Somewhere between 5% and 7% of U.S. households have rooftop solar panels. Many more Americans want them, but high costs, building locations and landlord restrictions are key obstacles. As someone who has designed and evaluated a wide range of building energy efficiency technologies, including integrated photovoltaic systems, I know that other options are available elsewhere in the world – and are becoming available in the U.S. Plug-in solar systems, also referred to as balcony solar systems, are alternatives to rooftop panels that still generate electricity from sunlight, but without complex and expensive installations. Plug-in solar systems are designed to be used without requiring specialized technicians, construction permits... Continue Reading

Large parts of the southeastern U.S. are in the midst of an exceptional drought, and it is fueling dozens of wildfires in Florida and Georgia. One of those wildfires, in southeastern Georgia’s Brantley County, had damaged more than 80 homes by April 24, 2026, and officials said about 800 other homes were at risk. Another fire near the Georgia-Florida border had burned more than 30,000 acres and was only about 10% contained. The smoke from the blazes triggered air quality alerts in Atlanta, in the north-central part of the state. Why is a region of the U.S. more often known for thunderstorms and humidity in spring seeing so many wildfires? I teach meteorology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, including how weather patter... Continue Reading

I love this site and because I am a news junkie I read the Climate News feed every day (it's the best climate news feed I know).

But what cracks me up is that every now and then, between the warnings of a coming apocalypse and the relentless optimism (choose your own adventure), there is an article on horoscopes.

For me this is a kind of 'Easter Egg'. You'll know the term if you're a gamer (or a Dr. Who fan) but it refers to an unexpected surprise. Usually these suprises are intentional - like the Swiss company that put a competition entry code into their privacy notice (yup, you gotta read them) - but I rather think that this is unintentional.

The inclusion of these articles probably has to do with how the search... Continue Reading

Hi everyone, my question is: do you submit data to collection tools like CoastalTrace?

It's not my site (!) but I am super curious to find out if people are using mapping tools like this one.

Ome of the things that interests me is how more and more people are using iNaturalist - presumably because they support biodiversity science and original research. So what I am curious about is the degree to which climate conscious folk are making their local environments visible through mapping tools?

If you are interested in CoastalTrace the designer made a short post on Reddit in r/CitizenScience.

Australia is dealing with a major bushfire emergency, particularly in Victoria, as extreme heat, dry conditions, and strong winds fuel rapidly spreading fires. The situation has become increasingly destructive and dangerous for many communities.

So far, fires have burned around 865,000 acres of land, destroying more than 300 homes and other structures. Entire towns have been impacted, with residents forced to evacuate as fires move quickly and unpredictably. Emergency warnings remain in place across multiple regions, and firefighters are working around the clock in very difficult conditions to contain the blazes and protect lives.

The Victorian government has declared a state of disaster in some areas, giving emergency se... Continue Reading

When wildfires began racing through the Los Angeles area on Jan. 7, 2025, the scope of the disaster caught residents by surprise. Forecasters had warned about high winds and exceptionally dry conditions, but few people expected to see smoke and fires for weeks in one of America’s largest metro areas. Environmental health scientist Yifang Zhu studies air quality at UCLA and began collecting samples from inside and outside homes the day after the fires began. In this Q&A, she describes findings by her team, a consortium of universities and local projects, that are painting a picture of the health risks millions of Los Angeles-area residents faced. Their research offers both a warning and steps people everywhere can take to protec... Continue Reading

In recent weeks, powerful atmospheric river storms have swept across Washington, Oregon and California, unloading enormous amounts of rain. As rivers surged, they overtopped or breached multiple levees – those long, often unnoticed barriers holding floodwaters back from homes and towns. Most of the time, levees don’t demand attention. They quietly do their job, year after year. But when storms intensify, levees suddenly matter in a very personal way. They can determine whether a neighborhood stays dry or ends up underwater. The damage in the West reflects a nationwide problem that has been building for decades. Across the U.S., levees are getting older while weather is getting more extreme. Many of these structures were never de... Continue Reading

Scientists are trained to be professional skeptics: to always judge the validity of a claim or finding on the basis of objective, empirical evidence. They are not cynics; they just ask themselves and each other a lot of questions. If they see a claim that a finding is true, they will ask: “Why?” They may hypothesize that if that finding is true, then some related findings must also be true. If it’s unclear whether one or more of those other findings is true, they will do more work to find out. It is no wonder that science moves so slowly, especially on really important topics such as climate change. Dogmatism is the opposite of skepticism. It is the proclivity to assert opinions as unequivocally true without taking account of... Continue Reading

The Arctic Ocean current is at its warmest in the last 125,000 years, and temperatures continue to rise. Due to these warming temperatures more than two-thirds of polar bears are expected to be extinct by 2050 with total extinction predicted by the end of this century. But in our new study my colleagues and I found that the changing climate was driving changes in the polar bear genome, potentially allowing them to more readily adapt to warmer habitats. Provided these polar bears can source enough food and breeding partners, this suggests they may potentially survive these new challenging climates. We discovered a strong link between rising temperatures in south-east Greenland and changes in polar bear DNA. DNA is the instructi... Continue Reading

If you go to a pro sports event today, there’s a good chance the stadium or arena will be powered at least in part by renewable energy. The team likely takes steps to reduce energy and waste. Some even claim to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, meaning any emissions they still do produce they offset by paying for projects, such as tree-planting, that reduce greenhouse gases elsewhere. The venue upgrades have been impressive – Seattle’s hockey and basketball arena runs on 100% renewable energy, makes its rink ice from captured rainwater, and offers free public transit for ticket holders. But how much of the teams’ offset purchases are actually doing the good that they claim? It’s an important question, in part because f... Continue Reading