Climate Change

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 …