Is the epoch of habitability on Earth drawing to a close?

The future of life on Earth? Stromatolites growing in Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve, Shark Bay in Western Australia. By Jim Galasyn18 January 2016 (Desdemona Despair) – Humans are collecting more biogeophysical data than ever, leading to a potential paradox: are we finally getting the data we need to manage the world, only to find […]

Piers Sellers: Cancer and climate change

By Piers J. Sellers16 January 2016 (The New York Times) – I’m a climate scientist who has just been told I have Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. This diagnosis puts me in an interesting position. I’ve spent much of my professional life thinking about the science of climate change, which is best viewed through a multidecadal […]

50 doomiest stories of 2015

Climate change brings world closer to ‘doomsday’, say scientists 2015 was the year that saw the biosphere visibly start to come apart, in many cases much sooner than scientists have predicted. Some people noticed; a new blog appeared in 2015, named “Faster Than Expected”: Search for “faster than expected” in your favorite search engine and […]

Brazil inflames forest fires with pro-deforestation laws

By Jan Rocha in Sao Paulo14 January 2016 (Climate News Network) – Almost a quarter of a million forest fires were detected in Brazil last year – and the main cause of a huge increase is being attributed to climate change that brought about a year-long drought in much of the country. Satellite data revealed […]

My dad worked at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and he knows what happens when ranchers get their way – ‘These fields were merely mud and cow shit’

By Tobias Coughlin-Bogue6 January 2016 (The Stranger) – Since the Mahleur National Wildlife Refuge occupation began, there’s been a number of articles pointing out how deeply in the wrong these self-styled freedom fighters are. Dan pointed out white privilege, Sydney pointed out hypocrisy, and Charles pointed out capitalism. But there is one more point to […]

Global warming: 4C temperature rise will have dire effect on world hunger, UN warns – ‘This map paints a stark picture of how climate disasters drive hunger’

By John Vidal1 December 2015 (The Guardian) – El Niños, climate change, and increasing conflict linked to prolonged droughts and extreme weather are leaving the world unable to cope with the food needs of millions of people, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. The UN agency, which last year appealed for $8.5bn from governments […]

In pitiful animal die-offs across the globe — from antelopes to bees to seabirds — global warming may be culprit

By Sarah Kaplan 13 January 2016 (Washington Post) – On the chilly shores of Alaska’s Prince William Sound, tens of thousands of battered bird carcasses are washing up. The birds, all members of a species known as the common murre, appear to have starved to death, wildlife officials said Tuesday. Their black and white bodies […]

How global warming became a civil rights issue – ‘When unprecedented weather disasters devastate the poorest neighborhoods in places like New Orleans, New Jersey, and New York, it is a civil rights issue’

By Rekha Basu9 January 2016 (Des Moines Register) – One advantage of having presidential candidates come to campaign every four years is hearing from the advocacy groups that trail them in hopes of rallying support for their causes. Those might be issues we know about, like gun control, immigration or criminal justice reform, but with […]

Study shows the causes of mangrove deforestation in Southeast Asia – ‘Mangrove loss in Southeast Asia still remains substantial’

5 January 2016 (NUS) – Rice production in Myanmar and the rise of palm oil plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia could pose future threats to mangrove forests Southeast Asia has the greatest diversity of mangrove species in the world, and mangrove forests provide multiple ecosystem services upon which millions of people depend. Mangroves enhance fisheries […]

December 2015 was the wettest and warmest month ever recorded in UK – ‘We have known for a very long time that these signs were likely to be one of the earliest symptoms of climate change, and now we are seeing them’

By Damian Carrington5 January 2016 (Guardian) – December was the wettest month ever recorded in the UK, with almost double the rain falling than average, according to data released by the Met Office on Tuesday. Last month saw widespread flooding which continued into the new year, with 21 flood alerts in England and Wales and […]

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