Anthropogenic Climate Change
-
-
Argentine natural ice dam bursts for first time in winter
A natural ice dam in southern Argentina broke open spectacularly on Wednesday -- the first time it has burst in winter, prompting experts to say climate change was the reason.
The 60-meter (200-foot) high wall of ice from the Perito Moreno glacier that usually divides Lake Argentina in Patagonia bursts from time to time under the built-up pressure of the held-back water.
The event is one of the prime tourist attractions of Argentina.
But until now it had occurred in warmer seasons.
This year's breaking of the dam was forecast well in advance, though the exact day was unknown, so relatively few visitors -- around 300 -- were on hand to photograph the phenomenon.
Experts' predictions that the rupture could still be days away meant Argentine television stations were caught unprepared and were forced to air images of the last collapse.
An Internet broadcast, however, caught this year's rupture live for an estimated 150,000 viewers.
"It was like an explosion. Everything shook. It was stirring, rousing," one unidentified woman witness said on television.
"I was overjoyed. I didn't know what to do. I screamed and clapped like a crazy person, and I think I even cried," she said.
The glacier's ice dam does not break with any regularity, on average just once every four to six years.
It remained intact for 16 years until the last time it broke, on March 14, 2006, when 10,000 visitors and millions of television viewers watched the awesome show put on by nature.
Los Glaciares National Park director Carlos Corvalan said of the latest breaking of the dam: "This is the first time the glacier has broken up in winter. It could be related to global warming as rising temperatures affects ice friction."
Francisco Ferrando, a geographer and glaciology professor at the University of Chile, said global warming was probably causing the ice dam to become thinner.
A natural ice dam in southern Argentina broke open spectacularly on Wednesday -- the first time it has burst in winter, prompting expe... more -
NASA: the ocean's carbon balance
"For eons, the world’s oceans have been sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and releasing it again in a steady inhale and exhale. The ocean takes up carbon dioxide through photosynthesis by plant-like organisms (phytoplankton), as well as by simple chemistry: carbon dioxide dissolves in water. It reacts with seawater, creating carbonic acid. Carbonic acid releases hydrogen ions, which combine with carbonate in seawater to form bicarbonate, a form of carbon that doesn’t escape the ocean easily.
Crew members aboard the R/V Roger Revelle retrieve a CTD rosette from the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean. As the device is lowered into the ocean, electronic instruments measure salinity, temperature, and depth. Each of the white bottles collects seawater at different depths for detailed analysis. (Photograph ©2008 Brett longworth.)
As we burn fossil fuels and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels go up, the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide to stay in balance. But this absorption has a price: these reactions lower the water’s pH, meaning it’s more acidic. And the ocean has its limits. As temperatures rise, carbon dioxide leaks out of the ocean like a glass of root beer going flat on a warm day. Carbonate gets used up and has to be re-stocked by upwelling of deeper waters, which are rich in carbonate dissolved from limestone and other rocks.
In the center of the ocean, wind-driven currents bring cool waters and fresh carbonate to the surface. The new water takes up yet more carbon to match the atmosphere, while the old water carries the carbon it has captured into the ocean.
The warmer the surface water becomes, the harder it is for winds to mix the surface layers with the deeper layers. The ocean settles into layers, or stratifies. Without an infusion of fresh carbonate-rich water from below, the surface water saturates with carbon dioxide. The stagnant water also supports fewer phytoplankton, and carbon dioxide uptake from photosynthesis slows. In short, stratification cuts down the amount of carbon the ocean can take up."
Good article about the scientific research that goes into determining the natural and human factors behind Co2 absorption and balance in our oceans. And as this article illustrates, humans will have to mitigate their emissions of Co2 in order for our oceans to continue to be able to balance Co2 in a way that sustains them, our planet, and all species that depend on them for life. "For eons, the world’s oceans have been sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and releasing it again in a steady inhale and exh... more -
The floating cities that could one day house climate refugees
At first glance, they look like a couple of giant inflatable garden chairs that have washed out to sea
But they are, apparently, the ultimate solution to rapidly rising sea levels.
