#With IPCC Report, Climate Change Is settled Science (Op-Ed) Jeff Nesbit was the director of public affairs for two prominent federal science agencies.
what scientists now know about climate change. Its central conclusion will be certain and unequivocal human beings are altering the climate with impacts starting to occur now.
Yes there are still a handful of scientists who like to take slightly contrarian positions which allows them to be quoted in media stories.
Climate change is real human beings are responsible for a good portion of it and we need to take the issue seriously sooner rather than later and start to do something about it.
But that too is changing. 4 Things to Know About the IPCC's Climate Change Report As science settles on the ways in
which climate change drives extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy massive wildfires in the west extended droughts that are causing water shortages
When the plenary session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finishes its work late Thursday night
and issues its report on the science basis of climate change to nearly 200 governments it will essentially end the climate-science portion of the debate for policy makers and government officials.
The IPCC is the most comprehensive and robust assessment of existing climate change research we have available.
Its last report six years ago which won the Nobel prize had 498 authors from 28 countries who reviewed more than 6000 peer-reviewed studies to reach conclusions about the scientific basis for climate change.
it is extremely likely that human behaviors (burning fossil fuels) are driving climate change. That's as close to a consensus as you will ever get in the scientific community
and glaciers as well as offer more detail on scenarios that will shape international negotiations over both short-term and long-term greenhouse gas emissions including how long business as usual can be sustained without dangerous risk.
Climate change is back on the agenda for Davos in January. The secretary general of the United nations has said now he will invite world leaders to New york next fall to deal with climate change.
Led by leaders in the United states and China developed nations have agreed now in principle to deal with short-term greenhouse gas pollutants like HFCS that can forestall nearly a Degree fahrenheit of warming over the coming decades.
Global Leaders Agree to Phase out Heat-Trapping Chemical (Op-Ed) A clear path forward is now finally starting to emerge on climate change.
Difficult complicated science questions like the interplay between natural climate variability (e g. volcanic eruptions solar minimums the El Niã o-La Niã a cycle)
and drives climate change still need further clarification. But the first decade of this century was the hottest in recorded history
Even the Republican leadership in the U s. Congress which is still fighting a losing war on coal political narrative that fared poorly in the 2012 elections has decided that it's no longer productive to argue the science of manmade climate change.
Climate policy will play a major role in the campaign in specific (local) areas the policy director of the National Republican Congressional Committee Jordan Davis told the National Journal in explaining how it will argue against President
Obama's national climate plan in a handful of coal districts. It's not so much about the climate science Davis said.
We have a lot of members in our caucus who are not crazy climate deniers. It's about the policy.
Just as it finally became apparent years ago that it was no longer logical to doubt the science explaining nicotine addiction
and cancer risk from cigarettes we have reached now the same point on climate change. There is a scientific consensus
and dealing with climate risk and how politicians argue about it in federal election cycles may be very much in play.
With the prospect of warmer and drier years ahead climate changes align statistically with a greater probability of even more even larger and even more environmentally severe wildfires.
But climate change affects more than just the weather conditions under which a fire burns. Climate affects everything in the environment meaning that future fires will be different in ways that no one can clearly foresee.
Living and dead vegetation make up the fuel that burns in a wildland fire. Warmer and drier conditions make present-day fuels such as forests more likely to burn
but changing climate will also affect future fuels. In much of the West drier conditions equal less growth
Climate change is described usually as an increase of a certain number of degrees over 50
A given forest might survive the climate conditions of the year 2090 but not if it's killed by a severe fire or insect outbreak in 2030.
Researchers attempting the difficult task of linking models of climate vegetation and fire at global scales an exercise called pyrogeography are finding not only high variability between models but sometimes not even agreement on overall trends.
The uncertainty of how wildfires and climate change will interact can seem paralyzing. If scientists don't know what will happen can society do anything at all?
For instance thinning of dense small trees and applying prescribed burning in fire-adapted native forests that have seen a century of fire suppression will increase the odds of conserving them as climate warms.
