Save the Ocean Life and Save Earth

A Small Change in Airplane Altitude Could Reduce Climate Impact of Contrails by 59% Environment  13 February 2020 By David Nield            (William Hook/Unsplash) In a world affected by climate change, every little tweak we make counts. While we're still sorting out jet fuel, there's another plane travel impact we could cut back on rather easily, according to a new study. Getting planes to fly just 2,000 feet (610 metres) lower could cut the climate impact of the contrails they leave behind by a whopping 59 percent. Even better, only around 2 percent of flights would need to make the adjustment – those flights where contrails are most likely to form, linger around, and contribute to the warming of the planet. Contrails (condensation trails) come about when the hot exhaust gas from airplanes meets the cold, low-pressure air in the atmosphere. Moisture condenses on the black carbon in the fumes, forming the ice particles we see...

For 110 years, climate change has been in the news. Are we finally ready to listen? Published: August 15, 2022 7.47am BST Linden Ashcroft   Lecturer in climate science and science communication, The University of Melbourne On August 14 1912, a small New Zealand newspaper published a short article announcing global coal usage was affecting our planet’s temperature. This piece from 110 years ago is now famous, shared across the internet this time every year as one of the first pieces of climate science in the media (even though it was actually a reprint of a piece published in a New South Wales mining journal a month earlier). This short 1912 article made the direct link between burning coal and global temperature changes. The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal, National Library of Australia The fundamental science has been understood for a long time American scientist and women’s rights campaigner Eunice Foote is now widely credited as being the first person to demonstr...