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The world just agreed to a major climate deal in Paris. Now comes the hard part.
Posted by Vox: Brad Plumer on December 12th, 2015
Vox: After two weeks of bleary all-nighters in Paris, diplomats from around the world have hammered out a major global agreement to address climate change. Here's the full 31-page document, which was approved by 195 countries on Saturday.
It's important to be clear on what this wad of paper actually does. The Paris climate agreement hasn't saved the planet and it hasn't solved global warming. Not by itself. Instead, the deal is supposed to add structure and momentum to efforts that are currently underway...
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Scientists were expecting a big El Niño this year. So where did it go?
Posted by Vox: Brad Plumer on November 9th, 2014
Vox: Back in the spring, a number of experts suggested we could see a strong El Niño in late 2014, perhaps similar to the monster event in 1997-98 that upended weather patterns across the globe. That might mean record temperatures, floods in some areas, droughts in others -- a huge deal. But in the months since, scientists have gotten a surprise: El Niño hasn't been unfolding as expected. In fact, there's a good chance it might not appear at all. The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center...
Could water markets help solve the American West’s water crisis?
Posted by Vox: Brad Plumer on November 1st, 2014
Vox: It's no secret that the American West is facing a severe water crisis.
The region -- home to over 60 million people and a huge chunk of US agriculture -- is in its 15th year of drought. Texas has suffered more than $25 billion in damages so far. Las Vegas is worried about plummeting water levels in Lake Mead. California has received so little rain that farmers are pillaging the state's hard-to-replenish groundwater aquifers at a shocking rate:
Maps of dry season (September–November) total water...
Should we try to fight rising sea levels – or abandon the coasts?
Posted by Vox: Brad Plumer on May 23rd, 2014
Vox: The world's sea levels are expected to rise 1 to 3 feet -- or more -- as the planet heats up in the coming century. The more greenhouse gases we emit, the bigger the rise, but we've already locked in at least some sea-level increase no matter what.
So what should the millions of people living in low-lying coastal areas do?
Broadly speaking, there are three ways to deal with sea-level rise. First, large coastal cities like New York or Boston or Tokyo will likely spend billions to erect dikes...