Permafrost thaw threatens Russia oil and gas complex: study

MOSCOW (AFP) — Thawing permafrost caused by global warming is costing Russian energy firms billions of dollars annually in damage control and shrinking Russia’s territory, Greenpeace warned in a new study Friday. According to the report by the environmental watchdog, up to 55 billion roubles (1.9 billion dollars) a year is spent on repairs to […]

Fish ‘exhibit a fatal attraction to predators’ in acidified ocean

Fish reared in water acidified by CO2 may become “fatally attracted” to the smell of their predators, say scientists. A team studying the effects of acidification – caused by dissolved CO2 – on ocean reefs found that it leaves fish unable to “smell danger”. Young clownfish that were reared in the acidified water became attracted […]

Graph of the Day: Evolution of Anthropogenic CO2 Sources and Sinks, 1765-2005

This graph shows the evolution of the various sources and sinks of anthropogenic CO2 between ad 1765 and ad 2005. Our results indicate that the terrestrial biosphere was a source of Cant until the 1940s, roughly in line with previous model-based estimates3, 18, after which it turned into a sink of anthropogenic CO2. Taken over […]

Destruction of Indonesia peatlands wreaks as much damage as all the vehicles in the U.S.

TARUNA JAYA, Indonesia – Across a patch of pineapples shrouded in smoke, Idris Hadrianyani battled a menace that has left his family sleepless and sick — and has wrought as much damage on the planet as has exhaust from all the cars and trucks in the United States. Against the advancing flames, he waved a […]

Rising CO2 will cause catastrophic sea level rise finds Antarctic study

Sea levels could rise by up to six metres if the world fails to get pollution under control according to the latest study in the Antarctic.   By Louise Gray, Environment CorrespondentPublished: 1:56PM GMT 18 Nov 2009 The British Antarctic Survey found that during past periods of high carbon dioxide, temperatures in Antarctica were up […]

Grist: We have met the deniers, and they are us

Via reader Gail: By Adam Sacks James Inhofe.Marc Morano.Richard Lindzen.Bjørn Lomborg.George W. Bush. Names of shame, ignominy, criminals against humanity, against planet Earth itself.  Agents of the lethal delays in our response to escalating, accelerating, catastrophic global warming. Yet, as deniers of climate change, they’re amateurs compared to us.  Us activists, environmentalists, scientists, and certainly […]

Threatened Maldives urges joint action at climate talks

By Maryam Omidi MALE (Reuters) – The Maldives, threatened by rising sea levels because of global warming, on Monday pleaded with developed nations to reduce carbon emissions and said developing nations could change the outcome at climate talks in Copenhagen. The appeal by the Indian ocean archipelago came at a climate change summit grouping Bangladesh, […]

As oceans fall ill, Washington bureaucrats squabble

By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers • Published November 07, 2009 WASHINGTON — Off the coast of Washington state, mysterious algae mixed with sea foam have killed more than 8,000 seabirds, puzzling scientists. A thousand miles off California, researchers have discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling vortex roughly twice the size of Texas […]

Study finds vital peatlands neglected

By Gerard Wynn BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) – Draining and burning of the world’s peat bogs accounts for about 5.5 percent of global carbon emissions but are currently excluded from governments’ climate targets and U.N. talks, a study found on Wednesday. Peat stores around twice as much carbon as all the world’s trees, but compared with […]

Graph of the Day: Aragonite Saturation and Ocean pH Change

Changes in surface ocean pH relative to pre-industrial values for different atmospheric CO2 stabilization levels, 380 ppm and 650 ppm plotted over existing shallow-water coral reef locations (shown as magenta dots). Results are obtained by adding model-predicted perturbations in geochemical fields to modern observations, except for the Arctic Ocean where results are model simulations only […]

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