climate-change

Hamilton Nolan · 12/18/13 12:46PM

The scientific consensus about what will happen to billions of humans over the next century as climate change intensifies: "We'll die."

Good News For Bored People! Climate Change Promises Nonstop Excitement

Ken Layne · 11/12/13 05:06PM

If you love excitement, you're going to love these last years of your life. Civil war, food riots, monster storms and a lot more apocalyptic religious extremism will spice up even the dullest and most comfortable existence, according to a new United Nations report on the now-constant insanity we boringly call "climate change." But even the weather seems to be capitalist, because the demons of global warming most enjoy hurting the poor.

Monster Typhoon Among History's Largest, Strongest Storms Ever

Ken Layne · 11/07/13 04:01PM

The monstrous storm seen in this new satellite image is the biggest of the year and one of the most powerful tropical cyclones of all time. "Super typhoon" Haiyan is currently thrashing the entirety of the Philippines with sustained winds of 190 mph and gusts up to 230 mph, and then it's headed for Vietnam. It's such a wildly dangerous storm that it's even terrifying the weather forecasters.

Is Environmentalism a Religion? Sure, Why Not!

Ken Layne · 10/11/13 10:15AM

If the grim news about our slow-cooking world has got you down, you might be an environmentalist. Recycling bins, hiking boots, and that reusable grocery bag you got at the farmer's market are other signs that you may have ecological beliefs and concerns. To the industrial propagandists, even your awareness of the hotter temperatures and horrific storms is proof that your green behavior is actually a religion. So what would happen if 10 million or 50 million religious environmentalists suddenly appeared on the national scene?

"Oilfield Trash" and a Boom That Won't Last

Ken Layne · 10/08/13 11:18AM

People are strangers out here on the oil patch, and public conversation is terse and muted. You never know when an oil company manager or safety inspector or corporate spy is sniffing around. I learned after the first day in Williston, N.D., that my usual work uniform of an old sports coat and tie made me suspect. Leaving the tie at the motel helped, but not much.

Get Ready for More Blackouts

Hamilton Nolan · 08/13/13 08:57AM

When Hurricane "Superstorm" Sandy hit New York, a large part of Manhattan— the wealthiest place east of the Taj Mahal— was without power for weeks. At least it wasn't unfashionable. According to a new report, blackouts are becoming the new normal.

Lobsters Are Now Ruthless, Cannibal Savages

Maggie Lange · 07/25/13 08:29AM

As an experiment, Noah Oppenheim, a marine biology graduate student at the University of Maine, attached a waterproof, infrared camera to the head of a young lobster. As evening set in, he saw sights that cannot be unseen (but can be seen by you in the video below). Lobsters eating lobsters.

Why Did Obama Make Those Tornadoes? Ask the Tornado Truthers!

Ken Layne · 05/21/13 01:24PM

If our planet's increasingly extreme weather isn't caused by man-made climate change, then it stands to reason that it's actually caused by man-made supervillains using government technology to take American Freedoms with superstorms like Monday's mile-wide monster tornadoes.

This Is What Boston Will Look Like if We Don't Cut Carbon Emissions

Max Read · 04/11/13 10:02AM

What will Boston look like a few hundred years from now? It will look like... water, probably. Inspired by The New York Times' "What Could Disappear," photoillustrator Nickolay Lamm has put together some amazing images of American cities as they might appear in coming centuries, depending on how much humanity manages to reduce its carbon footprint. Above, Boston's Back Bay under 25 feet of water—a worst-case scenario for the year 2300, if no pollution controls are instituted.

Poll: Even Idiots Believe in Global Warming Now

Hamilton Nolan · 12/14/12 10:48AM

Global warming (or "climate change"), the well-documented rise in our planet's temperatures due to the heat-trapping effects of carbon dioxide, is a completely accepted phenomenon among people who—due to their fundamental rationality and common sense—are not idiots. But among our nation's idiots, it has always been a controversial idea. No longer.

The End of Winter, and Other Horrifying New Global Warming Projections

Hamilton Nolan · 11/19/12 02:23PM

It only took a handful of freak killer storms devastating our economic and cultural capitals for Americans to get real about the perils of global warming. You know who is the most interested in figuring out exactly how bad global warming will be? The people with all the money, who have the most to lose. That is a good reason to tremble in fear at this new World Bank forecast.

The Storms Are Killing Us More Than the Terrorists Are Killing Us

Cord Jefferson · 11/02/12 12:04PM

This frivolous weather thing the hippies keep harping about just devastated the biggest, most densely populated, city in the country. The city that never sleeps shut down completely. The structural damage and loss in revenue are unprecedented. Even before Sandy, our weather-related fatalities far exceed the Americans who've died from terrorist attacks. Since September 11, 2001 there have been roughly 30 Americans killed by terrorism (depending on how you do the numbers). Meanwhile, extreme weather deaths in the same time period have totaled 6,408 as of 2011, according to the National Weather Service.

Climategate Hacker Strikes Again

John Cook · 11/23/11 03:16PM

The person or persons behind the so-called "Climategate" email hack two years ago are at it again: A second trove of roughly 5,000 emails to and from climate researchers at Norwich, England's East Anglia University has popped up on the internet.