Conversely severe fires in ecosystems that have natural adaptations to intense burns should not be labeled catastrophes at least not in ecological terms.
Third when wildland managers compare alternative management options they should routinely apply models linking climate vegetation and fire.
Future fire regimes will present many new situations that will range only from bad to worse there is not a bright side to climate change in terms of conservation of native ecosystems.
But even under the urgent threat of severe fires we do have modeling tools studies of effects of past climate fluctuations
and Jeff Hayward is director of the Climate Program at Rainforest Alliance. This article is adapted from an article for the Skoll World Forum.
In these areas the deforestation rate is 20 times slower than in areas not under the care of local people.
The threat of deforestation looms Such communities in Guatemala deserve credit for pursuing sustainable forestry
But a new paradigm of growth is emerging through a mechanism known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+.
Envisioned as an integrated climate and development solution hopes were high that global carbon markets would yield sustainable financing for REDD+conservation and sustainable forest management.
The world's leading companies recognize that investing in efforts to stop deforestation in exchange for verified emissions reductions is a compelling way to optimize their corporate impact.
Corporations large and small are making significant public pledges to reduce deforestation in supply chains.
Companies within the Consumer goods Forum whose total annual sales exceed $3 trillion have pledged to remove deforestation from their supply chains by 2020.
Given recent revelations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the U n. Environment Program Emissions Gap Report which warn that current actions to cut emissions are insufficient and unlikely to prevent catastrophic
climate change society must use every available effort to curb emissions. Deforestation as part of the problem must also be part of the solution
and that solution will require a change in economic incentives. We believe forest conservation and thus sustainable supply management will require REDD+.
As a result the bears have more tasty berries to eat finds a study published today (July 29) in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
As we learn more about the cascading effects they have on ecosystems the issue may be more than having just enough individual wolves
and shrub recovery and restore ecosystem health. Wolves were removed first from Yellowstone national park in the 1920s after
when they are trying to gain weight as rapidly as possible before winter hibernation said study co-author William Ripple a forest ecosystems researcher at Oregon State university in a statement.
and so even though we might not see the owls themselves they leave their tracks behind in the snow
Marlene Cimons writes forâ Climate Nexus a nonprofit that aims to tell the climate story in innovative ways that raise awareness of dispel misinformation about
and showcase solutions to climate change and energy issues in the United states. Â She contributed this article to Livescience's Expert Voices:
and we can blame it on climate change. Â People in the Northeast in particular will be among the hardest hit in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and this winter's record-setting blizzard both
of which dumped massive amounts of precipitation over the region. Â Â This promises a robust allergy season''said Leonard Bielory an allergy
and immunology specialist with the Rutgers Center for Environmental Prediction in New jersey a state which suffered widespread destruction from Sandy.
The changing climate has brought early spring late-ending fall and large amounts of rain and snow.
and in a perfect test-tube world will double by 2040 because of climate change.''''Study:
In other regions climate change will affect the insect population their stings and bites can provoke fatal allergic reactions in sensitive individuals as well as the proliferation of such vines as poison ivy.
and as a result now makes a far more potent urushiol the oil that causes poison-ivy-triggered rashes than in the past. 8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World Current evidence also suggests that climate change will increase the concentration of ground-level ozone particularly in Northeastern
or asthma climate change is going to make you a lot sicker now and in the coming years.
Moreover some public health experts regard the global increase of asthma as an early health effect of climate change
and Clinical Immunology called climate change potentially the largest global threat to human health ever encountered''predicting more injury disease and death from natural disasters heat waves infections and widespread malnutrition as well as more allergic
and air-pollution illnesses and death. If you are lucky enough to be free from allergies don't make the mistake of dismissing them as nothing more than a minor annoyance.
