• Animals

Polar Bears Jeopardized by Drastic Habitat Loss; DOI Says ANWR Drilling Won’t Hurt Them

• ANWR
• Arctic
• endangered species
• Interior Department
• NOAA
• oil and gas
• oil and gas drilling
• sea ice

All but a few populations of polar bears found in the high Arctic could be extinct by 2100 due to the drastic loss of sea ice across their range, according to a study in the Journal Nature Climate Change published Monday.  Without ice, polar bears must survive on land, long distances from their food supplies, causing them to go hungry.

Why This Matters:  This study puts data behind the starving polar bear photo.  The U.S. population is one of the most threatened in the world because of the loss of ice.

• Politics

One Mario Thing: The War on Science in the Mushroom Kingdom

• NOAA
• Trumo
• war on science

We learned this week from the New York Times that efforts to block research on climate change at our federal science agencies don’t just come from the Trump political appointees on top. Lower managers in government are taking their cues, and running with them. For federal scientists wanting to publish objective science, the task seems […]

• Climate Change

Trump Administration Squashing Science Across the Environmental Agencies At All Levels

• #climatechange
• #Sharpiegate
• Department of Interior
• NOAA
• science
• scientific integrity

The great extent of the Trump Administration’s efforts to squash science and even the very words “climate change” from research reports as well as policy papers are becoming more evident, thanks to great investigative reporting by The Washington Post and New York Times, and thanks to the Freedom of Information Act through which they obtained revealing emails that tell the story — repeatedly.

Why This Matters:   President Bush’s (’43) Administration also tried to squash climate science and subsequently agencies like NOAA put in place strong scientific integrity policies to prevent such interference with agency research and its results.

• Weather

Atlantic Hurricane Season is Here, Preparing for Storms is More Difficult Than Ever

• Hurricanes
• natural disaster
• NOAA

Yesterday was the first day of Atlantic hurricane season and NOAA’s outlook predicts a 60% chance of an above-normal season. This has left coastal states scrambling to adjust their emergency response plans in the face of COVID-19, namely where to house evacuees. The Associated Press surveyed more than 70 counties and states from Texas to […]

• Weather

Researchers Confirm that Climate Change is Making Hurricanes Stronger

• climate change
• hurricane
• NOAA

An important new study out this week from researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Wisconsin at Madison reveals that hurricanes are getting stronger, just as climate models have predicted. As the New York Times explained, the analysis, of satellite images dating to 1979, shows that warming has increased the […]

• Ocean

Second Failing Right Whale Spotted Off Mass Coast Entangled In Fishing Gear

• entanglements
• fishing gear
• lobster
• NOAA
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• save the whales
• technology

USA Today reported late Friday that government scientists have spotted off 45 miles off the coast of Nantucket a 19-year-old female right whale named “Dragon” appears to be in poor health because of a fishing buoy lodged in one corner of her mouth. 

Why This Matters:  It’s not just one or two whales — the fate of the species hangs in the balance.  I