August 19, 2015

On Tuesday, August 18, U. S. President Barack Obama outlined a plan to cut methane gas emissions from oil and natural gas drilling. The plan calls on petroleum companies to  capture much of the methane produced when they drill new wells. Currently, some of this methane gets released into the atmosphere. There, it contributes to the greenhouse effect, which drives global warming.

Oil pumps and other types of petroleum-industry equipment may soon be regulated to reduce methane emissions. Credit: © PhotoStock10/Shutterstock

The greenhouse effect is caused by certain gases in the atmosphere that let sunlight pass into the atmosphere but trap heat close to the planet’s surface. Although the greenhouse effective existed long before people evolved, human activity, especially since the Industrial Revolution, has likely added to it. One such activity is the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas. This burning releases large amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But human activities, including drilling for fuel, have also produced emissions of another greenhouse gas—methane.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. A molecule of methane lasts for an average of 12 years in the atmosphere before being broken down by sunlight. This is much shorter than carbon dioxide, which can linger in the atmosphere for thousands of years. The molecular structure of methane, however, makes it much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. In fact, methane is 25 times more powerful than is carbon dioxide when it comes to contributing to the greenhouse effect, even with its relatively short lifespan.

The Obama administration and its allies want to cut methane emissions as part of a broader strategy to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases the United States produces. Oil and gas companies and some members of the U. S. Congress oppose the plan, saying it will increase the cost of energy. Some environmental groups also criticized the proposal. They argue that it does not go far enough because it will not hold existing wells to the same high standards.

Other World Book articles:

• Carbon Offsets: Reducing Your Footprint (Special report)
• Methane: Another Greenhouse Troublemaker (Special report)

August 11, 2015

People kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colorado, on August 6, in water colored bright orange from a spill caused by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Credit: © Jerry McBride, The Durango Herald/AP Imagesd

Today’s stories are environmental in nature—about spills, disasters, and cleanups. In the United States, cleanup continues on a toxic spill accidentally unleashed  by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last Wednesday, August 5, as the EPA was inspecting an abandoned mine in Colorado, workers using heavy machinery breached a wall holding back polluted water. The breach allowed 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of toxic water to pour into Cement Creek and from there into the Animas River. The polluted water carries many heavy metals (metals that have a specific gravity higher than 5.0), including iron, zinc, and copper. The spill turned the river orange and made its water unusable for drinking and farming. Most of the visible pollution has moved out of the Animas River, but sediments in the river bed will need to be tested for some time. The spill has now reached the San Juan River in New Mexico and has traveled into southern Utah. Local residents are angry that the group charged with preventing pollution had caused a spill that could affect their livelihoods and well-being.

Meanwhile, in Japan, the nation has lifted a ban on nuclear power and restarted a nuclear reactor today on the island of Kyushu. The meltdowns of nuclear reactors at Fukushima after an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 caused the government to close down most reactors in Japan by 2013. People evacuated from the area of Fukushima have still not been able to return to their homes. The cleanup of the heavily contaminated area has been painfully slow. Evacuees have been living in temporary housing and receiving a small monthly payment since the disaster. The government expects the cleanup around the Fukushima site to be completed by 2017.

New safety regulations and inspections for nuclear power plants have been put into effect since the Fukushima disaster. Japan has to import nearly all of its fossil fuels, however, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to restart Japan’s nuclear power program. Many Japanese citizens are opposed to resuming use of nuclear power. Japan sits on an area prone to earthquakes, and the lax planning and regulation highlighted in 2011 has shaken the faith of the people of Japan in nuclear power. With electricity costs in Japan up 20 percent since 2011, however, Prime Minister Abe’s goal is to have one-fifth of Japan’s electricity provided by nuclear power by 2030. 

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake occurred off Honshu, Japan’s largest island. The earthquake caused a tsunami (series of powerful ocean waves) that caused massive destruction on land and killed thousands of people. The disaster also sparked emergencies at several nuclear power plants, most notably at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. (World Book map)

August 4, 2015

Yesterday, August 3, U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a new initiative to combat climate change, the Clean Power Plan. President Obama called the plan “the biggest, most important step we have ever taken” concerning climate change. The regulations, if approved, will authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate power plants that generate electric power in order to reduce carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030.