Most experts believe the impact of climate change on allergic diseases will vary by region depending on latitude altitude rainfall and storms land-use patterns urbanization transportation and energy production.
while heavy rain will wash the pollution away but encourage the growth of mold. Bielory and his colleagues reporting in a 2011 study showed that the ragweed-pollen season has become longer in northern areas of the country in recent years
and points to climate change as the reason this is happening. Â We drew a line from Texas to Canada''he explained.
''Stopping human activities that contribute to climate change might help future generations avoid these risks but the rest of us like the plants themselves will have to adapt.
Snow runoff cascades down the 2425 foot drop with peak flow in May. In winter an ice cone is often visible at the top of the falls.
What could we learn from these and other interactions about the stability and sustainability of ecosystems?
De la Rosa detailed the findings in the May issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.
The blended family was foraging in wetlands at the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve part of the massive South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project.
It's a massive undertaking that's going to lead to some pretty significant changes in the environment
and see how they're reacting said Alex Hartman a USGS wildlife biologist at the Western Ecological Research center in Dixon California who helps oversee the shorebird-monitoring project.
they can smell prey 20 feet under the snow. They will dig down into burrows
Research shows that wolverines use snow as refrigerators to keep their food fresh. During times when food is scarce the wolverines will go back to their stockpile to
because they use the snow for dens besides food storage. They live in the Arctic and subarctic in grasslands Alpine forests taiga boreal forests and tundra of Europe Asia and in North america in the northern latitudes.
These dens are often caves dug in the snow and can be up to 15 feet deep.
The biggest threat to wolverines is climate change. Warmer weather could mean less snow which wolverines are dependent on for food
and reproduction as mentioned earlier. When a wolverine takes a step its paw spreads to almost twice its original size as it presses against the ground.
This makes it easier for wolverines to walk on snow. It's like built-in snowshoes. Other members of the weasel family include skunks sea otters badgers and ferrets.
and is considered part of the park's natural ecosystem. Most anthrax cases seen in Etosha are in zebras;
otherwise a sea of short dry grasses said lead study author Wendy Turner an ecologist at the University of Oslo in Norway.
or not given all the things that can vary in the environment that remains to be seen.
This would add to our understanding of transmission for disease agents that can persist for long periods in the environment.
#Man-made Flood Could Help Revive Colorado river Wetlands An artificial flood could surge down a dry riverbed from the United states into Mexico either this spring
The flood is one consequence of a five-year agreement signed in 2012 as part of the U s.-Mexico Water Treaty.
in the United states. This could mark a new era of collaboration among users of the river's water one that benefits the environment said Karl Flessa a conservation biologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson
Then in the 1990s floods in both the Colorado river and Gila river (a tributary of the Colorado river) delivered more than 2. 4 trillion gallons (9. 3 trillion liters) of water into the delta in multiple pulses breathing
Because the floods rejuvenated these riverbank zones conservationists were hopeful that the wetlands could be restored.
Researchers have generated intentionally floods before in the United states such as farther up the Colorado river in the Grand canyon last year.
Grand canyon Flood Future effects The pulse down the Colorado would be released from Lake Mead the largest U s. reservoir formed by the Hoover dam
The deluge is expected to flood low terraces and backwaters churn sediment and promote the growth of cottonwood and willow tree seeds.
and environmental groups from both the United states and Mexico will monitor the effects of this pulse analyzing the area before the flood immediately following it and into the future.
We need to figure out how we can manage water for the delta environment so that it does the most good Flessa said.
The scientists hope the benefits of this flood will lead to a renewal of the agreement
This story has been updated to correct the possible timing of the flood it is not definitely schedule for this spring.
These plants produce large quantities of pollen and the grains are light so they can be carried by the wind for hundreds of miles
and the environment in the human and baboon guts as closely as possible so they fed the bacteria
#5 Huge, Efficient Wins for the Environment in 2013 (Op-Ed) Peter Lehner is executive director of the Natural resources Defense Council (NRDC.
and helped protect the environment in 2013.1. Americans boosted energy efficiency Just in time for Christmas a coalition of pay-TV
Of course the biggest efficiency booster of all could be President Barack Obama's climate action plan
and environmental benefits worth $30 billion. 2. Americans are tackling food waste My colleague Dana Gunders helped make food waste a topic of national discussion this year.
