Posts Tagged ‘Climate change’
Citizen Scientists Tackle Climate Change
Across the region, volunteers from all walks of life are recording when the dogwood blooms and when the warblers arrive. These citizen scientists are compiling observations that help researchers monitor subtle changes in seasonal events, and provide the backbone for extensive projects to track climate change.
Read MorePJM Analysis Makes Economic Case for Clean Power Plan
By Eliza Laubach A region-wide electric grid operating company, PJM, released a report in March analyzing how states could comply with a proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring that power plants cut carbon dioxide emissions. The company, which extends into 14 states across the Northeast and Midwest, described lessened costs if states work together…
Read MoreNew Studies Look at Southeast, Climate Change
Scientists gained new insight into how effectively forests capture carbon dioxide and mitigate climate change, and changing weather patterns may bring more tornadoes to the Southeast.
Read MoreObama Orders More Climate Change Mitigation
President Obama signed an executive order in March to address human-caused climate change by cutting federal agencies’ greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent and increasing their renewable energy generation by 30 percent.
Read MoreVirginia lawmakers act on energy bills
As the Virginia General Assembly enters the final days of its 2015 session, we can look back on five action-packed weeks. Among the many issues our lawmakers labored over, a few — including changes to state energy policy — were explosive enough to consistently make headlines. Here’s a recap of the drama, along with a few important policies that received less fanfare.
“Clean coal” is on the fritz
From The Appalachian Voice Online: As one of the most high-profile and hyped-up projects of its kind, the FutureGen “clean coal” plant in Illinois was supposed make history. So the announcement that the U.S. Department of Energy is backing out of its $1.1 billion funding promise to the project sent a shockwave through the coal sector and investors, energy analysts and environmentalists all took note.
Appalachian Voices Book Club
Appalachia’s triumphs and tragedies, its beauty and mystery, and its people’s tenacity, love and good humor have long been enshrined in fiction. This year, the stories of the region’s struggles with coal are reaching a national audience thanks to two powerful new novels.
Read MoreVirginia Climate Fever
How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests By Stephen Nash As visiting senior research scholar at the University of Richmond, Stephen Nash explores the stunning local aspects of climate disruption. This digestible work employs enough facts and visuals to demonstrate the amount of damage that global warming promises for the Old Dominion.…
Read MoreWV Repeals Changes to Climate Science Standards
Following a heated public rebuke, the West Virginia Board of Education reversed its decision to alter newly proposed national K-12 science education standards.
Read MoreWhite House moves to regulate methane emissions
After years of scientific research pointing to methane’s outsized contribution to climate change, the Obama administration will use its executive power to regulate emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from oil and gas productions and pipelines.
Read More