The plan will likely hit the coal industry the hardest. About 40 percent of electricity in the United States is generated with coal. The coal is used to heat water, generating steam. This steam turns a turbine, which powers a generator that creates electricity. The problem with coal is that it emits twice as much carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere as does natural gas used for the same purpose. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere, leading to rising average temperatures.

Coal-burning power plants such as this release carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases trap heat, contributing to global warming, an observed increase in Earth’s average surface temperature.© Thinkstock

There are more than 50 major coal mines in the United States. Many of the mines are in West Virginia and Wyoming. So, coal is a domestically produced fuel source, and U.S. states that produce coal will be hurt by any regulation that reduces its use. At one time, using natural gas to fuel power plants would have been very expensive for the United States. But, the development of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in such U.S. states as North Dakota has caused the cost of natural gas to drop dramatically.

Natural gas is perhaps the easiest fuel source to change out for coal to reduce emissions. Renewable energy, such as wind power and solar power can also be used to generate electricity. Both methods, however, require building an electric-power grid that can move power from remote locations where wind and solar farms are to populated areas where electricity is needed. Nevertheless, such power sources are already being used and will be more used in the future. President Obama stated yesterday, “I’m convinced no challenge provides a greater threat to the future of the planet…There is such a thing as being too late.”

Wind turbines capture energy from moving air—wind—and change it into electrical energy. This photograph shows a wind turbine “farm” in the California desert. © Shutterstock

Other World Book articles:

• Climate
• Global Warming
• Greenhouse effect

January 22, 2015

Speaker of the House of Representatives John A. Boehner yesterday invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before a joint session of Congress on February 11. Political analysts suggested that the invitation, which Netanyahu accepted, is part of a growing showdown between Republicans and President Barack Obama over proposals to tighten sanctions against Iran. Iran, the United States, and other world powers are in negotiations over possible controls and monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program, including levels of uranium enrichment. Despite these talks, Israel, according to a number of military experts, is preparing for air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

In his State of the Union address to Congress on January 20, President Obama appealed to the Republican-controlled House and Senate to hold off on any additional sanctions against Iran while diplomatic talks continue over possible ways to limit Iran’s nuclear program. [New sanctions] “will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails, alienating America from its allies and ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again,” the president stated in his address.

Speaking to Republican lawmakers yesterday, Boehner noted that he hoped Netanyahu would speak on the threat radical Islam and Iran pose to U.S. security. “He [President Obama] expects us to stand idly by and do nothing while he cuts a bad deal with Iran,” said Boehner.

Today, a White House spokesperson informed the media that President Obama would not meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu upon his arrival in February.

Additional World Book article:

• Nuclear weapon

December 12, 2014

After more than two years of extreme drought, California has been hit by the most powerful storm to cross the state in at least a decade.  A weather system known as a “pineapple express” hammered the north and center of the state with hurricane-force winds and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain yesterday. (A “pineapple express” is characterized by “an atmospheric river”–a strong and persistent flow of atmospheric moisture–that extends from the waters adjacent to the Hawaiian Islands to the Pacific Coast of North America.)

The storm left more than 220,000 people in northern California without electric power today after heavy rains and high winds slammed the region yesterday. For several hours, San Francisco received more than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain per hour. Some 240 flights were cancelled at the San Francisco airport, and flooding shut down the city’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system in some areas. The San Francisco Bay Ferry company was forced to cancel all ferry trips across the bay due to the foul weather. The National Weather Service in Sacramento yesterday issued a rare blizzard warning for higher elevations in northern California, and wind gusts in the Sierra Nevada mountains topped 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour.

A Pineapple Express (circled in red)—basically a river in the atmosphere—dumps huge amounts of rain on California in a short time. During this meteorological event, southwest winds bring warm, moist air to the U.S. West Coast. (National Climate Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

The fast-moving storm is currently pounding southern California, leaving some 70,000 people across the region without electric power and triggering rockslides and mud flows. In some areas of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches (5 centimeters) per hour.