This computer-generated image shows two floating cities, each with enough room for 50,000 inhabitants.
Based on the design of a lilypad, they could be used as a permanent refuge for those whose homes have been covered in water. Major cities including London, New York and Tokyo are seen as being at huge risk from oceans which could rise by as much as 3ft by the end of this century.
This solution, by the award-winning Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, is designed to be a new place to live for those whose homelands have been wiped out.
The 'Lilypad City' would float around the world as an independent and fully self-sustainable home. With a lake at its centre to collect and purify rainwater, it would be accessed by three separate marinas and feature artificial mountains to offer the inhabitants a change of scenery from the seascape.
Power for the central accommodation hub is provided through a series of renewable energy sources including solar panels on the mountain sides, wind turbines and a power station to harness the energy of the waves.
Mr Callebaut said: 'The design of the city is inspired by the shape of the great Amazonia Victoria Regia lilypad. Some countries spend billions of pounds working on making their beaches and dams bigger and stronger.
'But the lilypad project is actually a long-term solution to the problem of the water rising.'
The architect, who has yet to estimate a cost for his design, added: 'It's an amphibious city without any roads or any cars. The whole city is covered by plants housed in suspended gardens.
'The goal is to create a harmonious coexistence of humans and nature.'
'And it has the other objective of providing housing for refugees from islands that have been submerged.'
~~~~~
Well, it certainly is innovative, but I would have many questions about them if it ever came to be. Firstly, only holding 50,000 people, who would get picked to go on them? Also, what about security and provisions? Let us hope it doesn't get this far, although islands like Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and islands near Bangladesh are already dangerously close to getting there. Would you live on one?
At first glance, they look like a couple of giant inflatable garden chairs that have washed out to sea ... more -
Hot future shock: heat wave temperatures to soar
During the European heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, the temperature in parts of France hit 104 degrees. Nearly 15,000 people died in that country alone. During the Chicago heat wave of 1995, the mercury spiked at 106 and about 600 people died.
In a few decades, people will look back at those heat waves "and we will laugh," said Andreas Sterl, author of a new study. "We will find (those temperatures) lovely and cool."
Sterl's computer model shows that by the end of the century, high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures. Chicago, for example, would reach 115 degrees in such an event by 2100. Paris heat waves could near 109 with Lyon coming closer to 114.
Sterl, who is with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, projects temperatures for rare heat waves around the world in a study soon to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
His numbers are blistering because of the drying-out effect of a warming world. Most global warming research focuses on average daily temperatures instead of these extremes, which cause greater damage.
His study projects a peak of 117 for Los Angeles and 110 for Atlanta by 2100; that's 5 degrees higher than the current records for those cities. Kansas City faces the prospect of a 116-degree heat wave, with its current all-time high at 109, according to the National Climactic Data Center.
During the European heat wave of 2003 that killed tens of thousands, the temperature in parts of France hit 104 degrees. Nearly 15,000... more -
NASAS Hansen: Humans Still Loading Climate Dice
Twenty years ago today, James E. Hansen testified before the Senate Energy Committee — in a room kept intentionally warm by committee staff — that the atmospheric buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels and forests was already perceptibly influencing Earth’s climate.
Then, as now, Dr. Hansen, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, was pushing beyond what many of his colleagues in climatology were willing to say — at least publicly. His supporters say that, given how science and events appear to be catching up with his projections of two decades ago, the world had better heed his new recommendations. (Here’s a useful deconstruction of Dr. Hansen’s testimony by Grist and the Worldwatch Institute.)
His critics show few signs of ever accommodating the ideas he now presses, which include a prompt moratorium on new coal-burning power plants until they can capture and store carbon dioxide and a rising tax on fuels contributing greenhouse-gas emissions, with the revenue passed back directly to citizens, avoiding the complexities of “cap and trade” bills.
