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TCN Journal

Reporting, analysis, summary, synthesis

Happy birthday to us! Texas Climate News is now 10 years old

Our commitment to fact-based journalism continues with the same goal we stated in 2008 – “to help inform the public dialogue that's unfolding as Texans confront a changing climate and work to build more sustainable futures.”

TCN Journal December 19, 2018

Renewable energy’s future still shines bright in Texas, UT expert says

Despite Trump administration efforts to boost coal’s share of the energy pie, cost factors continue to be a daunting challenge. Moreover, Republicans in Texas like renewables, even if they don’t say it, says Joshua Rhodes.

TCN Journal December 11, 2018

Texas in the National Climate Assessment: Gleanings from 1,600 pages

“Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities,” the report says. We selected key passages and graphics relevant to Texas.

TCN Journal December 4, 2018

Dallas’ Johnson aims to put House Science Committee back in tune with … science

U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson is expected to chair the Science Committee when Democrats assume control of the House. Quite unlike the current chair, Texan Lamar Smith, she accepts mainstream climate science.

TCN Journal DC DISPATCHES November 9, 2018

Cruz-O’Rourke Senate race gives Texans dramatic choice on climate issues

Ted Cruz rejects the scientific consensus on manmade climate change and opposes measures to limit it. Beto O'Rourke accepts the consensus and calls for urgent action to address "the defining existential threat of our time."

TCN Journal November 5, 2018

For beer lovers, climate change may serve up a bitter brew

Needless to say, a lot of Texans won't be happy about this: A new study predicts extreme heat and drought could cause a dramatic worldwide decline in barley yields, driving beer prices up and supply down. Melissa Gaskill explains.

TCN Journal October 26, 2018

Citizen scientists volunteer to help track the effects of climate change

Scientists studying impacts of climate change on Texas habitats and wildlife can use some help. Enter citizen science – projects in which non-experts volunteer to help collect scientific data. Melissa Gaskill reports.

TCN Journal September 10, 2018

Did Harvey change minds? Only somewhat, a climate-action campaigner says

Harvey reinforced what Houstonians concerned about climate change already knew, said Stephanie Thomas of the Houston Climate Movement. She believes it also has "some new folks wondering a little louder" about its impacts.

TCN Journal A YEAR LATER September 5, 2018

Did Harvey change minds? An anthropologist finds more climate-change awareness

Dominic Boyer has been doing research among victims of Harvey's floods. Many, even if they weren't concerned before, told him the storm's destruction “really brought home the stakes of climate change for life in Houston.”

TCN Journal A YEAR LATER September 4, 2018

Did Harvey change minds? A leader of a key green group in Houston sees a shift

Rachel Powers says acknowledgment of climate change is growing. She is executive director of Citizens’ Environmental Coalition, a 47-year-old alliance of more than 100 nonprofit, government and educational groups.

TCN Journal A YEAR LATER August 30, 2018

Did Harvey change minds? A veteran public-opinion expert’s perspective

TCN asked knowledgeable Houstonians if Hurricane Harvey, which struck a year ago, has notably influenced local views on climate change. One was Stephen Klineberg, who founded the 38-year-old Kinder Houston Area Survey.

TCN Journal A YEAR LATER August 28, 2018

California’s in the 2018 spotlight for wildfires, but Texas has the most

Texas leads the nation in the number of wildfires this year, according to a federal interagency center. Experts blame climate change and population growth in wildfire-prone areas for increasing wildfire threats.

TCN Journal August 16, 2018

Tropical storms’ forward movement has slowed, boosting rainfall, flooding

Tropical cyclones have slowed down as temperatures rose, a new study found. Harvey was “a notable example” of higher flood risks as this “stall” phenomenon combined with extra water vapor added to storms by climate warming.

TCN Journal July 19, 2018

Blistering heat, heavy rains girdle the globe in summer of weather extremes

From Houston to Japan, flooding and heatwaves on several continents illustrated the kinds of events that researchers warn are growing more severe and frequent because of manmade climate disruption.

TCN Journal July 11, 2018

Global costs of sea-level rise could reach $27 trillion, scientists project

Continued high emissions of greenhouse gases would hit "upper middle income" countries like China with the biggest costs, and economies of developing coastal nations would also be harmed, the U.K. institute researchers said.

TCN Journal July 5, 2018

30 years later, climate scientist James Hansen is still sounding the alarm

On a scorching day in 1988, Hansen memorably told Congress manmade global warming was almost surely happening. To mark the 30th anniversary of his testimony, here are excerpts from TCN's 2009 interview with him.

TCN Journal June 27, 2018

New research increases concerns about sea-level rise along the Texas coast

Texas officials don't like to discuss the role of human activities in causing seas to rise. But as research findings continue to accumulate, like a new study on the melting of Antarctic ice, science is filling their silence.

TCN Journal June 18, 2018

Texas is a ‘hot zone’ for diseases borne by mosquitoes, ticks and fleas

Nationally, disease cases caused by these creatures tripled from 2004-16, a recent federal study found. With global temperatures rising, Texas is “at the epicenter of vector-borne diseases,” says a Houston expert.

TCN Journal HEALTH+CLIMATE June 7, 2018

Finding Harvey’s rains matched Gulf evaporation, scientists issue warning

Researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research added to the chorus of those saying we aren’t doing enough to prepare for hurricanes dangerously “supercharged” by ocean waters warmed by climate change.

TCN Journal May 25, 2018

Bloomberg jabs at Trump’s climate record in Rice address on honor, honesty

Speaking to the Houston university's 2018 class, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg said honesty is "a patriotic responsibility" and Americans "should demand that politicians have the honesty to respect" science.

TCN Journal May 15, 2018

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