climate change tagged posts

Converting greenhouse gas emissions into energy-rich fuel using nano silicon (Si) in a carbon-neutral carbon-cycle is illustrated. Credit: Chenxi Qian

Saving the planet from climate change with a grain of sand. Every year, humans advance climate change and global warming – and quite likely our own eventual extinction – by injecting about 30 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. A team of scientists from the University of Toronto (U of T) believes they’ve found a way to convert all these emissions into energy-rich fuel in a carbon-neutral cycle that uses a very abundant natural resource: silicon, the 7th most-abundant element in the universe and the 2nd most-abundant element in the earth’s crust.

The idea of converting carbon dioxide emissions to energy isn’t new: there’s be...

The Jason series of U.S./European satellites can measure the height of the ocean surface. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The amount of sea level rise in the Pacific Ocean can be used to estimate future global surface temperatures, according to a new report led by University of Arizona geoscientists. Based on the Pacific Ocean’s sea level in 2015, the team estimates by the end of 2016 the world’s average surface temperature will increase up to 0.5 F (0.28 C) more than in 2014. In 2015 alone, the average global surface temperature increased by 0.32 F (0.18 C). “Our prediction is through the end of 2016,” said first author Cheryl Peyser. “The prediction is looking on target so far.”

Scientists knew that both the rate at which global surface temperature is rising and sea level in the western Pacifi...

The Marshall Islands are extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels, with most of the land no more than three feet above the high tide mark. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Erin Magee, AusAID)

For the 70,000 residents of the Marshall Islands, global climate change isn’t a theoretical concern with far-off potential consequences. The island nation is nowhere >6ft above the Pacific Ocean, and because sea levels are already rising, the nation’s leaders have made plans to move to higher ground in the Fiji Islands.

Some impacts of global climate change will appear much sooner than others – with only moderate increases in global temperature. While rising sea levels may one day threaten the commuter tunnels and subway lines of NYC, it will have effects much sooner in other parts of the world...

New work demonstrates the planet’s remaining fossil fuel resources would be sufficient to melt nearly all of Antarctica if burned, leading to a 160 to 200 ft rise in sea level. Because so many major cities are at or near sea level, this would put many highly populated areas where more than a billion people live under water, including NYC and DC.

“Our findings show that if we do not want to melt Antarctica, we can’t keep taking fossil fuel carbon out of the ground and just dumping it into the atmosphere as CO2 like we’ve been doing,” Caldeira said. “Most previous studies of Antarctic have focused on loss of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Our study demonstrates that burning coal, oil, and gas also risks loss of the much larger East Antarctic Ice Sheet.”

Although Antarctica has already b...