I encourage you to watch a short video I shot of my parts of my interview Dr. Hansen in his cluttered office on Friday. Here’s the print story. He says that 2009 may present the last chance we have to defuse what he calls the “global warming time bomb.” Twenty years ago today, James E. Hansen testified before the Senate Energy Committee — in a room kept intentionally warm by committee ... more -
Bangladesh set to disappear under the waves by the end of the century
Bangladesh, the most crowded nation on earth, is set to disappear under the waves by the end of this century – and we will be to blame. Johann Hari took a journey to see for himself how western profligacy and indifference have sealed the fate of 150 million peoplewent to see for himself the spreading misery and destruction as the ocean reclaims the land on which so many millions depend
Friday, June 20, 2008
This spring, I took a month-long road trip across a country that we – you, me and everyone we know – are killing.
One day, not long into my journey, I travelled over tiny ridges and groaning bridges on the back of a motorbike to reach the remote village of Munshigonj. The surviving villagers – gaunt, creased people – were sitting by a stagnant pond. They told me, slowly, what we have done to them.
Ten years ago, the village began to die. First, many of the trees turned a strange brownish-yellow colour and rotted. Then the rice paddies stopped growing and festered in the water. Then the fish floated to the surface of the rivers, gasping. Then many of the animals began to die. Then many of the children began to die.
The waters flowing through Munshigonj – which had once been sweet and clear and teeming with life – had turned salty and dead.
Arita Rani, a 25-year-old, sat looking at the salt water, swaddled in a blue sari and her grief. "We couldn't drink the water from the river, because it was suddenly full of salt and made us sick," she said. "So I had to give my children water from this pond. I knew it was a bad idea. People wash in this pond. It's dirty. So we all got dysentery." She keeps staring at its surface. "I have had it for 10 years now. You feel weak all the time, and you have terrible stomach pains. You need to run to the toilet 10 times a day. My boy Shupria was seven and he had this for his whole life. He was so weak, and kept getting coughs and fevers. And then one morning..."
Her mother interrupted the trailing silence. "He died," she said. Now Arita's surviving three-year-old, Ashik, is sick, too. He is sprawled on his back on the floor. He keeps collapsing; his eyes are watery and distant. His distended stomach feels like a balloon pumped full of water. "Why did this happen?" Arita asked.
It is happening because of us. Every flight, every hamburger, every coal power plant, ends here, with this. Bangladesh is a flat, low-lying land made of silt, squeezed in between the melting mountains of the Himalayas and the rising seas of the Bay of Bengal. As the world warms, the sea is swelling – and wiping Bangladesh off the map.
~~~~~~~~~~~
But hey, let's keep on pumping out that coal. Bangladesh, the most crowded nation on earth, is set to disappear under the waves by the end of this century – and we will be to blame... more -
Human activity fueling weird weather, U.S. says
Thursday's report from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program is a synthesis of the latest research on extreme weather in the U.S. and comes after nearly six months that saw a record number of tornadoes, unusual winter warmth and record-setting precipitation in many regions.
It comes as the most extreme weather event so far this year, the Midwestern floods, continues to unfold.
The report said there is strong evidence the increasing frequency of extreme rain, heat, drought and tropical storms is caused by global climate change.
Most scientists believe that human activity is causing or accelerating global warming.
"Changes in some weather and climate extremes are attributable to human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases," the study authors concluded.
The report also concluded that:
• Human-caused warming likely has caused much of the increase in average and extreme temperatures observed in the U.S. over the past 50 years.
• Heavy precipitation events have increased over the past 50 years. That's consistent with increases in atmospheric water vapor associated with human-caused increases in greenhouse gases.
• Droughts are becoming more severe in some regions, though there are no clear national trends.
• The power and frequency of Atlantic hurricanes have increased substantially in recent decades, likely driven by human-caused increases in sea-surface temperatures.
However, the number of hurricanes making landfall does not appear to have increased over the past century.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/...
For some reason Current is stating this url could not be found. So I'm posting it here.
