14 December 2015 (Climate Interactive) – Negotiations concluded this weekend with the adoption of the Paris Agreement. If all INDCs included in the pact are fully implemented, with no further action, global temperatures are expected to rise 3.5°C (6.3°F) above preindustrial levels. The 5-year review mechanism that was included in the final agreement […]
GENEVA, 18 December 2015 (UNHCR) – With almost a million people having crossed the Mediterranean as refugees and migrants so far this year, and conflicts in Syria and elsewhere continuing to generate staggering levels of human suffering, 2015 is likely to exceed all previous records for global forced displacement, the UN Refugee Agency warned in […]
By Krishna N. Das and Tommy Wilkes; editing by Susan Fenton 14 December 2015 NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India still plans to double coal output by 2020 and rely on the resource for decades afterwards, a senior official said on Monday, days after rich and poor countries agreed in Paris to curb carbon emissions blamed […]
17 December 2015 (University of Utah) – Mathematical simulations at the University of Utah show parasitic flies may spell extinction for Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands, but that pest-control efforts might save the birds that helped inspire the theory of evolution. The new study “shows that the fly has the potential to drive populations […]
18 December 2015 (BBC) – Beijing has issued a second pollution red alert, little more than a week after the first ever such warning. The Chinese capital will see hazardous smog from Saturday until Tuesday, the official meteorological service said. Nationwide, a vast area from Xian in central China to Harbin in the north-east would […]
By Jim Shelton 16 December 2015 (YaleNews) – A Yale-led study urges scientists to move their focus from species extinction to species rarity in order to recognize, and avoid, a mass extinction in the modern world. Writing in the journal Nature the week of Dec. 16, Yale’s Pincelli Hull and colleagues from the Smithsonian Institution […]
SAUSALITO, California, 15 December 2015 (KTVU) – Researchers say the algae bloom that’s indefinitely delayed the Dungeness crab season may be causing brain damage in California sea lions. UC Santa Cruz scientists studied the behavior of sea lions being treated at the Marine Mammal Center in Marin County and found evidence the sea lions were […]
By Jenna Etheridge17 December 2015 CAPE TOWN (News24) – Scientists have had a rare opportunity to inspect a dead killer whale (orca) that washed up at Plettenberg Bay this week. And its stomach contents have painted a sad story of how she may have spent her last days. Yoghurt pots, a shoe sole and food […]
By Clare Leschin-Hoar14 December 2015 (NPR) – For anyone paying attention, it’s no secret there’s a lot of weird stuff going on in the oceans right now. We’ve got a monster El Nino looming in the Pacific. Ocean acidification is prompting hand wringing among oyster lovers. Migrating fish populations have caused tensions between countries over […]
The Final Paris Agreement By Adam Vaughan 12 December 2015 PARIS (The Guardian) – Governments have agreed to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels: something that would have seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. There is a scientific rationale for the number. John Schellnhuber, a scientist who advises Germany and the Vatican, says […]
