carbon

EARTH: On the Trail of Hannibal's Army - and Elephants - in the Alps

During the Second Punic War, Hannibal, in a brazen move, led a massive army over the Alps, surprising the Romans from the supposedly impenetrable northern border. The exact route Hannibal took is unknown, although some geographic information can be gleaned from historical accounts such as those of the Roman writer Polybius. Armed with this information, and the knowledge that tens of thousands of men, horses and elephants must have left some trace, geoscientists are hunting down possible locations using deduction and chemistry to test hypotheses.

Supreme Court hears oral arguments on EPA regulation of GHG's

U.S. Supreme Court building
On February 24, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) heard oral arguments from seven groups of petitioners on the subject of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gases (GHG’s) from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The debate on Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA included petitions from private groups and state governments focusing on congressional intention in the creation of the CAA and varying interpretations of the law’s language regarding “air pollutants.”

EARTH: Still in a Haze: Black Carbon

Black carbon - fine particles of soot in the atmosphere produced from the burning of fossil fuels or biomass - a major contributor to the thick hazes of pollution hovering over cities around the world, has been known to be a health hazard for decades. But over the last decade, scientists have been examining in increasing detail the various ways in which these particles contribute to another hazard: heating up the planet.
Subscribe to RSS - carbon