Sure, Los Angeles is an okay place to live if you like abundant sunshine and driving up Highway 1 on a weekday afternoon with the top down, a surfboard in the backseat, and Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters" blaring on the stereo. But we could never live there! We'd miss the seasons; these magical winter days playing in the snow and nights making love in front of a roaring fire. And then there are precious afternoons like this, where all the windows in the office are open and we're fighting a despicable urge to turn on the air conditioning. more ›

A letter to the editor in this morning's Wall Street Journal has a breathtakingly straightforward lede: "Do you consult your dentist about your heart condition?" "Surely, not!" their readers likely chortled, spilling civet coffee all over their sprite-skin slacks. Yet that is precisely what the WSJ did four days ago when it published the hilariously titled op/ed "No Need To Panic About Global Warming" that was signed by people who have never studied global warming. more ›

According to a new environmental report, the world only has five years to initiate effective change before the effects of global warming become essentially irreversible. The dire World Energy Outlook report, by the International Energy Agency, looked at the planet's energy trends over the next 25 years and found that action is needed immediately to stem the tide: "The door is closing," Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, told the Guardian UK. "I am very worried—if we don't change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever." more ›

Many of those new condos popping up along the East River in Williamsburg were struggling to find buyers after the economic collapse, but buildings like The Edge are reporting a recent surge in sales, and real estate brokers tell the Brooklyn Paper that happy days are here again. But if you're buying along the waterfront, you may want to make sure your building offers perks like complimentary gondola service and free speedboat rentals, because some experts say parts of Williamsburg and other low-lying areas will soon be submerged with alarming frequency. more ›

Before we were all complaining about this winter's thundersnow and blizzards, we were bitching about the tornadoes and thunderstorms and extreme heat. The weather during the past six months has been extremely volatile—even tragically impacting at least two of the most-anticipated outdoor concerts of the summer. Now WPIX weatherman Mr. G. tells the Daily News it's not just in our heads; the weather really has been loco. "I cannot recall a period like this," says G. "And this winter has the potential to deliver major snow still. I think we're looking at some scenarios here where conceivably this could be the snowiest winter on record." Is this just a taste of things to come as climate change worsens? We turned to Gothamist weatherman Joe Schumacher for some reassurance (which we're not gonna get): more ›

Whenever we spot Elizabeth Kolbert's byline in The New Yorker's table of contents, we know what page we're turning to first. For over a decade, Kolbert has doggedly reported on the environment (among other things) for the magazine, and also written two books; the most recent is titled Field Notes from a Catastrophe. In recent years, she's chronicled in unsparing detail the causes and effects of global warming, America's role in its acceleration, and Washington's scandalous failure to do anything about it. In this week's issue, Kolbert ponders what a Republican-controlled House of Representatives means for the future of climate change legislation. Would you believe it's not a pretty picture? more ›

Meet Osama bin Laden, climate change crusader. In his latest hit tape (which has not yet been independently verified), the Al-Qaeda leader laments the catastrophic flooding that has killed thousands in Pakistan and displaced hundreds of thousands more. "What we are facing... calls for generous souls and brave men to take serious and prompt action to provide relief for their Muslim brothers in Pakistan. Providing tents, food and medicine is a duty... Action should not be confined to providing emergency aid... but to set up a capable relief task force that has the knowledge and experience need to [meet the challenges]." Task force? Food and medicine? Has bin Laden lost his edge? more ›

Remember how it snowed a lot in February and Glenn Beck issued an "Amber Alert" for Al Gore, because obviously seasonal weather patterns debunk Gore's global warming hoax? (Beck crowed, "Well, the snow is hammering Washington D.C. again. I believe God is just saying, 'I got your global warming here, eh?'") Well, those loony left-wing scientists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies are now saying [pdf] that the global surface temperature in 2010 is already hotter than any year on record. The report, which concludes that "that there has been no reduction in the global warming trend of 0.15-0.20°C/decade that began in the late 1970s," also addresses civilization's inability to deal with the crisis, thanks to demagogues like Beck: more ›

