Microbes implicated in end-Permian mass extinction

  By Ashley Yeager  31 March 2014 (Science News) – About 252 million years ago an estimated 96 percent of all species were wiped from Earth, and now scientists have a new suspect in the killing — methane-belching microbes. The archaea Methanosarcina got faster at making methane by acquiring a gene from another microbe and […]

U.S. now in the terminal stage of fossil-fuel addiction

By Michael T. Klare  1 April 2014  (The Nation) – Of all the preposterous, irresponsible headlines that have appeared on the front page of The New York Times in recent years, few have exceeded the inanity of this one from early March: “US Hopes Boom in Natural Gas Can Curb Putin.” The article by normally […]

No-build zones could lead to massive displacement of Typhoon Haiyan refugees

WASHINGTON, DC, 29 March 2014 (Inquirer.net) – Tens of thousands of Filipinos affected by Typhoon Haiyan could lose their homes and livelihoods, unless a controversial government policy is changed immediately, according to a recent report by international refugee assistance group. In its latest report, Philippines: Typhoon Survivors Face Obstacles to Recovery, Refugees International (RI) urges […]

Business leaders and experts react to the IPCC climate change report – ‘The report reinforces what we already know from looking all around us – that climate change is having an impact on people’s lives today, and that the impacts to come will be broad and substantial’

By Jenny Purt, Laura Paddison, and Jennifer Kho    1 April 2014 (theguardian.com) – The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, meant to represent the global consensus on the state of climate-change science, came out Monday. Read the Guardian’s extensive coverage of the report, including: • Climate change report: ‘The worst is yet […]

Meager snowpack bad news for drought-plagued California – ‘We’re already seeing farmland fallowed and cities scrambling for water supplies’

By Doyle Rice2 April 2014 (USA TODAY) – Drought-weary California got more bad news Tuesday. Though late-season storms slightly boosted the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, it’s still far below normal as the spring melt fast approaches. “This is dismal news for farms and cities that normally depend on the snowpack – often called California’s […]

Climate change could make humans extinct, warns health expert – ‘We can’t possibly evolve to match this rate of warming’

31 March 2014 By Deborah Snow and Peter Hannam (Sydney Morning Herald) – The Earth is warming so rapidly that unless humans can arrest the trend, we risk becoming ”extinct” as a species, a leading Australian health academic has warned. Helen Berry, associate dean in the faculty of health at the University of Canberra, said […]

New IPCC report: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability – Summary for policymakers and FAQ

30 March 2014 (IPCC) – The Final Draft Report, dated 28 October 2013, of the Working Group II contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability was accepted but not approved in detail by the 10th Session of Working Group II and the 38th Session of the IPCC on […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of landslide and barrier lake near Oso, Washington

By Adam Voiland23 March 2014 (NASA) – On 22 March 2014, a rainfall-triggered landslide near Oso, Washington, sent muddy debris spilling across the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. The debris swamped numerous homes, resulting in the deaths of at least 24 people, according to news reports. As of March 25, dozens of people were […]

Graph of the Day: Precipitation anomalies over South America during the active monsoon season, September 2012 – May 2013

Geneva, 24 March 2014 (WMO) – Temperatures in South America were dominated by hot conditions in most parts of the continent, except for some limited areas in southern Brazil and the north-central and western parts of South America, which had near to colder than average temperatures. A warm October–December period – including the hottest December […]

Climate change here and now: Interview with climate scientist Michael Mann – ‘Many regions of the globe will literally be unlivable’

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is meeting in Japan to release its latest report, on the impact of climate change on society and the planet. Penn State professor Michael Mann and host Steve Curwood discuss how the report anticipates that increased conflict and declining supplies of food and water lie ahead. Transcript CURWOOD: From […]

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