Global greenhouse gas levels have hit their highest point in at least 3 million years, according to new figures from the World Meteorological Organisation.
Methane is produced in landfill when organic waste decomposes.
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Landfills produce huge amounts of methane. Many of the bigger operators capture it to turn into energy, but they’re wasting about 80% of what’s available. It’s time Australia stepped up.
A Boreal Shield lake in Algonquin Park, Ontario.
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Canadians love to paddle on them and camp beside them, but our boreal lakes offer more than just peace and beauty. They could provide clues to how life on Earth began.
Best-case scenario, how much are we locked into?
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While the gases most responsible for global warming - carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - continue to climb, other industrial greenhouse gases are being brought gradually under control.
Average carbon dioxide concentrations, Oct. 1 -
Nov. 11, 2014, measured by the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite.
NASA
Why use satellites to study Earth’s climate? Researchers leading a new mission explain how images from space will help them analyze which parts of the Americas soak up the most carbon.
Rice paddies are one of the major sources of methane in agriculture.
Amir Jina/Flickr
Methane concentrations in the atmosphere are growing at a faster rate than any time in the past 20 years.
The EPA has issued rules to regulate methane emission from new oil and gas wells in the face of industry and political pushback.
gas storage via www.shutterstock.com
The Obama administration wants to regulate methane leaks from oil and gas operations. Here’s why we can’t count on market forces to make it work.
We need a global target for reducing emissions in agriculture to meet the Paris Agreement. Farmers have an opportunity to help meet the 2 degree C target in the Paris Agreement, but known practices will not be enough.
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Coal seam gas may not be responsible for a flaming river in Queensland, but it still raises uncomfortable questions.
Beefy problem: livestock emit methane, but the soils where they graze can be much more climate-friendly than cropland.
AAP Image/Caroline Duncan Photography
Eating meat means greenhouse emissions. But the emissions from growing crops may have been underestimated, meaning that a climate-friendly diet isn’t as straightforward as simply going vegetarian.
Livestock ‘digestion’ produces nearly 3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases each year.
Cattle image from www.shutterstock.com
Methane is a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and Australia’s coal mines are a major source.
Looking for relief: Southern California Gas Company and outside experts work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon designed to stop the ongoing natural gas leak.
Dean Musgrove/Reuters
The Aliso Canyon methane leak in California is bad, but it’s only a small portion of the methane leaked from the natural gas industry’s sprawling pipeline and storage infrastructure.
Scientists are studying how carbon-rich permafrost known as yedoma acts much like frozen vegetables to hungry microbes – and is becoming an additional source of heat-trapping gases.
Methane monster – landfill in Danbury, Connecticut.
Evan Schneider/UN Photo
The recent Lancet Commission report rightly pointed out that climate change is a huge risk to global public health. But it shied away from one of the main issues: the world consumes far too much meat.