The U s. Department of agriculture and the U s. Environmental protection agency (EPA) launched the first national attempt to address food waste this year issuing a challenge to the food industry to find ways to reduce food waste.
The EPA reported that model-year 2012 is the most fuel-efficient ever for the U s. fleet with an average of 23.6 miles per gallon.
and farms are getting smarter about water In hundreds of cities a fraction-of-an-inch of rainfall can overwhelm sewer systems and trigger the discharge of sewage into waterways.
it's one of the biggest sources of water pollution in the country leading to hundreds of days of beach closures and swimming advisories.
which uses natural techniques like green roofs rain gardens street plantings and rain barrels to capture rainfall
and allow it to evaporate or soak into the soil. Washington D c. announced this year that housing developments over a certain size will be required to retain the water from a 1. 2-inch storm on site a move that is expected to expand the use of green infrastructure in the U s. capital.
And in Milwaukee the city's Metropolitan Sewerage District put together a detailed regional plan to use green infrastructure to capture 740 million gallons of storm water every time it rains.
and the United nations Environment Programme both highlighted in reports last year. Both called attention to the benefits of practices that can regenerate starving soils.
since they're less likely to suffer losses during years of drought or other extreme weather.
Today the material has won Ecovative a host of awards including the Environmental protection agency s Environmental Quality Award and Richard Branson s Screw Business As usual Award.
We should be much more careful in our industrial agriculture with the agents we're putting out in the environment said study author Dr. Beate Ritz a professor of epidemiology at University of California Los angeles and co-director of the school's Center
for Gene-Environment Studies in Parkinson's disease. All of this is environmental exposure not occupational exposure. It can be quite harmful.
Ritz told Live Science that the study had two goals: to find out which genes might be involved in the nerve death that results in Parkinson's
Pepper history Peppers were domesticated first by Native americans in the tropics of South america as far back as 8000 years ago from a wild variant known as Chiltepin annuum (variant glabriusculum.
It can be a really useful way of getting rid of heat on a hot day said study co-author Michael Kearney an ecologist at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Kearney and his student doctoral candidate Natalie Briscoe were trying to predict how the woodland creatures on French Island near Melbourne would regulate their body temperatures as the continent heats up due to climate change.
Climate change planning Koalas'food (and hugging) trees will change their range with the hotter and drier weather brought by climate change Bill Ellis a wildlife researcher at the University of Queensland in Australia who was involved not in the study wrote in an email to Live Science.
But the new study suggests that food may be a smaller consideration in preserving koala habitat than previously thought he said.
#EPA Aims To Slash Power plant CO2 by 30 Percent Nearly every state in the U s. now has a greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal to meet under the Obama administration's new Clean
That means every state except Vermont which has no power plants that apply under the new rule will have to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants according to a rule the U s. Environmental protection agency (EPA) proposed Monday.
The EPA rule is part of the White house s broader Climate Action Plan announced last year that includes a number of steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The proposed new rule scheduled to go into effect in June 2015 after a period of public comment would apply to about 3000 electricity generating units at 1000 power plants nationwide
and aims to reduce pollutants that contribute to soot and smog by 25 percent by 2030.
The rule is the second of two climate change-related rules affecting the coal industry and the electric power sector.
The first which the EPA proposed last fall aims to cap emissions from unbuilt coal-fired power plants.
For nearly each state the EPA is requiring two sets of emissions reductions goals for power plants:
The EPA is touting the level of flexibility it says it is providing to states in allowing them to choose how they'll reduce their CO2 emissions in the coming years.
The way the EPA is calculating how each state needs to reduce its emissions is complex.
