Climate Science

Remember the Ozone Layer?

Meghan Climate Science, YouTube Channel November 13, 2020August 21, 2021CFCs, Climate Action, Climate Change, Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, HCFCs, Kigali Amendment, Mario Molina, Montreal Protocol, Ozone depleting chemicals, ozone hole, ozone layer, Paris Agreement

A few weeks ago, in the midst of rising coronavirus cases worldwide, political upheaval, extreme weather events in the form of back to back hurricanes in the northern hemisphere and typhoons in the southern, and ongoing fires in the American west, Mario Molina, a chemist whose work on the ozone layer earned him a Nobel Prize in 1995, quietly passed away in Mexico City. He was 77. Molina’s work was crucial to enacting the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987, and it made him one of the most consequential scientists of the past 50 years.

Learn more in the latest vid from the Hive!

Parenting Boundaries are designed to be pushed…what about Planetary Boundaries?

Chrystal Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Science, Environment September 15, 2020September 15, 2020Atmospheric Aerosol Loading, Biogeochemical Flows, Biosphere Integrity, Hydrological Cycle, Johan Rockström, Land System Change, Novel Entities, ocean acidification, Planetary Boundaries, Radiative Forcing, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion

The Planetary Boundary (PB) concept was introduced in 2009, and was aimed at defining the environmental limits within which humanity can safely operate. These scientifically prescribed thresholds are laid out in order to protect the Earth’s fragile

Al Gore’s Climate Reality

Chrystal Climate Change, Climate Science, Current Events, Emissions, Global Warming September 1, 2020September 1, 202024 Hours of Reality, Acts of Leadership, Al Gore, And Inconvenient Sequel, Climate activism, Climate Change, Climate Reality Leaders, Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Climate Reality Project, Heated, The Climate Crisis

I am currently fortunate enough to be participating in the virtual training from the Climate Reality Project, which at the end will mean I’m part of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps. This program has been running for

A Sustainable Trip into a World of COVID-19

Ben Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Climate Science, Sustainability, Transportation July 24, 2020August 14, 2020Cape Cod, Climate Change, Climate Science, COVID-19, Pandemic, Sustainability, Sustainable Holiday, sustainable travel, Travel

Since we’ve all been in lockdown, many of us have been wondering how our efforts to continue living within a sustainable world would fair once things started to open up. What would our challenges be due to

Fire & Ice in the Arctic Circle

Chrystal Climate Science, Current Events, Global Warming June 30, 2020August 14, 2020arctic amplification, Climate, high albedo, Norilisk diesel spill, Norilisk spill, permafrost, Russian heat wave, Siberian heat wave, Verkhoyansk, weather

When you think of Siberia, you probably picture snow mobiles and huskies. These sights, however, are to become less of the norm, replaced instead with out of control wild fires and disappearing sea ice. Siberia, and indeed other parts of the Arctic Circle in Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia, are expected to really start heating up. As in, twice as fast as the rest of the world. It has long been known that global warming will impact Arctic regions much more severely than elsewhere on the planet, because of the loss of ice and snow, which can effectively reflect a large proportion of the radiative heat from the sun’s UV rays. This is “Arctic amplification” and is a great example of the importance of realizing that 1.5°C of global warming is an average, and does not simply mean that wherever you are in the world, you’re going to feel 1.5°C warmer. Many places on Earth will experience average temperatures much higher than this increase.

Does the Ozone Layer still have a hole in it?

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Climate Science, Emissions, Pollution June 16, 2020August 14, 2020Air Pollution;, bad ozone, CFCs, chlorine, Chloroflourocarbons, good ozone, halons, HCFCs, HFCs, hydrochloroflourocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, Kigali Amendment, Montreal Protocol, NOx, O3, Ozone depleting chemicals, ozone layer, Vienna Convention, VOCs, Volatile Organic Compounds

Sun beaming through a hole in the coulds

Ozone is a gas. A toxic, pale blue, odorous, irritative and explosive gas. But without it being naturally formed and making up part of our atmosphere, we’d be unable to survive on Earth. We’d literally fry from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. The thin layer of ozone, which sits in the bottom part of the stratosphere about 9-18 miles above the Earth, absorbs approximately 98% of extremely harmful UVB rays, which are the most damaging of the ultraviolet types (A, B and C). So, way back in the 80’s when it was discovered that there was a ‘hole’ in this protective layer of gas over Australia, Antarctica and the Arctic, a massive global response was initiated.
But what ever happened? Are there still holes up there? The ozone layer doesn’t get much air time these days. And is ozone anthropogenic or natural? Read on to learn all about it!

