“Cows are pretty disgusting eaters, with methane coming from both ends,” says Chris Field about a claim made by Jack Black about the merits of veganism. “But most of it comes from burping.”
"Unless natural gas is replacing coal, it isn't a bridge fuel. Unless it is coupled with carbon capture and sequestration, it isn't a bridge fuel," says Rob Jackson.
"I don’t know of any other oil company that has pledged to be carbon-neutral, including the burning of their products,” says Rob Jackson about Spanish oil giant Repsol SA announcing their ambitious reduction efforts. “That is quite remarkable.”
"It's hard to view slower growth as good news. But nonetheless, compared to last year and 2017 the growth rate was down substantially. What we need is for emissions to decline, not to rise slowly," says Rob Jackson.
"The two places where renewables and natural gas are both displacing coal are here in the United States and in Europe," Rob Jackson says. But elsewhere around the world, "most of the new gas being burned isn't replacing coal – it's providing new energy for people."
“Even without knowing what the current level of greenhouse gas concentrations would be, the climate models predicted the evolution of global temperature quite well,” says Noah Diffenbaugh. “We have one planet Earth, so we can’t conduct controlled experiments on the actual climate system."
The air above Earth – especially above California – might have way more methane in it than anyone thought. And that could be good news. "Most of the emissions come from a small fraction of sources,” says Stanford Earth's Adam Brandt.
“This idea that you can just be off the grid, we are hearing that more and more,” Sally Benson says about backup power sources. Under some circumstances, the systems may do more environmental harm than good.
Stanford Earth's Paul Segall comments on a new, cheaper way to track crustal movements on the ocean floor. The method would replace expensive ships with ocean-going drones.
As governments in California increasingly consider limiting new residential natural gas connections, it is important to question whether banning natural gas is an “antidote to climate change,” writes Anthony Kovscek.
“Every house, every high-rise that’s built with gas, may be in place for decades. We’re establishing infrastructure that may be in place for 50 years,” says Rob Jackson.
As detailed in a new study published in Geology, Stephen Dobbs and his collaborators used open-source multibeam sonar data, along with topographic data, to compare land and underwater canyons.
“One of the ways to sort of insulate yourself better from public safety power shut-offs is to have some local storage so that you can segregate your electrical grid a little bit so that it’s more of a microgrid,” says Tony Kovscek.
Many experts believe recent disasters represent a new era — one in which major wildfires that threaten people and their homes are a regular fixture in our lives. Chris Field talks about how the scientific community is thinking about wildfires.
For more than two years President Donald Trump has talked about pulling out of the landmark Paris climate agreement. Rob Jackson, chair of the Global Carbon Project that tracks carbon emissions worldwide, speaks about this commitment.
