Discourse for all interested in all things air-quality related
WMO’s State of the Global Climate report confirmed that 2024 was likely the first calendar year to be more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial era, with a global mean near-surface temperature of 1.55 ± 0.13°C above the 1850-1900 average. This is the warmest year in the 175-year observational record. WMO’s flagship report showed that: Atmospheric … Read more
Well, the results are in. The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Highway Policy Information (OHPI) released its Traffic Volume Trends: December 2024 report. The report doesn’t just provide traffic trend information for the 12th month of last year, but data for the entire year as well as for … Read more
Since the time records regarding the changes in the average temperature at the Earth’s surface first started being kept beginning in year 1850 or thereabouts, the global mean surface temperature has risen 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit or 1.5 degrees Celsius. Science backs that up with fact. What is more difficult to prove is whether or not … Read more
AMHERST, Mass. — In the race to combat global climate change, much attention has been given to natural “carbon sinks:” those primarily terrestrial areas of the globe that absorb and sequester more carbon than they release. While scientists have long known that coastal salt marshes are just such a sink for “blue carbon,” or carbon … Read more
WASHINGTON— Six of the nation’s largest utility corporations netted more than $10 billion in profits while disconnecting their customers’ power at least 662,000 times last year — including hundreds of thousands of record-heat summertime shutoffs, according to a report released today [Feb. 3, 2025] by the Center for Biological Diversity. The report, Powerless in the … Read more
The import tariffs the nation’s 47th President, through executive action, imposed (the imposing of said tariffs much to the chagrin of an overwhelming majority of North Americans, or so it would appear), will likely result in the lowering of emissions in the air the countries of Canada, Mexico and the United States commonly share. How … Read more
On Jan. 20, 2025, action was initiated by the nation’s now newest Chief Executive to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. I understand that doesn’t happen immediately: it will take roughly a year. So what can and should be done during this time and beyond to help ensure that the rise in the … Read more
The United States generates more food waste than all but two countries. To address this, the federal government set a goal to cut food waste in half by 2030 compared to 2016 levels, to about 164 pounds per person annually. But a new study published in Nature Food and led by University of California, Davis, … Read more
The weighted results show that only 1% indicate they will return to a petrol or diesel car, and 4% would opt for a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) if they had to replace their car tomorrow. “These results confirm that EV drivers are highly satisfied with their choice, and that reports of declining EV popularity are greatly … Read more
Albany – Today [Dec. 26, 2024], Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Climate Change Superfund Act (S.2129/A.3351), nation-leading legislation that will use the polluter-pays model exemplified by existing federal and state superfund laws to collect $75 billion over twenty-five years for climate change adaptation from the parties most responsible for causing the climate crisis – big … Read more