Climate Change

Talking Points Memo reports: At some point between Feb. 25 and April 26, the Department of the Interior scrubbed nearly any mention of climate change from its webpage on the topic. What was once a vigorous endorsement of the scientific consensus that the Earth is warming as a result of human activity — “Climate change affects every corner of the …

You’ll enjoy this: In honor of Earth Day and the March for Science, the Monterey Bay Aquarium held it’s own mini Science March with several of its African penguins. The aquarium dubbed its livestream the “March of the Penguins for Science,” and it included their African penguins taking an “enrichment walk” through the Kelp Forest gallery. Onlookers held signs for …

The Washington Post reports: Earth Day has arrived, and so has the March for Science — a global event on six continents (and cheered on by scientists on a seventh, Antarctica). Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather this morning on the grounds of the Washington Monument. The first wave came through the security checkpoints at 8 a.m. …

Raw Story reports: EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt faced a grilling from Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday over his climate change denials and plans to do away with scores of environmental regulations. “You think that rewriting and, in fact, doing away with the clean power plan is going to improve air quality, which you say is a major goal?” …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations that his administration says is hobbling oil drillers and coal miners, a move environmental groups have vowed to take to court. The decree’s main target is former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan that required states to slash carbon …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump will sign a sweeping executive order Tuesday at the Environmental Protection Agency, which looks to curb the federal government’s enforcement of climate regulations by putting American jobs above addressing climate change. Tuesday’s order will initiate a review of the Clean Power Plan initiative, rescind the moratorium on coal mining on US federal lands and urge …

Talking Points Memo reports: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used an email alias to discuss issues related to climate change while he was an executive at ExxonMobil, according to the New York attorney general. Attorney General Eric Scheiderman made the claim in a letter Monday asking a New York state judge to enforce a subpoena for documents in the state’s …

Stand by for EPA head Scott Pruitt to denounce this as fake news: Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels hit a new high last year and have only continued to climb in the first two months of 2017, federal scientists reported Friday. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at a U.S. observatory in Hawaii rose by 3 parts per million …

The guy who sued the EPA thirteen times on the bidding of his fossil fuel cronies again denies CO2 causes climate change and people are shocked? CBS News reports: The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said he does not believe that carbon dioxide is a main driver of climate change. “I think that measuring with precision human activity …

The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration is seeking to slash the budget of one of the government’s premier climate science agencies by 17 percent, delivering steep cuts to research funding and satellite programs, according to a four-page budget memo obtained by The Washington Post. The proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would also eliminate funding for …

Vox reports: On the same day the Senate confirmed Rex Tillerson as Donald Trump’s secretary of state, the House voted to kill a transparency rule for oil companies that Tillerson once lobbied against while CEO of Exxon Mobil. So all in all, a good day for America’s largest oil and gas firm. Using the little-known Congressional Review Act, the House …

“I used to be a ‘denier,’ as those who sacrifice their reasoning ability at the altar of Big Government power label skeptics of man-made, catastrophic climate change. If you asked me, do you believe in it? I would have said no. But the deeper I get into the study the Scriptures, I have to admit, my opinion has changed. I …

The Daily Dot reports: As the Trump administration rapidly shuts down the lines of communication between federal agencies and the public, an anonymous Twitter account is upholding the ethos of the National Parks Service. @AltUSNatParkSer gained more than 170,000 followers overnight after the Badlands National Park Twitter account made headlines by tweeting and then deleting a series of climate change …

NBC News reports: The government’s top public health agency has canceled a conference next month on climate change and health but isn’t saying why publicly. But a co-sponsor was told by the Centers for Disease and Prevention that the agency was worried how the conference would be viewed by the Trump administration. The incoming administration did not ask or order …

The Washington Post reports: In a powerful testament to the warming of the planet, two leading U.S. science agencies Wednesday jointly declared 2016 the hottest year on record, surpassing the previous record set just last year — which, itself, had topped a record set in 2014. Average surface temperatures in 2016, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, were …

USA Today reports: Seth Meyers worries that “one of the most dire consequences” of Donald Trump’s impending presidency is its possible effect on climate change, citing the president-elect’s tweet from 2012, saying it was a farce. “Obviously his statements on climate change have not been promising,” the Late Night host began on his show Wednesday, “like his infamous claim that …

The Washington Post reports: Alarmed that decades of crucial climate measurements could vanish under a hostile Trump administration, scientists have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference. The efforts include a “guerrilla archiving” event in Toronto, where experts will copy irreplaceable public data, meetings at …

Meanwhile Trump has vowed to abolish coal-related environmental regulations. The Globe & Mail reports: The Liberal government has announced its plan to virtually eliminate the use of traditional coal-fired electricity by 2030, but will offer some flexibility to the provinces. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna unveiled the coal-phase-out plan Monday as one of a series of measures that Ottawa is introducing …