Communicating science
Scientific research is essential to almost all aspects of life- yet we’re in an age when scientists and their findings are met with contempt, distrust and even anger. We hear how this impacts scientists professionally and personally, and discuss strategies for repairing the relationship between science and the public.
With us:
Anne Toomey, associate professor of environmental studies and science at Pace University. She’s the author of the new book Science with Impact- How to Engage People, Change Practice, and Influence Policy
Heather Goldstone, Chief Communications Officer at Woodwell Climate Research Center
Chris Gloninger, Senior Climate Scientist at the Woods Hole Group.
The state of the Arctic: High temperatures, melting ice, fires and unprecedented emissions
The Arctic tundra has switched from a carbon sink to a source of emissions, according to a NOAA report.
The Arctic just experienced its second-hottest year on record. And concerningly, the region’s tundra has transitioned from being a sink for carbon to a source of emissions as permafrost thaws, releasing carbon dioxide and methane.
That will only amplify the amount of heat-trapping gases that enter the atmosphere, paving the way for further warming.
Second-warmest November on record means that 2024 is likely to be Earth’s hottest year, report says
Earth just experienced its second-warmest November on record — second only to 2023 — making it all but certain that 2024 will end as the hottest year ever measured, according to a report Monday by European climate service Copernicus.
Last year was the hottest on record due to human-caused climate change coupled with the effects of an El Nino. But after this summer registered as the hottest on record — Phoenix sweltered through 113 consecutive days with a high temperature of at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius) — scientists were anticipating that 2024 would set a new annual record as well.
Continue reading on AP News.
Some of the world’s biggest cities are so polluted they’re warming slower
But this surprising effect of pollution should hardly be taken as a good sign.
The question of whether global warming is accelerating is hotly contested among climate scientists. While some have argued that the current rate of warming — which hit an all-time high last year — is strictly correlated with increased fossil fuel emissions and therefore aligned with current climate models, others have cautioned that the Earth is far more sensitive to fossil fuels than previously thought and that humanity is hurtling toward tipping points from which there can be no return.
A winter weather puzzle is raising the risk of meteoric energy inflation
A winter forecasting enigma is poised to send prices for energy and food on a bumpy ride in the next few months, with commodities from natural gas to wheat at risk of breakneck gains against a backdrop of geopolitical turmoil.
Earlier in the year, meteorologists expected this December, January and February to be dominated by the La Niña climate pattern, which influences the world’s weather in specific ways. But La Niña has yet to arrive, and if it does, it will probably be weak. That makes the outlook for the northern hemisphere’s winter much more uncertain.
Why cranberry country is turning into wetlands
Massachusetts farmers began draining wetlands to make cranberry bogs more than two centuries ago. Now there’s a race to restore them.
As the sun set on a November afternoon, Brendan Annett walked through a wetland preserve, greeting everyone who passed him by with the enthusiasm of a mayor at a ribbon cutting.
Which he kind of was. Annett, who oversees conservation projects for the nonprofit Buzzards Bay Coalition, had recently finished work on the site known as Mattapoisett Bogs that, for more than a century, had been a working cranberry farm. As the industry waned here, the family who owned the land had sold it to the conservation group, which had set about transforming it back to the wetland it once was. Walking trails had just reopened to the public. But as ducks paddled in placid water and late-afternoon light turned the reeds and rushes to gold, it was easy to imagine it had been this way forever.
Continue reading on The Washington Post.
What the Earth’s recent heat uptick could mean for the climate fight
And why one climate scientist still has reasons to hope.
Scientists monitoring Earth’s climate have identified a concerning trend in global warming starting in April 2023. While climate change has been steadily heating up the planet for decades, in 2023 global average temperatures suddenly jumped by about 0.2 degrees Celsius and have remained elevated.
The spike in temperature has raised alarm among climate scientists about how fast the climate crisis is progressing as they scramble to explain Earth’s worsening fever.
Jennifer Francis studies climate and weather in the Arctic at the Woodwell Climate Research Center and has had her eyes on the planet’s rising temperature for decades.
Read more on Inside Climate News.
Dr. Matti Goldberg, the Director of International Government Relations at Woodwell Climate, explains the stakes of COP29 from Baku, Azerbaijan.
