Archive for March 27th, 2016

Climate change: Greenland melting tied shrinking Arctic sea ice

Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 27th, 2016
Science Codex: Vanishing Arctic sea ice. Dogged weather systems over Greenland. Far-flung surface ice melting on the massive island. These dramatic trends and global sea-level rise are linked, according to a study coauthored by Jennifer Francis, a research professor in Rutgers University's Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences. During Greenland summers, melting Arctic sea ice favors stronger and more frequent "blocking-high" pressure systems, which spin clockwise, stay largely in place and can block cold,...
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Did climate change cause those floods?

Posted by Hindu: None Given on March 27th, 2016
Hindu: Over the past several years, headlines on weather-related extreme events have included heavy downpours followed by floods, droughts, storms, heat and cold waves, and wild fires. Such events typically destroy lives, property and ecosystems while stretching the capacities of disaster management departments and coffers for emergency funds in various parts of the world. "Protecting people before and after major floods, storms, and extreme events is a core part of our business," said Karsten Löffler,...
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Climate Change Is Killing Off a 5000-Year-Old Iraqi Culture

Posted by Motherboard: None Given on March 27th, 2016
Motherboard: As our species finds itself staring down the barrel at widespread environmental collapse due to climate change, some of us have more to worry about than others. In particular, the Middle East and surrounding regions have been shown to be particularly vulnerable to climate change effects, especially those having to do with water: Within the last seven years the region has lost enough water to fill the Dead Sea and by 2040, 14 of the 33 most water stressed countries on Earth will be in the Middle East....
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Shock at global warming speed: ‘widespread future extinctions’ predicted

Posted by Advertiser and Times: None Given on March 27th, 2016
Advertiser and Times: Climate change is happening TEN TIMES quicker than at any point since the age of the dinosaurs, warns new research. And the unprecedented rate of change is likely to trigger “widespread future extinctions.” A notorious warming period 55 million years known as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) - when temperatures rose by at least 5C - is considered the most similar to current conditions. It led to ‘animal dwarfism’ with horses, deer and other mammals shrinking dramatically in size....
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Saving Half Planet for Nature Isn’t As Crazy As It Seems

Posted by National Geographic: Simon Worrall on March 27th, 2016
National Geographic: It's hard to be an optimist these days. We are living through what biologists call the sixth mass extinction, a time of dramatic depletion of species, from frogs to rhinos and butterflies. By the end of the century, it is estimated that one in six species will be extinct. The causes-human population growth, habitat loss, climate change-are complex and interlocking, fueling each other in an ever faster destructive spiral. But E.O. Wilson, the esteemed biologist and National Geographic Hubbard Award...
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How much did the world invest in clean energy last year?

Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Ben Thompson on March 27th, 2016
Christian Science Monitor: Renewable energy investments made in 2015 contributed more to global energy generation capacity than all other sources combined, according to a United Nations-backed report on global renewables investment released this week. The report, released by the Frankfurt School - UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Centre and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), also found that energy generation based on coal and gas saw less than half the investment as renewable generation sources, a first for green energy...
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Subjugating nature is not the way to defend against floods

Posted by Guardian: Alice Roberts on March 27th, 2016
Guardian: The Mendips form an east-west hilly ridge, framing the Chew Valley to the north and the Somerset Levels to the south. They are mostly gently rolling hills, though cut into by deep gorges such as Burrington Combe and Cheddar Gorge. But towards the western end of the ridge, and rising to 191m, sits the only true peak in the Mendips. Some place names are exciting, poetic and laden with history. This conical hill, though, is named Crook Peak. And “crook”, apparently, comes from an old English word meaning…...
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Hydrologist discusses impact of climate change on Utah’s water supply

Posted by Fox: None Given on March 27th, 2016
Fox: A new report released by the U.S. Department of the Interior says climate change is a growing risk to western water management. Most of Utah’s water resources come from snowmelt, but, as Fox 13 News’ Max Roth shows us, snowmelt run-off is becoming less predictable. “I think it’s hard to realize for most of us that live down here that water really is a limiting resource,” said Paul Brooks, a hydrologist and professor in the University of Utah’s department of Geology and Geophysics. His class...
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What would happen if the entire world stopped eating meat

Posted by Conversation: None Given on March 27th, 2016
Conversation: Eating more fruit and vegetables and cutting back on red and processed meat will make you healthier. That’s obvious enough. But as chickens and cows themselves eat food and burn off their own energy, meat is a also major driver of climate change. Going veggie can drastically reduce your carbon footprint. This is all at a personal level. What about when you multiply such changes by 7 billion people, and factor in a growing population? In our latest research, colleagues and I estimate that...
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Scientists fly glacial ice to south pole to unlock secrets of global warming

Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 27th, 2016
Guardian: In a few weeks, researchers will begin work on a remarkable scientific project. They will drill deep into the Col du Dôme glacier on Mont Blanc and remove a 130 metre core of ice. Then they will fly it, in sections, by helicopter to a laboratory in Grenoble before shipping it to Antarctica. There the ice core will be placed in a specially constructed vault at the French-Italian Concordia research base, 1,000 miles from the south pole. The Col du Dôme ice will become the first of several dozen...
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