Edit: The Washington Post printed the same story so I posted that link in the original space. Thursday's report from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program is a synthesis of the latest research on extreme weather in the U.S. an... more -
Sun's rays alone can power Australia by 2030
Australia could be totally reliant on solar energy by 2030 if the current obstacles of technical inertia, lack of political will and entrenched interests can be overcome, a leading CSIRO scientist says. ''Australia should be building a solar backbone,'' atmospheric physicist Mike Raupach told a national climate change conference at the Australian National University yesterday.
Pursuing large-scale geosequestration projects to reduce Australia's rising greenhouse emissions was not the answer and ''is fighting against the way the Earth's systems want us to go'', he said.
Dr Raupach, a contributing author to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, said Australia's greenhouse emissions were growing faster than in any other developed nation in the world, driven by increasing per capita wealth and the ''aggressive consumption'' of the average urban lifestyle.
''We need a cap on total emissions at around 500 billion tonnes of carbon, which means an 80 per cent reduction in emissions for developed countries, and perhaps a 90 per cent reduction for Australia.''
The climate-change threat was ''somewhere between severe and extreme''. A gap was emerging between ''what the economists tells us is possible'' and what scientists insisted was necessary to tackle the problem, Dr Raupach said.
Significant reductions in Australia's greenhouse emissions were ''technically achievable and affordable'', with low-cost mitigation measures including improved refrigeration, lighting, heating and car fuel efficiencies, better building insulation and reduced travel, with carbon offsets invested in renewable energy rather than biosequestration or tree-planting projects, he said. The director of the University of Adelaide's climate research institute, Professor Barry Brook, told the conference that ''to have a reasonable chance'' of avoiding a future increase of 2 degrees of global warming, developed nations must achieve ''at least an 80 per cent reduction in emissions'' by 2050 and begin levelling off emissions ''by no later than 2015''.
~~~~~~~~
And if Australia can do it, so can the United States.
Australia could be totally reliant on solar energy by 2030 if the current obstacles of technical inertia, lack of political will and e... more -
Trees in warmer climates may fight global warming more effectively: study
Trees in warm places might be able to shrug off global warming better than those in the UK and colder climes because they contain a remarkable "thermostat" that keeps them the same temperature.
Leaves shed new light on earlier arrival of spring
More proof of global warming?
Greenhouse gases can cause ecological chaos
The temperature inside a healthy tree leaf is affected much less by outside temperature than originally believed, from England to the Caribbean, according to biologists at the University of Pennsylvania.
Researchers found that all tree leaves maintain a near constant temperature
They are concerned that trees in colder regions, such as Britain, could overheat as the climate warms as a result of this hitherto unrecognised mechanism. However, species adapted to warmer climates are likely to take their place.
Surveying 39 tree species ranging in location from subtropical to northerly climates, researchers found a nearly constant temperature in tree leaves.
The conversion of light into chemical energy - photosynthesis - most likely occurs when leaf temperatures are about 21°C, and the outside temperature plays little, if any, role. This means that in colder climates leaf temperatures are elevated and in warmer climates tree leaves cool to keep the temperature just right.
"It is not surprising to think that a polar bear in northern Canada and a black bear in Florida have the same internal body temperature," says Dr Brent Helliker, who reports the work with Suzanna Richter in the journal Nature. "Like us, they generate their own heat.
"However, to think that a black spruce in Canada and a Caribbean Pine in Puerto Rico have the same average leaf temperature is quite astonishing.
"Our research suggests that they use a combination of purely physical phenomena - like the cooling from water evaporation or the warming caused by packing a lot of leaves together - to maintain leaf temperature, a phenomenon we call homeostatisis."
He stresses that this does not mean tree canopies maintain a constant temperature through a day or a season, but rather that this ideal temperature is a long-term target value.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If true, we then need to be planting more trees in Africa and the Amazon instead of chopping them down. I think this is an interesting find and can lead us to solutions regarding CO2 mitigation.
