The mobilization will feature most prominently a large-scale rally in San Francisco timed ahead of California Gov. Jerry Brown’s Global Climate Action Summit in September. The summit, which is planned for September 12, is expected to draw high-profile public figures from across the globe. This year’s iteration of the march in San Fransisco, called Rise…
Month: May 2018
Earth’s CO2 imbalance is greater than expected
Scientists might need to tweak their understanding of climate change in the near future. British researchers have determined that ocean waves play a considerably more important role in trapping carbon dioxide than previously thought. Their studies showed that waves breaking on the shore will absorb a large number of bubbles at depths of “at least”…
Can collaborative approaches change the world?
In a new working paper, ‘Open and Collaborative Developments’, researchers in STEPS America Latina, the STEPS Centre and SPRU reflect on what these emerging practices might mean for helping to cultivate more equitable and sustainable patterns of global development. For many commentators and activists such initiatives promise to radically alter the ways in which we…
Rice Less Nutritious As CO2 Levels Rise
The findings challenge a common argument floated among doubters of accepted climate science—that rising CO2 concentrations are a net positive for global vegetation, including crops. Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who leads the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, is one outspoken proponent of the idea. In an essay published last summer in…
‘Deforestation-free’ palm oil problematic to guarantee
Genuinely ‘deforestation-free’ palm oil products are problematic to guarantee, according to a new study. Palm oil is a vegetable oil that is used in thousands of products worldwide, including an estimated 50% of all products on supermarkets shelves, from food to detergents to cosmetics. Although growing palm trees requires less land and resources than traditional…
Ecosystem services and adaptive decision-making can improve land management
An ecosystem services approach combined with adaptive decision-making can aid land and resource managers in administering their regions for the benefit of communities and stakeholders, according to a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey and Resources for the Future. Ecosystem services are the benefits to people from things produced by the natural living environment,…
Four degree increase by 2084
A new study shows the Earth’s climate would increase by 4 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels, before the end of 21st century. The study also projects precipitation changes in association with a 4 degrees Celsius global warming above the pre-industrial period using the available RCP8.5 experiments of CMIP5 models. “A great many record-breaking heat…
400 Straight Hotter Than Average Months
Like A Virgin By Madonna was top in the music charts last time Earth had a colder than average month. Last April marked 400 consecutive months where our planet’s temperature was hotter than average, a record stretching back to December of 1984. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the milestone recently, confirming that…
Monitoring tropical trees
Experts have challenged the principle that tropical ecosystems are aseasonal — after discovering regular cycles in fruiting, flowering and leafing in such climates. Researchers from the University of Stirling made the unexpected observations after studying 30 years of data from 851 tropical trees in the Lopé National Park in Gabon, Central Africa. The team —…
Biodiversity depends on which climate change target we reach
A new assessment finds that, by 2100, the number of plant and vertebrate species losing more than half of their natural ranges will double if global warming is limited to 2°Celsius (C), rather than 1.5°C; insects are projected to be impacted the most, with 18 percent losing over half of their natural ranges under the…