Scientists'and climate change experts'reception of the proposed rules was mixed Monday with many saying they'll make a difference
but don't go far enough in curbing climate change-driving greenhouse gas emissions. Overall if the proposed rules survive possible legal challenges
Steve Cohen Executive director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a former EPA offiicial said the proposed rules will not solve human-caused climate change
and the proposed EPA rules is to take a problem and make it less bad something the new rules are likely to accomplish.
Before seeing the proposed rule Michael B. Gerrard director of the Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University said reducing carbon emissions in the U s. by 20 percent
but the country will still be quite a ways away from reducing CO2 emissions enough to effectively curb climate change.#
#The coal industry and its unions railed against the proposed rule at public hearings the EPA held last year intended to glean public input on the existing-power plant rules before they were written.
At a public hearing on the rule in November in Philadelphia the United Mine Workers of America asked the EPA for more time for the coal power industry to adapt before new emissions regulations kick in said the union s international vice-president
Xcel Energy Environmental Policy Director Jack Ihle speaking at the Bloomberg Future of Energy Summit in April in New york city said the new rules will likely take coal plants pretty much off the table
You May Also Like Carbon dioxide Passes Global 400 ppm Milestone Climate Change Could Warp Rails With#Sun Kinks Cold U s. Winter Caused By Warm Tropical Waters?
Original article on Climate Central e
#Camels: Facts, Types & Pictures Camels are mammals with long legs a big-lipped snout and a humped back.
In addition to their humps camels have other ways to adapt to their environment. They have a third clear eyelid that protects their eyes from blowing sand.
They can shut their nostrils during sand storms. Humans have used camels as a means of transport for thousands of years.
Though many people think that camels only live in hot climates they do well in temperature ranges from 20 degrees F (minus 29 degrees C) to 120 degrees F (49 degrees C
and alter other parts of its environment depending on the reactions of people on Twitter has been created in the United kingdom. This futuristic social media garden could one day inspire the development of smart buildings that adapt to people's emotional states researchers say.
As people tweet about their surroundings the structure continually remodels itself the project's designers said.
or shape constantly remapping our perception of our urban environment with facades becoming animated reflective and mobile in response to communal desires
and carting animals from habitat degraded by climate change to new sites. Yet where is the evidence that more of the same we-humans-know-best#kind of thinking that led to extinction of species massive habitat destruction hundreds of nonnative species
An environment engineered by humans sounds depressingly dull and astonishingly arrogant to many of us.
and ecosystems that are diverse complex and beautiful. We should keep ecological options open by protecting
and connecting large natural areas that contain a variety of landscapes. Placing ecologically-diverse roadless areas in legislated Wilderness comprises one investment in a larger portfolio of prudent responses to climate change.
The Wilderness Act already provides for the rare exception where intervention seems absolutely necessary (e g. restoration of vanquished species). Remarkably there are still 58 5 million acres on National Forests
and provide options for movement in response to changing climate all key to resiliency in a changing world.
We have neither the scientific understanding nor the moral authority to reassemble ecosystems. We should respect
or oil spill cleanup the researchers said. Peacocks With their stunning plumage peacocks already have a knack for style.
Researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental science outfitted some leatherback turtles with backpacks that contained satellite-tracking devices.
We know these healthier foods aren't necessarily available in low-income neighborhoods; we know they take more time
and it can mitigate climate change. But some biofuel crops have bad environmental effects: they use too much water displace people
and create more emissions than they save. This has led to a demand for high-yielding energy crops with low environmental impact.
Industrial hemp is said to be just that. Enthusiasts have been promoting the use of industrial hemp for producing bioenergy for a long time now.
Biogas production from hemp could compete with production from maize especially in cold climate regions such as Northern europe and Canada.
Biodiesel production from hemp seed oil has been shown to overall have a much lower environmental impact than fossil diesel.
Indeed the environmental benefits of hemp have been praised highly since hemp cultivation requires very limited amounts of pesticide.
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