power producers ranks PG&E as one of the cleanest generation sources in the country based on 2011 data. Jonathan Marshall shares the details in a NEXT100 blog item.

April 25, 2013

No Slowdown in Sight for Global Climate Disruption

As early as next month, Jonathan Marshall writes in his NEXT100 blog, the concentration of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere is set to surpass 400 ppm. Carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas blamed by most climate scientists for heating the globe and causing increasingly disruptive weather extremes.

April 9, 2013

When 9.9 Miles to the Gallon is a Big Deal

Truck maker Peterbilt and engine maker Cummins are reporting fuel economy gains. That’s a big deal, says Jonathan Marshall in his NEXT100 blog, as freight trucks are responsible for about 22 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U. S. transport sector.

April 2, 2013

Back to the Future with CO2

Carbon dioxide — an unwelcome greenhouse gas pollutant — is starting to be used in a beneficial way, writes Jonathan Marshall in his NEXT100 blog.

March 1, 2013

Can Demitarians Save the Planet?

You probably won’t be surprised to learn from a new study by three European researchers that people will have to dramatically alter their consumption patterns to contain global warming. Some suggest that eating less meat can help, writes Jonathan Marshall in his NEXT100 blog.

February 12, 2013

Can Regulation Make This California Industry More Sustainable?

Unregulated marijuana farms are responsible for much environmental damage, some charge. As Jonathan Marshall writes in his NEXT100 blog, more regulation and more sustainable growing practices would improve things.

January 10, 2013

Hot Enough for You?

How to explain droughts, wildfires, superstorms and record heat in 2012? As Jonathan Marshall writes in NEXT100, serious climate scientists almost unanimously point to global warming.

November 14, 2012

California: From Oasis to Desert?

Over the next 30 years, California will likely suffer a major hit to its life-giving mountain snowpack, according to a new study led by an award-winning climate researcher at Stanford. It’s the latest in a long line of warnings about the state’s future freshwater supplies.

September 21, 2012

Global Warning: The Threat to Coffee and Chocolate

Bad news for chocoholics and coffee fans. Agricultural experts say that both coffee and cocoa plants are highly sensitive to heat and drought—and already are in decline as global warming pushes up average temperatures in producing countries.

August 24, 2012

Time to Put Out the Flames in North Dakota

As oil production has grown in North Dakota, so has the amount of natural gas flared into the atmosphere. The soaring flames, visible from space, “illuminate the prairie skies like giant fireflies.” More insidiously, North Dakota’s gas fires produce at least two million tons of greenhouse gases each year, as much as a coal-fired power plant or 380,000 cars.

July 6, 2012