Author: Kevin Engel

Hotter temperatures brought by climate change are already bringing additional challenges to world agriculture–more weather extremes including more drought, more flooding, and more high heat all of which damages crops causing lower yields and lower nutritional content. A new study confirms another threat.  A study from 2008 showed that “as temperatures rise, nearly all insects multiply and rev up their metabolisms.”  More heat means “living…

**updated June 2021** See this interactive graphic that illustrates an impact of climate change–the increase in the number of 90+ degree (F) days (32 degrees C) since 1960 in locations world-wide. The impact of hotter weather has been variable to date; some regions–like the midwestern United States–have yet to see noticeable increases (on average) in 90+ degree days.  Other areas though have already seen substantial…

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2017 Wind Technologies Market Report, wind power had a big year. Over 7,000 MW of new capacity was added in the United States, and over 2,000 MW of upgrades to existing wind turbines were completed.  $11 billion was invested in wind energy in the U.S. in 2017. Over the last 10 years, wind power has constituted 55% and…

As climate change pushes overall temperatures higher, trees and other plants “are experiencing longer growing seasons, sometimes as much as 3 extra weeks a year.”  That is helping trees grow faster, but research based in Europe indicates that “higher temperatures–combined with pollution from auto exhaust and farms–are making wood weaker.”  As a result, trees will break more easily in storms and lumber from the trees…