carbon dioxide

Today's Top 5

It's the Golden Age of Climate Denial

This is a golden moment for the skeptic movement. Last week Scott Pruitt disputed the scientific consensus that human activity is the primary contributor to climate change.  As Oklahoma's attorney general, Pruitt initiated, signed onto, or filed briefs in 14 different lawsuits challenging the EPA's climate regulations. He once fielded a letter from one of Oklahoma's largest energy companies criticizing one of those regulations, which he tweaked a few words in, put his own letterhead on, and promptly sent to the EPA. Now he'll be in charge of regulating the environmental impact of the nation's energy companies. So now that the fringe theorists are in charge, who is left for them to convince? - Esquire

Pruitt's Office Deluged With Angry Calls After He Questions the Science of Climate Change

The calls to Pruitt’s main line reached such a high volume by Friday that agency officials created an impromptu call center, according to three agency employees. The officials asked for anonymity out of fear of retaliation. By Saturday morning calls went straight to voice mail, which was full and did not accept messages. At least two calls received the message that the line was disconnected, but that appeared to be in error. While constituents sometimes call lawmakers in large numbers to express outrage over contentious policy issues, it is unusual for Americans to target a Cabinet official. - Washington Post

Garbage Dump Landslide Kills at least 46 in Ethiopian Capital, Scores More Missing

At least 46 people have died and dozens more have been injured in a giant landslide at Ethiopia’s largest rubbish dump outside Addis Ababa, a tragedy squatters living there blamed on a biogas plant being built nearby. Dozens of homes of squatters who lived in the Koshe landfill site, on the outskirts of the capital, were flattened when the largest pile of rubbish collapsed on Saturday. Some blamed the collapse on a new biogas plant being constructed on top of the hill. - The Guardian

Scientists Race To Prevent Wipeout of World's Coral Reefs

The world has lost roughly half its coral reefs in the last 30 years. Scientists are now scrambling to ensure that at least a fraction of these unique ecosystems survives beyond the next three decades. The health of the planet depends on it: Coral reefs support a quarter of all marine species, as well as half a billion people around the world. Even if the world could halt global warming now, scientists still expect that more than 90 percent of corals will die by 2050. Without drastic intervention, we risk losing them all. - Associated Press

Engineers Hope 3D-Printed Reefs Can Slow Bleaching Crisis

Fake reefs may be less vulnerable to climate change and more durable in the changing ocean chemistry than natural reefs. Scientists are using 3D-printing technology that enables them to create fake reefs mimicking the texture and architectural structure of natural reefs in ways that haven’t been achieved in prior restoration efforts. Experimental installations of these 3D-printed reefs are now going on in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Persian Gulf, and Australia. - National Geographic

Today's Top 5 Trending

Study Finds Elevated Carbon Dioxide Impairs Human Brain Function

In a landmark public health finding, a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health finds that carbon dioxide has a direct and negative impact on human cognition and decision-making. These impacts have been observed at CO2 levels that most Americans — and their children — are routinely exposed to today inside classrooms, offices, homes, planes, and cars. -- Climate Progress

As Gulf of Maine Warms, Puffins Recast as Canaries in Coal Mine

Since 2004 the Gulf of Maine has warmed faster than anyplace else on the planet save an area northeast of Japan, and climate models suggest 2012-like conditions will become the new normal by the 2050s, with dramatic implications for life in Maine, on land as well as at sea. Scientists say the most catastrophic outcome would be a collapse in the foundations of the marine food web that sustains not just the puffins and their prey but most other species, from endangered right whales to the haddock and cod that fishermen depend on. -- Portland Press Herald

Leaked Map Reveals Big Gas Eyeing One of Most Biodiverse Places on Earth

Manu National Park in Peru’s Amazon is targeted by Pluspetrol, according to map of planned geological fieldwork -- The Guardian

Processed Meats Cause Cancer, and Red Meat Probably Does, Too

Eating hot dogs, ham and other processed meat can cause colorectal cancer, and eating red meat probably can cause cancer, the World Health Organization's cancer agency reported Monday. Dr. Kurt Straif, with the International Agency for Cancer Research, said the risk of developing colorectal cancer from eating processed meat remains small but rises with the amount consumed. Consuming red meat was linked to colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancer, but the link was not as strong, the IARC report said. -- USA Today

Climate Change a Major Threat to Children's Health, Doctors Warn

Climate change poses a rising global public health and safety threat, and children are particularly vulnerable, the American Academy of Pediatrics says in a new policy statement. The group is urging pediatricians and politicians to work together to solve the crisis and protect children from the immediate and long-term health consequences of climate change. -- CBS News