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Archive for November, 2015
World facing ‘grave environmental crisis’, pope warns
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Hazel Ward on November 25th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: Pope Francis said the world was facing a "grave environmental crisis" as he arrived in Kenya on Wednesday on a landmark Africa trip just days before a crucial UN summit aimed at curbing climate change.
"The grave environmental crisis facing our world demands an ever greater sensitivity to the relationship between human beings and nature," he told Kenyan political leaders in the capital Nairobi, shortly after arriving in the east African country.
"There is a clear link between the protection...
2015 Likely to Be Warmest Year on Record, Says WMO
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on November 25th, 2015
BBC: Global average temperatures in 2015 are likely to be the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
Data until the end of October showed this year's temperatures running "well above" any previous 12 month period.
The researchers say the five year period from 2011 to 2015 was also the warmest on record.
The rise, they state, was due to a combination of a strong El Nino and human-induced global warming.
The WMO said their preliminary estimate, based on...
Study: Fossil Fuel Investors Could Lose Trillions Due Climate Action
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 25th, 2015
Guardian: Fossil fuel companies risk wasting up to $2tn (£1.3tn) of investors’ money in the next decade on projects left worthless by global action on climate change and the surge in clean energy, according to a new report.
The world’s nations aim to seal a UN deal in Paris in December to keep global warming below the danger limit of 2C. The heavy cuts in carbon emissions needed to achieve this would mean no new coal mines at all are needed and oil demand peaking in 2020, according to the influential thinktank...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Study: Fossil Fuel Investors Could Lose Trillions Due Climate ActionResearchers are inducing a drought in an Australian rainforest to study its effects
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on November 25th, 2015
Mongabay: Susan Laurance and colleagues at James Cook University in Australia wanted to study how different groups of plants in tropical forests are affected by drought. So a few months ago, the researchers used 3,000 clear plastic panels to create what they call a “raincoat for a rainforest,” artificially inducing a drought in several thousand square meters of the Daintree Rainforest on the northeast coast of Queensland. The drought experiment allows the team to study a wide range of plant life, from trees...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Researchers are inducing a drought in an Australian rainforest to study its effectsWorld headed for hottest year on record – WMO
Posted by Climate Home: Alex Pashley on November 25th, 2015
Climate Home: This year is poised to be the warmest in recorded history the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday.
Man-made climate change and a strengthening El Nino are set to ensure world surface temperatures reach 1C above pre-industrial levels in 2015.
“2015 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with ocean surface temperatures at the highest level since measurements began," said Michel Jarraud, head of the Geneva-based agency in a statement. "This is all bad news for the planet."...
As Indonesia Burns, Its Government Moves To Increase Forest Destruction
Posted by Conversation: None Given on November 24th, 2015
Conversation: In the midst of its worst fire crisis in living memory, the Indonesian government is taking a leap backward on forest protection. The recently signed Council of Palm Oil Producing Nations between Indonesia and Malaysia, signed at the weekend in Kuala Lumpur, will attempt to wind back palm oil companies' pledges to end deforestation.
If successful the move will undo recent attempts to end deforestation from palm oil production, and exacerbate the risk of future forest fires.
Forests on fire...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As Indonesia Burns, Its Government Moves To Increase Forest DestructionHunger Heralds Climate Change’s Arrival in Botswana
Posted by Inter Press Service: Baboki Kayawe on November 24th, 2015
Inter Press Service: A perfect storm of lower rainfall and a growing population beckons for Botswana. But others find climate change is already in the fields and paddocks. "As climate change ushers in more stress on the water sector, it is increasingly a concern that losses in rangeland productivity will result in food insecurity, especially in rural areas," a country analysis report unveiled recently on Botswana states. Far from the airy conference rooms where such reports are typically shared, are thousands of subsistence...
Report: Miami could lose billions from coastal flooding by 2050
Posted by Miami Herald: Nicholas Nehamas on November 24th, 2015
Miami Herald: When the floodwaters rise, they could take billions of dollars worth of South Florida real estate with them. No region in the U.S. is more vulnerable to the threat of coastal flooding than the Miami metro area, according to a new report from commercial brokerage CBRE. About $366 billion worth of real estate would be exposed to a worst-case scenario “100-year flood” in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, the report found. The greater New York area has $237 billion worth of real estate at...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Report: Miami could lose billions from coastal flooding by 2050Exposing a small part of a forest to the heat of 2100
Posted by ClimateWire: Gayathri Vaidyanathan on November 24th, 2015
ClimateWire: "Oops!" She places a hand over her mouth and looks around surreptitiously. Wood, 40, is responsible for the daily operations of this first-of-its-kind experiment, where scientists are cranking up the heat by 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) to see what happens to the saplings of palm and tabonuco and small plants growing here. This is as hot as our planet may be in 2100 if nations emit carbon dioxide at present-day rates. The scientists want to see whether tropical forests will thrive...
New study casts doubt on how much sea levels may rise from collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet
Posted by Environmental News Network: British Antarctic Survey on November 24th, 2015
Environmental News Network: A new study by scientists in the UK and France has found that Antarctic ice sheet collapse will have serious consequences for sea level rise over the next two hundred years, though not as much as some have suggested.
This study, published this week in the journal Nature, uses an ice-sheet model to predict the consequences of unstable retreat of the ice, which recent studies suggest has begun in West Antarctica.
An international team of researchers, including a scientist from British Antarctic...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New study casts doubt on how much sea levels may rise from collapse of the Antarctic ice sheet