The U.S. Senate voted to ratify an international treaty on Sept. 21, 2022, and join 137 other countries in agreeing to phase out a class of climate-warming chemicals that are widely used as coolants in refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps.
Sometimes it may seem that humans have altered the Earth beyond repair.
Our climate is determined by these energy flows. When the amount of energy coming in is more than the energy going out, the planet warms up.
Scientists have warned for over 50 years about increases in extreme events arising from subtle changes in average climate, but many people have been shocked by the ferocity of recent weather disasters.
HFCs are much less harmful than the chemicals they replaced, but they have a strong heat-trapping effect that is contributing to global warming.
A hot desert wind is carrying a massive cloud of Saharan dust into the southern United States this week.
The oft-repeated claim that the Amazon rainforest produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen is based on a misunderstanding.
Extreme cold weather can produce unusual phenomena, from so-called sea smoke to slushy ocean waves, caused mainly by the behavior of water at very cold temperatures.
What this study suggests is that the climate is more sensitive to greenhouse gases than we previously thought.