Trees in warm places might be able to shrug off global warming better than those in the UK and colder climes because they contain a re... more -
Most Experts Foresee a Repeat of 2007Arctic Ice Loss
Fourteen research teams studying the impacts of warming on the Arctic Ocean have issued independent projections of how the sea ice will behave this summer, and 11 of them foresee an ice retreat at least as extraordinary as last year’s or even more dramatic. The other three groups that issued a numerical estimate see the ice extent heading back toward, but not equaling, the average minimum for summers since satellites began tracking the comings and goings of Arctic sea ice in 1979. Five other groups chose not to issue a numerical estimate.
The ice assessments, and explanations, can be found on the Web site of the ongoing Study of Environmental Arctic Change, or SEARCH. The initiative was begun following a workshop on Arctic ice trends in March that was triggered by the “drastic and unexpected sea ice decline witnessed in 2007,” according to the report posted online.
This short animation, from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, puts 2007 in perspective:
~~~~~~~~
Ice melt is the harbinger of climate change. I also think that even more important than observing what melts is what refreezes.
Fourteen research teams studying the impacts of warming on the Arctic Ocean have issued independent projections of how the sea ice wil... more -
Acidification from fossil fuels is killing our oceans
In a Hobart laboratory a few weeks ago, a young marine biologist placed the shell of a tiny sea snail on a weighing scale and held her breath. Donna Roberts's critical experiment rested on getting the exact weight of this fragile specimen; any movement in the room could instantly throw off the delicate scale, so sensitive it is called a microbalance.
Roberts had been weighing 100 of these shells, stripped from snails that had been collected from the depths of the great Southern Ocean half way between Tasmania and Antarctica.
The snails, known to biologists as pteropods, swim through the sea like butterflies. They are as abundant as krill and help feed the ocean's huge schools of fish.
The shell specimens dated back to 1996 and the earlier ones had weighed in at 20 micrograms. But Roberts observed that as the specimens became more recent, the weight of the shells had fallen. When her last specimen, from 2005, weighed in at just 10 micrograms, Roberts barely dared to breathe.
"Wow, what is going on?" she asked herself. A halving of shell weight in just one decade was a real worry.
Roberts's still unpublished research is just one reason why her collaborator, Dr Will Howard, from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, this week convened an extraordinary meeting of Australia's leading marine scientists in Hobart.
For three days, the 50 scientists, along with colleagues from America and New Zealand, focused their collective minds on a threat that has emerged, it seems, from out of the blue: the growing acidification of our oceans.
These scientists now know that burning fossil fuels and massive land clearing are not just warming the planet and raising sea temperatures, they are also changing the chemical make up of the oceans. A vast amount of the carbon dioxide humans have pumped into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution has been absorbed by oceans.
A new report by the Antarctic research centre, released at the Hobart meeting, says that about half the fossil fuel carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by humans has now dissolved into the oceans. If we keep pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at the current projections, by 2100 the ocean acidification will be three times that experienced at the end of the glacial period, 15,000 years ago.
The chemistry is basic. The ocean is a weakly alkaline solution. When carbon dioxide sucked in from the atmosphere dissolves in sea water, it forms a weak acid, making the ocean more acidic. For sea life with fragile shells, corals and countless other sea creatures, a more acidic ocean could be disastrous and have unknown impacts right up the marine food chain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our oceans have absorbed so much CO2 they will one day no longer be able to sustain life if we continue on the path we are on. What we do to other species we do to ourselves.
In a Hobart laboratory a few weeks ago, a young marine biologist placed the shell of a tiny sea snail on a weighing scale and held her... more -
Satellite images show Papua New Guinea deforestation at critical level
The forests of Papua New Guinea are being chopped down so quickly that more than half its trees could be lost by 2021, according to a new satellite study of the region.
The study, by the University of Papua New Guinea and the Australian National University, found that deforestation is much more widespread than was previously thought, even in so-called conservation areas. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has the world's third largest tropical forest, but it was being cleared or degraded at a rate of 362,000 hectares (895,000 acres) a year in 2001, the report said.
Phil Shearman, lead author of the study, said: "The unfortunate reality is that forests in Papua New Guinea are being logged repeatedly and wastefully with little regard for the environmental consequences and with at least the passive complicity of government authorities." The destruction will drive global warming, because tropical forests are an important store of carbon.
