CLIMATE SCIENCE
A group of Australian scientists have published an uncharacteristically blunt letter reiterating yet again that the public debate about climate science is “phony.” It’s real, it’s here, and its time to suck it up and deal.
OCEANS AND FOOD
New Open-ocean aquaculture technology could help increase food and water security while reducing the environmental impacts of fish farming.
OCEANS AND ECOLOGY
Another major oil spill has despoiled a pristine ecosystem in the South Atlantic, reminding us that no place no matter how remote is safe from the negative impacts of our fossil-fuel driven economy.
CLIMATE CHANGE
In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, it’s high time we reviewed the resilience of American nuclear reactors to natural disasters, and how climate change could increase our risk.
NOAA Says Loss of Environmental Satellite Funding Could Halve Accuracy of Precipitation Forecasts Take a look at our map, based on new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, which shows just how much worse our forecasting would be [...]
INVESTING IN SCIENCE
New data from NOAA show how precipitation forecasts for the 2010 “Snowmageddon” storm would have been off by 50 percent or more without the aid of the polar-orbiting environmental satellites.
INVESTING IN SCIENCE
Critical weather monitoring satellites saw an even deeper cut in the most recent three-week continuing resolution to fund the government, jeopardizing our ability to monitor hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.
CLIMATE SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
Can making data more transparent help quell the popular misunderstandings of climate science?
INVESTING IN SCIENCE
Weather predictions used to be a frequent punchline but they have improved dramatically in recent years. More often than not you’ll need an umbrella if your local television channel or website of choice tells you to bring one when you [...]
CLIMATE SCIENCE
The forthcoming book deals a devastating blow to the denier movement, exposing it’s pseudoscience for what it really is: polluter-funded misinformation.
AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
Why what you think you know about agricultural biotechnology may be wrong.
OCEANS
Scientists at a congressional briefing conclude that recent glacial calving of a giant ice island off the Greenland ice shelf is a clear symptom of a warming world.
From Secondhand smoke to “Star Wars” to climate change, the cast of characters peddling pseudo-science is stunningly consistent.
Oceans
The massive environmental damage requires a systematic approach to the analysis of public policy priorities and the costs BP must bear over the long term.
SCIENCE, CULTURED
What a highly influential recent paper on mountaintop removal mining shows about how scientists can change policy by getting their message (and timing!) right.
PODCAST
The relationship between population and environmental sustainability is complex, and understanding the fraught history of debates on the issue is critical for scientists and advocates.
CLIMATE CHANGE
A “plan B” focused on planetary control through geoengineering might turn out to be nothing but a mistaken notion.
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
There are compelling scientific arguments both for and against geoengineering our climate via ocean fertilization. But even if our best science indicates that ocean fertilization will succeed, there are clear ethical reasons to rule it out, as it can never meet with the scrutiny that most of us take to be emblematic of justified, right action.
The Integrated Risk Information System is an Environmental Protection Agency database of information on the human health effects of exposure to environmental contaminants. Before getting cataloged in the system, a contaminant must go through the IRIS process, a set of [...]
New research investigating the impact of climate change on western wildfires presents a bleak picture. CAP Senior Fellow Tom Kenworthy covers the latest science in an American Progress column this week, explaining the problematic feedback cycle: higher temperatures from global [...]
New research investigating the impact of climate change on western wildfires presents a bleak picture. CAP Senior Fellow Tom Kenworthy covers the latest science in an American Progress column this week, explaining the problematic feedback cycle: higher temperatures from global warming increase the risks of wildfires, and increased fires release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere:
A new paper in the April 24 issue of the journal Science, for example, concludes that scientists have greatly underestimated the impact that deforestation brought on by fires has on climate change. On a global scale, fires release into the atmosphere about half of the carbon dioxide that is contributed by the use of fossil fuels.Fire season is a perennial reminder of how climate change is making life more dangerous for Americans right now. Steve Woodruff wrote about research on trends in western fires over the past decade last year here on SP, noting that climate scientists cited in a National Wildlife Federation report "project global climate change will bring summertime temperatures in the region that run 3.6 to 9 degrees higher than what’s now considered 'normal,' and that precipitation will decline as much as 15 percent by the middle of this century. The result will be a climate even more conducive to wildfire." Fortunately, the new research illuminates the complex relationship between fires and increased emissions—which in turn can allow for better fire management strategies. But as Chris Mooney explained in 2007, that process is behind where it could be on account of the Bush administration's years of delay on producing national assessments of the impact of climate change around the country. Find more information on wildfires on the interactive Human Toll of Climate Change map. Image: AP/Keith Cullom
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.