The significance of 1.5°C of warming

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Climate Science, Global Warming June 9, 2020June 9, 20201.5 celsius, COP21, GHG emissions, GHGs, GISS, GISTEMP, Global Warming, HadCRUT4, IPCC, JMA, MLOST, NASA, NOAA, Paris Agreement, UNFCCC

One concept which confounds many people in discussions around climate change and global warning, is that a rise of 1.5°C could be significant. I’ve never known a single day in my life where there’s not been greater variation than that, let alone then talking about seasonal variations in temperatures. So it’s no wonder that an average increase of a paltry 1.5°C leading to disaster is a difficult concept to come to grips with. Let’s explore how much it could really mean.

Methane & Global Warming

Meghan and Ben Climate Science, Global Warming May 12, 2020May 12, 2020agriculture, atmosphere, compost, composting, emissions, EPA, GHG emissions, Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, greenhouse gases, GWP, landfill, methane, methane leaks, waste management, water vapor

Police of a little-noticed 2018 methane leak at an Exxon Mobil site in Ohio was one of the worst in recent memory, outpacing the methane emissions from the entire oil and gas industries of many countries.

When we discuss climate change, most of our focus is on carbon dioxide or CO2 emissions. But why don’t we talk about other heat trapping gases such as Methane (CH4), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O)? The short answer is there is more CO2 in the atmosphere than any other greenhouse gas at around 80% of total emissions. But did you know, methane is over 80 times more potent than CO2?

Top 10 Watch List – Quaranstream

Chrystal Climate Change, Climate Science, Emissions, Environment March 31, 2020March 31, 20202040, A plastic ocean, An Inconvenient Sequel, Before the flood, Blue Planet II, Climate change - the facts, documentary, Life after People, Merchants of doubt, miniseries, More than honey, Movies, series

Woman holding a remote control watching tv with a bowl of popcorn

By now we’re getting used to being alone. And by alone I mean you might be completely solo in your home, or you might be within your family or housemate unit. But either way, it certainly means no physical IRL contact with the outside world. So we’re relying heavily on social media, YouTube, exploring new indoor hobbies or reading. We’re going to throw some viewing suggestions at your this week. Read on for our Top 10 – related of course to climate change and our spectacular environment.

Top 10 Podcasts (learn stuff & stay sane in isolation!)

Chrystal Climate Change, Climate Science, Environment, Sustainability March 17, 2020March 17, 2020Alan Rusbridger, America Adapts, Amy Westervelt, Doug Parsons, Drilled, Fergal Byrne, Hot Take, Jay Siegel, Josh Dorfman, Laur Hesse Fisher, Maeve Higgins, Mary Annaise Heglar, Mary Robinson, MIT, Mothers of Invention, Podcast, Project Drawdown, Scott Breen, Sustainababble, Sustainability Defined, The Drawdown Agenda, The Guardian, The Last Environmentalist, The Sustainability Agenda, TILclimate

There’s no doubt we’ve entered a strange time on Earth. A global pandemic is sending panic, anxiety, impulsive buying, altruism, science-speak, ignorance, selfishness and selflessness all tumbling out of people’s mouths. Sometimes mixed with a virus. So what do you do when you’re housebound, maybe for 14 days, maybe all alone?? The internet isn’t the place you want to spend ALL
your time, lest your brain starts to actively dissolve.
Here’s a list of 10 of our fave informative, interesting sustainability/climate focused podcasts to flow through your auditory canal and tickle your tympanic membrane.