The researchers compared satellite images taken over three decades from the early 1970s. In 1972, the country had 38m hectares (94m acres), of rainforest covering 82% of the country. About 15% of that was cleared by 2002.
"For the first time, we have evidence of what's happening in the PNG forests," Shearman said. " The government could make a significant contribution to global efforts to combat climate change. It is in its own interest to do so, as this nation is particularly susceptible to negative effects due to loss of the forest cover."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WE HAVE TO STOP. We also have to support any tree planting initiative and frankly, I think one should be part of any climate change bill passed in this country. The forests of Papua New Guinea are being chopped down so quickly that more than half its trees could be lost by 2021, according to a ... more -
Climate change having 'worldwide, widespread effects'
Many physical and ecological systems are being affected by the world's warming climate, researchers say.
Scientists from across the world applied statistical models to published data on changes in 829 physical systems and around 28,800 plant and animal systems —on both global and continental scales — some with data going back to 1970.
Their analysis, published in Nature last week (15 May), looked at whether these changes were related to temperature increase, other factors such as land use change, or simply natural variability.
Around 95 per cent of the physical systems studied responded to the world's warming trend. The analysis found that glaciers in every continent have been shrinking, permafrost is melting, the peak of river levels in spring is shifting, and lake and river temperatures are rising.
And 90 per cent of the changes in plants and animals were consistent with responses to temperature rise, including earlier blooming and leaf unfolding.
The authors found little evidence that natural variability or other environmental factors were significant, and conclude that climate change is affecting these systems.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's time to stop debating this and get down to work. Otherwise, we will have nothing to debate over. It will be gone. Many physical and ecological systems are being affected by the world's warming climate, researchers say. ... more -
Peruvian Switzerland Melting Under Climate Change
Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range sometimes called the "Peruvian Switzerland," is slowly disappearing because of climate change, a key issue on the table of a Latin America-EU summit being held in Lima this week.
The glaciers making up the range -- declared a natural world heritage site by UNESCO -- have steadily been shrinking, said Marco Zapata, the head of the glaciology unit of Peru's National Institute for Natural Resources.
He explained that between 1948 and 1976, the Cordillera Blanca has diminished by nine meters, and between 1977 and now by around 20 meters.
The time left for tourists to see the spectacular zone is limited, and depends on temperature variations, he said.
Zapata added: "It is known that the shrinking process of the glaciers is irreversible and nothing can be done."
A 1989 evaluation found that Peru had more than 3,000 glaciers in an area of 2,041 square kilometers. Just eight years later, the area had been cut by a quarter, to 1,595 square kilometers.
A clear example of what is happening can be seen on the Pastoruri mountain, a 5,240-meter-high peak that each year attracts 60,000 tourists. "It is turning into an ice-capped mountain, because the snow is rapidly shrinking," Zapata said.
In 1995, the perimeter at the snowline was 1.8 square kilometers. By last year, that had eroded to just 1.1 square kilometers.
Huascaran National Park, where the Cordillera Blanca is situated, contains 663 glaciers including the 6,768-meter-high Huascaran summit itself, along with 296 lakes and 41 rivers.
But Jean Ortiz, who heads the running of the park, said global warming was seriously changing the face of the reserve, where many high-altitude plants and animals were becoming rarer or had disappeared entirely.
~~~~~
The greatest treasures on this Earth are melting way. Our children will not get to see them. This is so very sad to me. Some days I feel hopeful, and others I feel discouraged. This is one of those days I feel discouraged. It doesnt seem like people on the whole have what it takes to fight this. Too set in our ways, too selfish, too apathetic, too political in our views, with too much wealth and power concentrated in the hands of those who really don't care and actually hope to benefit from it all at the expense of the poor. So the Earth melts while we concern ourselves with the trivialities of our media driven world. Discouraging. Peru's Cordillera Blanca, a snow-topped northern mountain range sometimes called the "Peruvian Switzerland," is slowly disappearing be... more -
NASA finds statistical evidence of global warming
Climatic changes induced by humans have affected the flora and fauna, along with the physical environment of the world at a much faster pace than previously thought, scientists have said.
