The oceans are acidifying at the fastest rate in 300 million years. How worried should we be?

By Brad Plumer31 August 2013 (Washington Post) – The world’s oceans are turning acidic at what’s likely the fastest pace in 300 million years. Scientists tend to think this is a troubling development. But just how worried should we be, exactly? It’s a question marine experts have been racing to get a handle on in […]

Experimental climate fixes stir hopes, fears, lawyers – ‘In my opinion this project does not qualify as legitimate scientific research’

By Alister Doyle; Editing by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith30 August 2013 (Reuters) – Last year the Haida, an indigenous group in Canada, set out to increase their salmon stocks and save the planet. Helped by American businessman Russ George, a group of villagers dumped 100 metric tons (110.23 tons) of iron dust from a […]

UN set to predict drowning of coastal cities by 2100 – ‘Changes are projected to occur in all regions of the globe’

By Richard Ingham 25 August 2013  (AFP) – A leaden cloak of responsibility lies on the shoulders of UN scientists as they put the final touches to the first volume of a massive report that will give the world the most detailed picture yet of climate change. Due to be unveiled in Stockholm on September […]

Rising ocean acidity will exacerbate global warming

By Eliot Barford25 August 2013 (Nature) – The slow and inexorable increase in the oceans’ acidity as they soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could itself have an effect on climate and amplify global warming, according to a new study. Acidification would lead certain marine organisms to emit less of the sulphur compounds that […]

The day the Earth ran out: The causes and consequences of Earth Overshoot Day

By Carter Roberts 20 August 2013 (Foreign Affairs) – Many readers will be familiar with the worrisome, white-knuckle wait that comes when you drain your checking account long before payday, the anxiety that builds until the coffers are replenished. That is what all of humanity has signed on for, effective today. Earth Overshoot Day marks […]

Carbon stored in Arctic permafrost is being mobilised in Eurasia river basins

By Peter Rüegg 19 August 2013 (PhysOrg) – Using indicator molecules, a team of researchers headed by ETH Zurich demonstrates that carbon stored in the Arctic permafrost is being mobilised in Eurasian river basins. Arctic permafrost soils store vast amounts of carbon in the form of dead but not decomposed plant debris. Around half of […]

Carbon cycle gets more extreme as climate changes

By Geoffrey Mohan8 August 2013 (Los Angeles Times) – Forests in Earth’s northern latitudes have been thickened by migrating plant species and younger growth, driving a stronger gyration in the amount of carbon that cycles between land and the atmosphere each year, a new study suggests. The net rise in seasonal exchange of carbon between […]

Greenhouse 100 Polluters Index: Top U.S. companies responsible for greenhouse emissions – U.S. government is number 4 biggest polluter

June 2013 (PERI) – PERI’s Greenhouse 100 index identifies the top companies responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. The Greenhouse 100 relies on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which reports information from facilities in electric power and other industries that directly emit large quantities of greenhouse gases. In addition to the total […]

New records for sea ice loss, greenhouse gas in 2012 – ‘Surface temperatures in the Arctic are increasing at a rate about two times faster than the rest of the world’

By Kerry Sheridan6 August 2013 WASHINGTON (AFP) – The world lost record amounts of Arctic sea ice in 2012 and spewed out all-time high levels of greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels, international climate scientists said Tuesday. Last year was among the top 10 on record for global land and surface temperature since modern data […]

Four former heads of the EPA: A Republican case for climate action

By WILLIAM D. RUCKELSHAUS, LEE M. THOMAS, WILLIAM K. REILLY and CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN1 August 2013 (The New York Times) – Each of us took turns over the past 43 years running the Environmental Protection Agency. We served Republican presidents, but we have a message that transcends political affiliation: the United States must move now […]

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