Phoenix’s newest light-rail extension has Jan. 27, 2024 start

The region will soon have a new connection from Mesa, Tempe and downtown Phoenix to northwest Phoenix. The Northwest Extension Phase II light rail project will officially open for service on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. A ribbon cutting and community celebration is being planned on that day to commemorate the occasion. “As Phoenix continues growing, … Read more

U.S. automakers falling behind in clean-vehicle production: EPA report

WASHINGTON — Automakers continue to sell millions of gas guzzlers and a relative handful of electric and other clean vehicles, making little progress against pollution, according to the Automotive Trends Report released today [Dec. 20, 2023] by the Environmental Protection Agency. The 2022 new vehicle fleet emitted just 10 grams per mile less carbon pollution than … Read more

Nevada DOT receives $3B federal grant: Brightline West to use funds to build CA-NV HSR

“We’re honored and humbled in the confidence President Biden, Secretary Buttigieg, Senator Rosen and so many others have placed in Brightline’s vision to bring true high-speed rail to America,” exclaimed Wes Edens, Founder and Chairman of Brightline. “This is a historic moment that will serve as a foundation for a new industry, and a remarkable project … Read more

COP28: Subnational gov’t’s effort aimed at lowering methane emissions launched: California part of coalition

DUBAI – California officially kicked off a new international climate initiative that creates a partnership of subnational governments that are committed to reducing methane today [Dec. 3, 2023] at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) hosted in Dubai. The effort, which was initially announced in September during Climate Week, has expanded to 15 signatories, which … Read more

Expected rise in fossil fuel use this decade could offset action to meet set climate goals

Stockholm, 8 November 2023 – A major new report published today finds that governments plan to produce around 110% more fossil fuels in 2030 than would be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5°C, and 69% more than would be consistent with 2°C. This comes despite 151 national governments having pledged to achieve net-zero emissions and the latest forecasts which suggest global coal, … Read more

A leader in the climate age: America’s ‘essential’ railroad network

Editor’s note: The below article was originally published at All About Trains. Americans have this love-hate relationship with trains. The evidence is both clear and undeniable. To High… Prior to its introduction in mid-to-late 1820s America, back then the train was as foreign a concept to its citizens as the New World was to Europe’s … Read more

After air-CO2 net-zero? New study highlights need to address risk of continued global warming

The UN Climate Panel’s latest best estimate is that global warming will end once we reach net zero CO2 emissions – but a study in Frontiers in Science warns significant warming could still occur. Researchers including those from Imperial College London and University of Exeter assess factors controlling global temperatures post ‘net zero’ and offer … Read more

Worsening climate, more widespread impacts absent drastic cuts in GHGs: Report

Washington, DC – Today, the White House released the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) that shows the climate crisis is upon us and impacting every community and person across the country. Since the NCA4 in 2018, improvements in scientific research have made even clearer the impact of our greenhouse gas emissions on global warming and the … Read more

Biofuel megaproject operations halted by Bay Area court

MARTINEZ, Calif.— The Contra Costa County Superior Court today [Oct. 12, 2023] ordered Phillips 66 to halt its plan to operate a biofuel refinery in Rodeo, California. The court put the Bay Area megaproject on hold until the county fully complies with environmental review requirements that it violated when first approving the project. Communities for … Read more

With CO2 doubling, predicted is a 1.9°C rise in GMST: Study

Yay!! Yay? For once I feel like a climate study is not predicting the absolute worse [sic] possible scenario, it’s just predicting a serious and pressing one. Roy Spencer and Ron Christy published a paper entitled Effective climate sensitivity distributions from a 1D model of global ocean and land temperature trends, 1970–2021. Phys.org has a version … Read more