A new NASA-led study, noting changes in the physical system, such as glaciers shrinking, permafrost melting and lakes and rivers warming, has linked physical and biological impacts since 1970 with increase in temperatures during that period.
The scientists also noticed changes in biological systems such as leaves unfolding and flowers blooming at a faster pace, birds migrating earlier and plant and animal species moving towards the Earth's poles and higher altitudes.
In addition to global effects, the study also linked climate changes caused by humans with effects on individual continents, particularly North America, Europe and Asia.
The study was based on a database of more than 29,000 data series coming from about 80 studies, with at least 20 years of records between 1970 and 2004.
The team conducted statistical tests and found that patterns of observed impacts correspond with temperature changes around the globe, allowing them to conclude that global impacts are very likely due to human-caused warming.
Climatic changes induced by humans have affected the flora and fauna, along with the physical environment of the world at a much faste... more -
Global Warming Puts Koala Population Under Threat
Global warming will threaten the survival of koalas by making the eucalyptus leaves on which they feed toxic, scientists warned on Wednesday.
Australia's most endearing marsupial is already under threat from a severe drought and loss of habitat as housing encroaches on woodland.
But higher temperatures and increased carbon dioxide could shut down their food supply, leaving them to starve to death.
New research shows that the level of toxicity in the leaves of eucalyptus saplings rises, and their nutrient content falls, when they are exposed to higher levels of carbon dioxide.
"What currently may be good koala habitat may well become, over a period of not so many years at the rate that carbon dioxide concentrations are rising, very marginal habitat," said Ian Hume, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Sydney University, who carried out the research.
"I'm sure we'll see koalas disappearing from their current range even though we don't see any change in tree species or structure of the forests."
The koala's ecological niche is precarious enough as it is - eucalyptus leaves have so little nutritional value that the animals have to sleep for 20 hours a day to conserve energy.
The animals are also notoriously fussy eaters - of Australia's more than 600 species of eucalypt trees, koalas will only browse on the leaves of about 25.
The animals would be unable to adapt to the greater toxicity of gum tree leaves, Prof Hume said after presenting his findings at an Academy of Science conference in Canberra. "I don't think they've got enough time to do that, nowhere near enough time to do that," he said.
Global warming will threaten the survival of koalas by making the eucalyptus leaves on which they feed toxic, scientists warned on Wed... more -
Environmentalists Divided About Burying Co2
Greenpeace and more than 100 other environmental groups denounced projects for burying industrial greenhouse gases on Monday, exposing splits in the green movement about whether such schemes can slow global warming.
Many governments and some environmental organisations such as the WWF want companies to capture heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the exhausts of power plants and factories and then entomb them in porous rocks as one way to curb climate change.
But Greenpeace issued a 44-page report about the technology entitled "False Hope".
"Carbon capture and storage is a scam. It is the ultimate coal industry pipe dream," said Emily Rochon, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace International and author of the report.
Greenpeace and 112 green groups from 21 nations said governments should invest in wind, solar and other renewable energies rather than in capture technologies that would allow coal-fired power plants to stay in operation.
In a statement linked to the report, Greenpeace and allies including Friends of the Earth International said the "false promise" of carbon capture and storage (CCS) "risks locking the world into an energy future that fails to save the climate".
But some other environmental groups accept carbon capture as a way to slow rising temperatures and avert more powerful storms, heatwaves, droughts, disrupted monsoon rains and raised world ocean levels.
"Carbon capture and storage is not an ideal solution, but it buys us time," said Stephan Singer, head of the WWF's European Climate and Energy Programme in Brussels. "We believe it is part of the solution -- an emergency exit."
The UN Climate Panel has said CCS could be one of the main ways for slowing climate change by 2100 -- contributing a bigger share of greenhouse gas cuts than energy efficiency, a shift to renewable energy or a push for nuclear power.
