Drink water? You're probably drinking plastic, too.

Any time you drink water out of the tap, odds are you're also drinking plastic.

A study by Orb Media and researchers at the Minnesota School of Public Health tested tap water from more than a dozen cities throughout the world, and found microplastic fibers in more than 8 out of every 10 samples.

The highest contamination rate was found in the United States - where 94 percent of the samples tested contained microplastics. This included tap water at New York's Trump Tower and the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Microplastic fibers also were found in bottled water.

U.S. tap water averaged almost 5 fibers in each half-liter sample tested. In Europe - where 72 percent of the samples tested contained microplastic fibers - there were just under 2 fibers in each sample.

The direct affect on humans still is not determined. However, microplastics have been shown to adsorb toxins in water. And they have been shown to release these toxins into animals that ingest them.

One source of microplastic pollution in water - microbeads in personal cleansing products - was banned by the Obama administration.

Click here to read about the Orb Media study.

Click here to read an EPA report on the toxicity of plastics pollution to animals.

Ski resorts in Alps could lose 70 percent of snow by 2100

As Global Warming causes rain to replace snow in Alps, the ski resorts in the European mountain range could lose 70 percent of their snow by the end of the century.

Even in a best-case scenario - if temperature rise is limited to 2 degrees Celcius as specified in the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement, Alpine resorts would lose about a third of their snow.

For more, read the Guardian story.

2016 was hottest year on record

2016 was the hottest year on record - for the third consecutive year. Of the 17 hottest years on record, 16 have been since 2000.

The trend of rising temperatures has caused everything from flooding to droughts. The cost to U.S. residents is in the billions of dollars.

Although the primary cause of warming has been greenhouse gases from manmade emissions, temperatures the past two years have been further boosted by a weather pattern know as El Niņo. That pattern has ended, and scientists expect 2017 to be cooler than the previous two years.

Minus that effect, however, climate scientists still expect the atmosphere to continue warming.

For more, read the Washington Post story.

For more on the cost of global warming in the U.S., see the report from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

North Pole 20 degrees warmer than average Christmas Eve

The good news... there's still snow for Santa at the North Pole. The bad news... those days might be numbered.

Temperatures there might be 20 degrees higher than average this year, climate scientists report. They link the "heat wave" to climate change caused by human activity.

For more, read the BBC News story.

Coastal flooding will cost taxpayers billions

With sea levels rising, coastal flooding has been discussed as a likely future effect of global warming. For some U.S. cities, the future is now as floods can be caused by the simple combination of a high tide and a strong wind.

The flooding in eastern states from Virginia to Florida is more than inconvenient. It costs tens of billions of public dollars to mitigate problems the flooding is causing.

A flood even just a foot deep can disrupt traffic, damage houses, and poison water wells.

The problems are going to get worse soon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). East coast residents are likely to experience more flooding - even on sunny days. The sea also is likely to rise off west-coast states as water stops being pushed toward Asia by changing climate patterns.

The issue also affects national defense - especially naval bases. In January, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a directive on adapting its operations "to address the impacts of climate change in order to maintain an effective and efficient U.S. military".

However, in the most recent Defense Appropriations bill, an amendment by Rep. Ken Buck would prohibit the DoD from using funds to implement the environmental directive.

Buck's amendment passed (click here to see how your representative voted). The full bill passed the House on June 16. It is not expected to pass in the Senate, however. A replacement appropriations bill may or may not contain a similar provision.

For much more, read this New York Times article.

Also read this Virginian-Pilot article.

2015 was hottest year on record

2015 was the hottest year ever measured, according to reports issued by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The average global temperature exceeded the previous hottest year - 2014 - by more than a quarter of a degree.

Scientists began recording temperatures in 1850.

A warmer climate can lead to larger storms as warm air can absorb more water than cooler air. But it also can lead to droughts that can threaten the Earth's food supply.

For more, read the New York Times story.

To read about the study by the National Centers for Environmental Information , click here.

To read about the study by NASA , click here.

Crop shortage will affect food prices, fuel production

Expect food prices to rise in the long term due to lower crop yields - the effect of the country's worst drought in 50 years.

A reduced corn yield is triggering discussions regarding the use of corn for making ethanol used as a fuel additive, as demanded by the Renewable Fuel Standard. About 40 percent of the country's corn crop is used to make biofuel.

For more, including some arguments in the debate regarding using corn for ethanol production, read the New York Times story.

Greenland loses 46 square mile glacier

An iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off from Greenland's Petermann Glacier. This is the second time in two years that a large glacier has calved in Greenland. In 2010, a 46-square mile glacier broke off.

For more, read the Washington Post story.

Drought affecting more than half of U.S.

More than half of the continental United States is suffering from the widest drought in more than a decade. For more, read the Los Angeles Times story.

Resource: Drought Monitor

This site will show you current drought conditions throughout the United States
DroughtMonitor.unl.edu