President Obama arrived in Copenhagen this morning to address the UN conference on climate change. In a stern speech delivered hours after his arrival, Obama told world leaders and their delegates that "the time for talk is over... All of you would not be here unless you — like me — were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, it is science." The President's arrival came as any agreement on climate change remained out of reach, and China, the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gas pollutants, was accused of holding back progress in the climate talks by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. During his address (text here, video below), Obama expressed frustration and urgency: more ›

Mayor Bloomberg loves to travel, so it should come as no surprise that he and aides are going to Copenhagen next week for the U.N.'s climate change conference. The NY Times reports, "His schedule, for now, includes delivering a speech at a reception for mayors and other delegates, and attending another reception for 100 mayors from around the world who are taking steps locally to address climate change." more ›

Think your job sucks? The Times gives you the lowdown on Barack Obama's day: first a speech to the UN Climate Change Conference, with two impossible goals: establishing some kind of US credibility on the issue, and getting India and China to sign on. From there he meets with Mr. Sweetcakes himself, Benjamin Netanyahu, then with Mr. Energy and Action, Mahmoud Abbas, then with both of them at the same time. more ›

With President Obama in L'Aquila, Italy for the G8 Summit, three Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner on Mount Rushmore, next to Abraham Lincoln's likeness. The Washington Post reports, "The banner showed President Obama's face -- Greenpeace said it was an unfinished portrait, implying that Obama's legacy was in question -- and the words 'America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming.'" And soon after, the three climbers and other Greenepace activists were arrested. more ›

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill "intended to address global warming and transform the way the nation produces and uses energy," the NY Times reports. However, it was not an easy victory for President Obama: Forty-four Democrats voted against it, while eight Republicans voted for it, with the final vote at 219-212. In his weekly address, Obama noted that the bill will "finally create a set of incentives that will spark a clean energy transformation in our economy...spur the development of low carbon sources of energy - everything from wind, solar, and geothermal power to safer nuclear energy and cleaner coal....new energy savings. And most importantly, it will make possible the creation of millions of new jobs." However, the bill now heads to the Senate, where, the Washington Post warns, "passing climate legislation could prove more difficult." more ›

Last night, a number of buildings, including the Empire State Building, plus numerous billboards in Times Square, went dark between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. for Earth Hour, "to make a statement on the need for effective action on climate change." While some structures did go dim their lights, much of the city was still glowing. Well, it's a step—last year, New York City didn't even participate! more ›

Absolutely beautiful weather today. Thanks to a large high pressure system we'll see mostly sunny skies and a high near 60. The yin to today's yang will be a cloudy, rainy and cooler Thursday. more ›

The Bloomberg-appointed Panel on Climate Change released its final report yesterday, predicting that annual temperatures will rise between 4 and 7.5 degrees over the next century, while heat waves, damaging rain, and coastal flooding will become increasingly regular occurrences. Here's a look at what the city may very well look like as heavy flooding becomes more frequent. more ›

Opening this Saturday and running through next August at the American Museum of Natural History, it's: Climate Change, The Threat to Life and A New Energy Future! Uplifting, no? The exhibit "will examine one of the most pressing scientific issues of our time—the massive, human-induced warming of Earth, a phenomenon that could lead to drought, rising sea levels, heavy storms, and other events with potentially dire impacts on the health of society and the natural world." more ›

Times Square’s “Military Island” is being transformed into a little public park today, as the above rendering depicts. Of course, the area is ordinarily open to the public, but now there are some plants there, and the new green look coincides with World Environment Day – not to be confused with Earth Day – and the launch of the climate change campaign “Together” – not to be confused with Al Gore’s “We" campaign. more ›

The MTA will observe Earth Day (April 22nd) by stocking MetroCard vending machines with five million limited-edition green MetroCards. The cards aren’t “green” in the eco-friendly sense – they’re still not made from recycled material – they’re just, you know, green colored. So they’ve got that going for them. Oh, and some environmental factoids will be printed on the back. more ›