Greenpeace and more than 100 other environmental groups denounced projects for burying industrial greenhouse gases on Monday, exposing... more -
Grizzly/Polar hybrid: ice melt could see rise of 'Grolar' bear
"Scientists have suggested that due to the adverse effects of Arctic ice melting, the hybrid of a polar bear and grizzly bear - dubbed the 'grolar bear', might rise in numbers.
According to a report in The Sun , the effects of climate change means that the hybrid bears could become more common as their habitats increasingly overlap due to global warming.
"One of the real things that is happening is that grizzlies are moving north, at the same time the polar bears are forced to be on the beach and we have found a number of grizzly bear polar bear hybrids," said biologist Dr George Divoky, who has worked in the Arctic region for over three decades.
"Essentially that could mean that it would save the polar bear genes in the grizzly population," he added.
Biologists have already spotted the hybrid species.
In April 2006, a white bear with brown patches was shot in northern Canada and DNA tests confirmed it was a 'grolar' bear. It was said to have been fathered by a male grizzly and a female polar bear.
In spite of the emergence of the hybrid bears, scientists fear that the overall impact of Arctic ice melting could have a disastrous effect in the long run.
"Having seen things, I would never be surprised if in 2008 the summer ice disappears," Dr Divoky said. "This has never happened in the period of human observation. We will know it when it happens and we will have to deal with that," he added. "Scientists have suggested that due to the adverse effects of Arctic ice melting, the hybrid of a polar bear and grizzly bear - dubbed... more -
Women face tougher impact from climate change
Climate change is harder on women in poor countries, where mothers stay in areas hit by drought, deforestation or crop failure as men move to literally greener pastures, a Nobel Peace laureate said on Tuesday.
"Many destructive activities against the environment disproportionately affect women, because most women in the world, and especially in the developing world, are very dependent on primary natural resources: land, forests, waters," said Wangari Maathai of Kenya.
"Women are very immediately affected, and usually women and children can't run away," said Maathai, who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her work on sustainable development.
"Men can trek and go looking for greener pastures in other areas in other countries ... but for women, they're usually left on site to face the consequences," she said. "So when there is deforestation, when there is drought, when there is crop failure, it is the women and children who are the most adversely affected."
Maathai was in Washington with 1997 Nobel Peace laureate Jody Williams, who got the award for her work in creating an international treaty to ban landmines, and both spoke to reporters at a briefing.
Williams said she saw climate change as a threat to security, and said desertification of former agricultural land fueled the conflict in Darfur.
Credit: Reuters AlertNet. Climate change is harder on women in poor countries, where mothers stay in areas hit by drought, deforestation or crop failure as men ... more -
Sierra Club threatens suits over coal power plants
Sierra Club sent letters on Tuesday threatening to file suit to stop construction of eight coal-fired power plants in six states because, the environmental group claims, they violate the Clean Air Act.
"This is the first major ramification on the ground from the (Washington) D.C. circuit kicking out the Bush administration's rules in February," said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's effort to stop coal power plants.
In February, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act in not setting mandatory cuts for mercury emissions of power plants.
The suits would be filed in the federal districts where the proposed power plants would be located, Nilles said. The suits would seek to require the plants to go back to state permitting agencies for new permits that meet the tougher emission standards, Nilles said.
Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of mercury emissions in the United States as well as 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. CO2 is the by far the largest contributor to greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Coal-fired power plants also are seen by most national politicians as essential because they make half the electricity used in the United States.
The Sierra Club said there are alternatives to coal power plants and that until capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide emissions is proven feasible and affordable, no more coal plants should be built.
Nilles said the Sierra Club has helped stop 63 of the 150 coal-fired power plants that were in the planning stages since 2002, including 31 last year.
Sierra Club sent letters on Tuesday threatening to file suit to stop construction of eight coal-fired power plants in six states becau... more
-
related topics
Anthropogenic Climate Change
Contributors (141)
Anthropogenic Climate Change
