Capturing Carbon…

Climeworks’ Mammoth plant in Iceland, which began operations in May 2024. The plant removes carbon dioxide with direct air capture — one of the methods examined in APS’ latest report. Topics: Applied Physics, Climate Change, Global Warming, Green Tech Anthropologists believe our ancestors first used fire as a tool nearly two million years ago. Eventually,Continue reading “Capturing Carbon…”

Carbon Storage…

Keeping the carbon: Biochar can be added to cement to sequester carbon within concrete. (Courtesy: Sabbie Miller) Topics: Biomass, Civil Engineering, Environment, Global Warming, Green Tech Replacing conventional building materials with alternatives that sequester carbon dioxide could allow the world to lock away up to half the CO2 generated by humans each year – about 16Continue reading “Carbon Storage…”

Water and Lithium…

Emissions of Carbon Dioxide in the Transportation Sector, Motor Vehicle Miles Traveled, and Emissions per Mile Traveled by Light-Duty Vehicles Measured as a Percentage of Their Value in 1975 – Transportation sector emissions have not risen nearly as much as vehicle miles traveled because gains in fuel economy have reduced emissions per mile of travel.Continue reading “Water and Lithium…”

Urban Climate Science…

CROCUS researchers crossed Chicago’s Michigan Avenue as they collected data on how buildings, streets, and greenspaces impact temperature and air quality. (Image by Argonne National Laboratory.) Topics: Civilization, Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming, Thermodynamics CROCUS’s Urban Canyon campaign captured data on heat islands and air quality while also helping scientists understand how to conduct aContinue reading “Urban Climate Science…”

The Matter of Methane…

Image source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/methane-molecule Topics: Chemistry, Civilization, Climate Change, Entropy, Environment, Global Warming The “good news”: you can download the PDF for free by registering an email, or read the report from the National Academies of Science and Medicine here. Citizenship takes work and effort to be informed. It would be nice to carry on aContinue reading “The Matter of Methane…”

Antarctic Greenbelt…

Hummocks of moss cover Ardley Island off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Credit: Dan Charman Topics: Antarctica, Civilization, Climate Change, Existentialism, Global Warming A fast-warming region of Antarctica is getting greener with shocking speed. Satellite imagery of the region reveals that the area covered by plants increased by almost 14 times over 35 years — aContinue reading “Antarctic Greenbelt…”

Driven to Caveat Emptor…

Meinzahn/Getty Images Topics: Applied Physics, Atmospheric Science, Chemistry, Climate Change, Global Warming Note: It’s disheartening that geoengineering, made popular by science fiction novels and plots in Star Trek, is being considered because we’re too selfish to change our behavior. More and more climate scientists are supporting experiments to cool Earth by altering the stratosphere orContinue reading “Driven to Caveat Emptor…”

Ice, Snow, Water, Nada…

Figure 1. The Vadret da Tschierva glacier in 1935 (top) and in 2022 (bottom).Photos courtesy of swisstopo, L. Hösli, G. Carcanade, M. Huss, VAW-ETHZ. Topics: Civilization, Climate Change, Fluid Mechanics, Global Warming, Meteorology, Research Glaciers—dynamic masses of ice descending from the mountain tops—have always been fascinating to humankind. They intrinsically belong to the high-alpine environment.Continue reading “Ice, Snow, Water, Nada…”

Spongy Narks…

Scientists used samples from sclerosponges off the coast of Puerto Rico to calculate ocean surface temperatures going back 300 years. Douglas Rissing/iStockphoto/Getty Images Topics: Climate Change, Existentialism, Global Warming, Research, Thermodynamics CNN — Using sponges collected off the coast of Puerto Rico in the eastern Caribbean, scientists have calculated 300 years of ocean temperatures and concluded the world has already overshot one crucialContinue reading “Spongy Narks…”

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once…

The Flood by Antonio Marziale Carracci Topics: Civilization, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Existentialism, Global Warming Another week, another catastrophic, record-setting, history-making flood, this time in Kentucky. Preliminary assessments indicate rainfall in Graves County last week likely set a new record for most precipitation in a 24-hour period, with 11.28 inches of rain. This would make it yetContinue reading “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once…”