• Weather

BRRRR – Global Warming Could Cause Polar Vortex to Blast the U.S. With Cold Air

• Arctic
• climate change
• jet stream
• Polar Vortex
• science
• snow

Above the North Pole, a polar vortex — a swirling flurry of cold air — could cause weeks of frigid weather in the Eastern United States, Northern Europe, and East Asia according to forecasters. Snow blanketed Spain over the weekend, dumping nearly two feet of snow on Madrid — the most snow in the last 50 years there.  Madrid

Why this Matters:  While many associate global warming with hotter weather, climate change can also cause harsher, more snowy winters.

• Ocean

Now’s the Time for NOAA

• climate change
• healthy ocean
• National Climate Assessment
• NOAA
• ocean
• ocean acidification
• science
• scientific integrity

by Margaret Spring and Justin Kenney Preparing to take office on January 20, President-elect Joe Biden is building the most qualified and experienced team of experts that any president has assembled to address the climate change crisis. As excited and hopeful as we are about the Biden Administration’s extraordinary climate team, there is a major […]

• Politics

New EPA Rule Could Allow Agency Cherry Pick Science

• Andrew Wheeler
• EPA
• science
• Trump administration

It's official: @EPAAWheeler just announced the finalization of its controversial science transparency rule during a Zoom call hosted by @ceidotorg, a climate science denial group. pic.twitter.com/d5YnJPiP53 — Zahra Hirji (@Zhirji28) January 5, 2021 by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer The EPA has finalized a rule that would limit the scope of research that influences policy […]

• Animals

Supreme Court Hears FOIA Case About Endangered Species

• endangered species
• Endangered Species Act
• Environmental Protection Agency
• science
• Supreme Court

On Monday, which seems like a millennium ago, the newly constituted Supreme Court heard its first environmental case — which was a case about the secrecy of government deliberations.  In this case, those deliberations involve the science behind endangered species protections.

Why This Matters:  The case has ramifications beyond endangered species — it goes to scientific integrity and government transparency.

• Land

California’s Never-Ending Wildfire Season Need Not Be The Case

• California wildfires
• science
• science literacy
• Trump
• wildfires

by Natasha Lasky, Our Daily Planet Contributing Writer This past week, California’s biggest utility, PG&E, conducted the largest brownout of the year, shutting off the power for 466,000 people in 34 counties, affecting 1.1 million people. The blackouts have hit small towns as well as densely populated parts of the San Francisco metropolitan area, including […]

• People

Coney Barrett’s Climate Controversy

• Amy Coney Barrett
• climate change
• controversy
• science

President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, created a bit of controversy during her nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week when she called climate change itself “controversial.” 

Why This Matters:  Judge Barrett many questions with the same refrain — she refused to discuss her “policy” views on questions as obvious as do “poll watchers” who are armed intimidate voters, whether birth control should be decriminalized, or if same-sex marriage should be allowed.