Additional World Book articles:

• Climate
• How the Ocean Affects Climate (a special report)
• Weather Terms—Cloudy or Clear? (a special report)

November 14, 2014

Yesterday, the robot probe Philae began sending back the first images ever taken from the fractured terrain of a comet. After an awkward landing in which the probe bounced twice, initially back out into space, it stabilized on Comet 67P. It is currently attempting to drill into the surface of the comet. European Space Agency (ESA) scientists hope the tool will be able to capture some samples for analysis in Philae’s on-board laboratories.

An artist’s impression of the probe Philae (front view) on the surface of Comet 67P. (ESA/ATG medialab)

The objective of this ESA mission is to explore the origins of our solar system. Comets are believed to hold materials that are largely unchanged since the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago. Scientists speculate that comets delivered water to the early Earth. Others theorize that comets could even have “seeded” Earth with the chemicals needed to start life on the planet.

From the pictures Philae has returned to Earth, the ESA scientists believe it landed in the shadow of a cliff, meaning that the sunlight the probe receives is limited. As a result, its solar panels probably will not keep the battery systems properly charged, cutting short the run of the mission.

ESA’s Rosetta satellite, with its piggybacked Philae lander, was launched in 2004. The pair traveled 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) to reach Comet 67P, out near the orbit of Jupiter. After a long period of maneuvering into the correct position, Rosetta dropped Philae onto to Comet 67P on November 12.

Additional World Book articles:

• Comet (a Research Guide)
• Space exploration

For additional information about the Rosetta missions, see: http://rosetta.esa.int/

November 10, 2014

Parts of the Russian capital, Moscow—including the main shopping areas and parliament buildings just outside the Kremlin—are enveloped in a noxious gas, which is spreading through the city. The gas, hydrogen sulfide, can be highly toxic and smells like rotten eggs. According to experts, exposure to hydrogen sulfide, even in low concentrations, can lead to dizziness, headaches, and nausea. Residents in affected areas are being urged by the Russian Emergencies Ministry to stay indoors.

A cloud of hydrogen sulfide wafts over central Moscow today, the area that  includes the Kremlin (building at right) and other historic buildings in Red Square (Superstock).

The emergencies ministry has confirmed that the source of the gas is a leak from a sulfur-dioxide processing facility at an oil refinery just outside the city. Meteorologists note that the effects of the gas are being made worse by automobile-related smog, which is “not conducive to the rapid dispersion of pollutants in the air.”

November 4, 2014

Earth faces “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems” if climate change continues at its current rate, according to a summary assessment of some 30,000 studies on climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A committee of the United Nations, the IPCC provides scientific information to world governments about the impact of human activities on global warming.

According to the new report, cutting the emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, is essential to prevent global warming from rising more than 3.6 °F (2 °C) above levels at the start of the Industrial Revolution. This increase in average surface temperatures is widely accepted by scientists as the “tipping point” for devastating climate change. To meet this goal, the IPCC reported, the amount of power obtained from renewable forms of energy must increase from 30 percent to 80 percent of all power by 2050. And unless efficient forms of carbon capture and storage (CCS) are developed, people should quit burning fossil fuels altogether by 2100. Also known as carbon sequestration, CSS involves capturing the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels and storing it in deep underground rock formations.

Levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are higher today than at any time in the past 400,000 years. Although CO2 levels fluctuate naturally, the levels are much higher than they would have been if people were not burning such huge amounts of fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and gas. About 60 percent of fossil-fuel emissions remain in the atmosphere, causing global warming. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

The new report, called the Synthesis Report, combines the findings of three assessments released over the past 14 months. Those reports were compiled by more than 800 scientists from 100 countries. One assessment, released in March 2014, concluded that rising global temperatures are threatening the world’s food supplies, intensifying violent storms and droughts, pushing sea levels dangerously higher, and causing serious disruptions in land and ocean ecosystems. In that report, the IPCC also warned for the first time that climate change poses a threat to human security by increasing the risk of violent conflict over natural resources and because of large-scale migrations by people fleeing difficult environmental conditions. In another assessment, released in September 2013, IPCC scientists reported being 95 percent certain that humans are the “dominant cause” of global warming.

