Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

How much and why precipitation changes as the climate warms is uncertain, even for the global mean. In the 21st Century of the IPCC AR4 A1b forcing scenario, global-mean precipitation increase per degree warming varies among models by over a factor of three. Clear-sky atmospheric shortwave absorption change explains over half of the intermodel spread [...]

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has for the first time released comprehensive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data on large facilities and made them available online. Now, citizens can view and sort this data from over 6700 facilities to identify nearby sources of GHGs, hold businesses accountable for their emissions and provide information to state [...]

The technologies and practices that have enabled the recent boom in shale gas production have also brought attention to the environmental impacts of its use. It has been debated whether the fugitive methane emissions during natural gas production and transmission outweigh the lower carbon dioxide emissions during combustion when compared to coal and petroleum. Using [...]

Tropospheric ozone and black carbon (BC) contribute to both degraded air quality and global warming. We considered ~400 emission control measures to reduce these pollutants by using current technology and experience. We identified 14 measures targeting methane and BC emissions that reduce projected global mean warming ~0.5°C by 2050. This strategy avoids 0.7 to 4.7 [...]

In this review article, anthropogenic activities that cause acidification of Earth’s air, waters, and soils are examined. Although there are many mechanisms of acidification, the focus is on the major ones, including emissions from combustion of fossil fuels and smelting of ores, mining of coal and metal ores, and application of nitrogen fertilizer to soils, [...]

In South Dakota, ethanol plants are being blamed for the rising level of carcinogens in the atmosphere, according to data from the Toxic Release Inventory. The analysis found that releases by ethanol plants has surpassed the releases by plastic factories, accounting for 40% of all reported carcinogens. For the past five years in South Dakota, [...]

Recent reports show growing reserves of unconventional gas are available and that there is an appetite from policy makers, industry, and others to better understand the GHG impact of exploiting reserves such as shale gas. There is little publicly available data comparing unconventional and conventional gas production. Existing studies rely on national inventories, but it [...]