The Climate Feedback blog is no longer being updated

The Climate Feedback blog is no longer being updated. Thank you to those who have followed the blog in the past. If you would still like to keep up with climate change news, visit us on Twitter and Facebook. Climate change-related news also appears on the Nature News blog.  Read more

Cap-and-trade: the experience Down Under

When Kevin Rudd was elected prime minister of Australia in 2007, hopes were high that climate action might soon follow. And Rudd indeed ratified the Kyoto Protocol his first day in office, which his predecessor John Howard had not done. (See this earlier Nature story for context about the role of climate in that election.)  … Read more

New head of US oceans agency speaks out

New head of US oceans agency speaks out

Jane Lubchenco, a marine tidal ecologist at Oregon State University, is on the job this week as the new head of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She replaces Vice-Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, who led NOAA until last October, and becomes the first woman to head up the agency, which is a sprawling beast charged with everything from managing US fisheries to running the country’s operational earth-monitoring satellite programme.  Read more

Where else would Daryl Hannah and Jim Hansen walk arm-in-arm?

Where else would Daryl Hannah and Jim Hansen walk arm-in-arm?

Cross-posted from The Great Beyond Jim Hansen, the earth scientist known for his outspokenness about global warming, is marching today as part of a climate protest against burning coal. The focus of all the attention is the Capitol Power Plant, a coal-burning monstrosity just blocks from the US Capitol building that is one of the biggest sources of emissions in the District of Columbia. Hundreds of protestors have reportedly turned out, even in the snow that coats Washington several inches deep and snarled commutes this morning. Over at Nature’s Twitter feed, reporter Jeff Tollefson notes that Hansen says he is  … Read more

One climate service to rule them all

Posted on behalf of Roberta Kwok The US could soon offer one-stop shopping for climate information, in the form of a central National Climate Service (see Nature story here) that would consolidate data and forecasts from multiple sources. The idea of a National Climate Service is old, dating back to the late 1970s, but Jane Lubchenco might finally make it a reality. At her 12 February nomination hearing, Lubchenco said she would work toward creating such a service under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency she is slated to lead. What exactly would a National Climate Service  … Read more

Holy snakes!

Holy snakes!

Posted on behalf of Roberta Kwok Scientists have found a new way to estimate past climate: snakes. In case you haven’t seen the media flurry, researchers have uncovered the remains of a gigantic snake in northeastern Colombia (which news outlets have described as “” https://features.csmonitor.com/discoveries/2009/02/04/prehistoric-one-ton-super-snake-ate-alligators-for-lunch">Super-snake", “”https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gvMX4MXQYzy22YM8gMEBTIUR6lFQ">Bus-sized boa", and “”https://www2.canada.com/technology/columnists/grandaddy+snake+world+unearthed+colombia/1252613/story.html?id=1252613">Granddaddy of the snake world", among other things). The newly named Titanoboa cerrejonensis would have measured 13 metres long and weighed about 1,135 kilograms, making it the biggest known snake, living or extinct. Why does this matter for climate predictions? The snake lived 58 to 60 million years ago, around the Palaeocene  … Read more