The Synthesis Report also offered hope. It noted that the cost of even the most aggressive actions to reduce emissions would have only a small effect on world economic growth in this century. In addition, governments and industry are spending some $200 billion a year less on combating climate change than they are on developing new sources of fossil fuels. “We have the means to limit climate change.” said R. K. Pachauri, chair of the IPCC. “The solutions are many and allow for continued economic and human development. All we need is the will to change. …”

Additional World Book articles:

• The Great Meltdown (a special report)
• Methane (a special report)
• Meltdown: Climate Change in the Arctic (a special report)
• Probing the History of Climate Change  (a special report)
• What We Know About Climate Change (a special report)

August 8, 2014

The United States launched air strikes in Iraq today against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a radical Sunni Muslim jihadist group that now control large swathes of Iraq and Syria. The U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed that U.S. aircraft dropped 500-pound (227-kilogram) laser-guided bombs on artillery that was being used against Kurdish forces defending the northern Iraqi city of Arbil. President Barack Obama authorized the air strikes yesterday, but said he would not send U.S. ground troops back into Iraq. In late June, ISIS declared that it was establishing a caliphate on the territories it controls to be known simply as “the Islamic State” and will extend from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq.

Yesterday, ISIS captured the city of Qaraqosh in Iraq’s Ninawa province after Kurdish forces withdraw in retreat. As many as 100,000 residents of Ninawa—many of them Christians—fled their homes for the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Qaraqosh—which is largely a Christian city—is 19 miles (30 kilometers) southeast of the city of Mosul, which Isis captured in June. Most Christian families fled Mosul after ISIS gave them an ultimatum to convert, pay a special tax, or face death.

The U.S. Air Force today bombed ISIS artillery outside the Iraqi city of Arbil, which is just east of Mosul. Isis, a radical Sunni jihadist group, is now in control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria. (World Book map)

On August 6, a senior Kurdish official warned that tens of thousands of members of the Yezidi religious minority were trapped without water on a mountain to the west of Mosul. They face slaughter at the hands of Isis militants surrounding them below if they flee, or death by dehydration if they stay. The Sunni Jihadists regard the Yezidis as devil worshipers. The Yezidis fled their homes last weekend during an Isis offensive in which it took control of several towns in the northwest as well as an oil field and Iraq’s largest dam. The United Nations has confirmed that it had received credible reports that 40 Yezidi children had died “as a direct consequence of violence, displacement, and dehydration.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said today that the world needed to wake up to the threat posed by ISIS: Its “campaign of terror against the innocent, including the Yezidi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque targeted acts of violence show all the warning signs of genocide.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Umayyad caliphate
• Iraq War
• Iraq 2012 (a Back in Time article)
• Iraq 2013 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2013 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria: The Roots of a Rebellion (a special report)

July 29, 2014

The European Union today adopted new economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. The latest sanctions are designed to target Russia’s all-important oil sector as well as limit Russian access to Western defense equipment and sensitive technologies. EU banks are also likely to restrict Russian access to European capital, that is, bar Russia’s biggest state-owned banks from selling stock or long-term debt on European markets.

This latest round of EU sanctions was made in response to the downing of flight Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, which resulted in the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew members. The United States and its European allies have declared that Russian-backed separatist rebels almost certainly shot the plane down with a Russian surface-to-air missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to deny charges that Russia is supplying heavy weapons to the separatist rebels.

Heavy fighting between the Ukrainian army and separatist rebels near the city of Donetsk has prevented an international team from investigating the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

Intense fighting between the rebels and the Ukrainian military in eastern Ukraine has kept an international team of investigators from gaining access to the crash site. United States Secretary of State John Kerry said this morning that there has been “no shred of evidence” that Putin is willing to help end the deadly conflict between the Ukraine separatists and the Ukrainian government and warned that further U.S. sanctions are being contemplated in Washington, D.C.

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Ukraine 2013 (a Back in Time article)