global warming

Want to be green? Have your groceries delivered

Bellamy Pailthorp — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:14:15 +0000

Having your groceries delivered might seem like a self-indulgent luxury.

But researchers at the University of Washington have found that, most of the time, you can feel good about doing something for the environment when you order your groceries online and have them delivered instead of making a trip to the store.

“We like to call it 'the bus for groceries,'” said Anne Goodchild, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW.

Gov. Inslee's climate change bill passes, controversy continues

Bellamy Pailthorp — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:05:05 +0000

A bill put forward by Gov. Jay Inslee directing the state to figure out how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has passed both houses of the Legislature.

The passage is a big step forward for the environmental lobby and the governor, who has championed clean energy. But there is still a lot of pushback in Olympia.

How green can you go? Seattle celebrates Deep Green building

Bellamy Pailthorp — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:03:26 +0000

Seattle is leading the way in environmentally-sound building design. Sweden’s international construction firm Skanska has broken ground on a building in Fremont that promises to bring a whole new level of green to the city.

Seattle planners predict bigger flood zones due to climate change

Bellamy Pailthorp — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 02:23:27 +0000

It’s data that’s been collected and analyzed for several years now.

But predictions on how high tides and extreme storm events might combine to cause flooding in Seattle are seeming less and less like science fiction.

The City has unveiled a new map, showing huge areas that are much more likely to end up waterlogged during storms. And it says the estimates are no longer considered extreme.

Climate change report shows major impacts for Northwest

Bellamy Pailthorp — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:34:00 +0000

Imagine a future in which major areas of Seattle’s waterfront are flooded because of rising tides.

Businesses that front on Elliot Bay, including the famous Edgewater Hotel, or parks such as Myrtle Edwards or Golden Gardens, would have to adjust to storm surges more than six feet higher than we’re used to.

According to a new federal report on climate change, that future is just a few decades away.

Sea level rising much faster than U.N. projections

Eyder Peralta — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 00:00:39 +0000

A new peer-reviewed study by climate scientists finds the rise in sea level during the past two decades has been 60 percent faster than predictions from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The scientists also found that IPCC's estimates for warming temperatures was just right.

NBC News explains:

"'Global warming has not slowed down or is lagging behind the projections,' lead author Stefan Rahmstorf, a research

One month left for comments on spotted owl recovery plan

Bellamy Pailthorp — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:52:21 +0000

One of the northwest’s most controversial birds is still ruffling feathers. The elusive spotted owl was at the heart of the timber wars here in the 1990s. Some scientists are criticizing the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan to log some of the bird’s habitat.

Scientist who reported drowned polar bears reprimanded

The Associated Press — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 23:18:12 +0000

JUNEAU, Alaska – An Alaska scientist whose observations of drowned polar bears helped galvanize the global warming movement has been reprimanded for improper release of government documents.

An Interior Department official says emails released by Charles Monnett were cited by a federal appeals court in decisions to vacate approval of an oil company's Arctic exploration plan.

As Arctic ice melts, so does the snow, and quickly

Richard Harris — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 03:48:35 +0000

Arctic sea ice is in sharp decline this year: Last week, scientists announced that it hit the lowest point ever measured, shattering the previous record.

But it turns out that's not the most dramatic change in the Arctic. A study by Canadian researchers finds that springtime snow is melting away even faster than Arctic ice. That also has profound implications for the Earth's climate.

Springtime snowmelt matters a lot: It determines when spring runoff comes out of the mountain to fill our rivers.

'Astonishing' Arctic ice melt sets new record

Richard Harris — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 23:46:33 +0000

Arctic sea ice has melted dramatically this summer, smashing the previous record. The Arctic has warmed dramatically compared with the rest of the planet, and scientists say that's what's driving this loss of ice.

To be sure, ice on the Arctic Ocean always melts in the summer. Historically, about half of it is gone by mid-September. But this year, three-fourths of the ice has melted away, setting a dramatic new benchmark.

"It didn't just touch the record, it really drove right through it," says Ted Scambos at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, at the University of Colorado.

NOAA: This summer was third hottest on record

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 05:13:22 +0000

Today in Washington, D.C. we got our first taste of fall. It was crisp and in the low 60s. And just as we slide into the last days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published its summer 2012 recap.

It's exactly what you were expecting: It was really hot.

Dash of salt in clouds may fight global warming, UW scientist says

KPLU — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:00:38 +0000

By Todd Bishop of Geekwire

A group of scientists, including a University of Washington atmospheric physicist, wants to test the theory that pumping sea salt into the sky over the ocean would combat global warming by creating clouds that reflect more sunlight back into space.

'Heat dome' linked to Greenland's biggest melt in 30 years

Mark Memmott — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:54:25 +0000

Last week there were the pictures of an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan breaking off Greenland's Petermann Glacier.

Now there are NASA images showing that in four days earlier this month, "Greenland's surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations."

The space agency adds that "nearly

Iceberg twice the size of Manhattan breaks off glacier in Greenland

Mark Memmott — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 14:15:24 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VReyKfti_38

Study: Rising seas will hit Calif. hardest, but Washington still sees damage

Bellamy Pailthorp — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:50:34 +0000

Rising sea levels in the Puget Sound region may prove costly to taxpayers. A city like Olympia could have to re-build its sewer system. Other cities may find waterfront roads washed out.

The culprit is global warming. Warmer water expands, bringing sea levels higher. And glacial ice that is above water now is expected to chunk off and fall into oceans, causing additional sea level rise.