At this point, it's hard to tell whether Ed Begley, Jr. is more famous for his decades of acting or his decades of environmentalism. Sure, he's logged over 200 appearances on stage, film and television, including his Emmy-winning breakout role on St. Elsewhere and his priceless turn on Arrested Development. But his funniest performance is arguably his self-effacing cameo as a hardcore green activist in the classic 1999 Simpsons episode "Homer to the Max", in which he's shown driving a nonpolluting go-cart powered by his "own sense of self-satisfaction." Off screen, he's embraced this role of ardent environmentalist with an infectious positivity and seemingly tireless commitment to reducing his own impact on an increasingly injured ecosystem. The many green improvements to his largely solar powered, energy efficient home have been documented in the amusing and informative reality show Living With Ed, and now a newly published book offers a wide range of changes readers can implement to make their lifestyles more sustainable. Called Living Like Ed, it's as inspiring as it is handy, and Begley will be at the Strand bookstore at 7pm tonight for a reading and book signing organized by Environmental Defense. more ›

Explaining why global warming needs to be stopped in an urgent way, Mayor Bloomberg said, "Terrorists kill people. Weapons of mass destruction have the potential to kill an enormous amount of people. [But] global warming in the long term has the potential to kill everybody...This really is just as lethal. It's just the results are something we will face long term." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City Office of Emergency Management have announced 10 winners in the contest to design temporary housing for the thousands of New Yorkers who might be displaced in the event of a catastrophe, like a direct hit from a Category 3 hurricane. The 117 submissions from 30 countries had to create quickly assembled housing for 38,000 families from Prospect Shore, a fictional neighborhood set along a mile of the New York City coastline. more ›

The last sentence uttered before all hell breaks loose is, “Forget about the rest of the world and hold onto the ones you care about.” Though probably unintentional, those words of brotherly advice – spoken to a lovesick young yuppie named Rob – perfectly sum up the prevalent attitude in fin de siècle New York: the world’s spinning into a cataclysm of total war and catastrophic climate change, but fuck it; let’s party and get ours. And in Cloverfield, the well-connected young Manhattanites at the story’s center do indeed get theirs, just not the way Gossip Girl said they would. more ›

A tipster sends over what they describe as "a really rad clip of downtown Manhattan totally flooded, under what looks like 25 feet of water." We think it's more scary than it is rad...scarier than a fictional monster attacking New York. The real fear of what could be our future is shown below in what's part of Six Degrees Could Change the World which "explores the potential impacts of global warming degree-by-degree—through six degrees over the next hundred years." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg continued his whirlwind tour through Asia yesterday with a stop in Bali, Indonesia to talk to United Nations officials about the global effects of climate change. This is after a foray to China, that brought to mind Ed Koch's Beijing inspiration for bike paths in NYC to The New York Times' Clyde Haberman. Like NYC, Bali was the victim of a devastating terrorist attack that killed and injured hundreds of people. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg will be speaking at a United Nations conference in Indonesia, but he made a stop in Beijing first. He said to the audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "Some people believe that by mid-century, as [much] as 75 percent of China's population may be city dwellers. Even an occasional visitor to China, like me, is struck by this rapid urbanization. It is one of the largest internal migrations by people in... more ›

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in Seattle yesterday to give a keynote at the United States Conference of Mayors. The Mayor, aka Mr. "I'm not running for president in 2008" Bloomberg, discussed NYC's efforts to be more sustainable and how governments need to invest and innovate to encourage energy efficiency. And one of the innovations would be to introduce pollution pricing. He said:

we have to stop ignoring the laws of economics. As long as greenhouse gas pollution is free, it will be abundant. If we want to reduce it, there has to be a cost for producing it. The voluntary targets suggested by President Bush would be like voluntary speed limits - doomed to fail. If we're serious about climate change, the question is not whether we should put a value on greenhouse gas pollution, but how we should do it.