By Alex Morales Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — Diverting overseas aid from economic development to fight global warming may threaten the lives of at least 4.5 million children in the poorest nations, the anti-poverty group Oxfam said. Pledges made by the 27-nation European Union and various donors to help the developing world adapt to higher sea […]
By Jeremy Hance Kenya was once considered one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s success stories: the country possessed a relatively stable government, a good economy, a thriving tourist industry due to a beautiful landscape and abundant wildlife. But violent protests following a disputed election in 2007 hurt the country’s reputation, and then—even worse—drought and famine struck the […]
Complex responses to Arctic climate change that may have broader community and ecosystem consequences. A developing trophic mismatch between the timing of caribou calving (blue), which has not changed, and the timing of plant growth (red), which is advancing with warming in Greenland [updated from E. Post, M. C. Forchhammer, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B […]
By Shanta Barley You can almost hear Sarah Palin cocking her rifle. As climate change causes sea ice to shrink, the number of “problem” polar bears appears to be increasing. “Hungry bears don’t just lie down – they go looking for an alternate food source,” says zoologist Ian Stirling at the University of Alberta in […]
By Mark Kinver, Science and environment reporter, BBC News Milder winters in the Arctic region have led to fewer Pacific brants, a species of sea goose, migrating southwards, say researchers. A study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) found that as many as 30% of the birds were overwintering in Alaska rather than migrating to […]
By Ben Webster, Environment Editor The World Bank is spending billions of pounds subsidising new coal-fired power stations in developing countries despite claiming that burning fossil fuels exposes the poor to catastrophic climate change. The bank, which has a goal of reducing poverty and is funded by Britain and other developed countries, calls on all […]
By Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public RadioSeptember 15, 2009 St. Paul, Minn. — A new article by University of Minnesota ecologists says Minnesota’s forests could shrink more rapidly than expected, as droughts, fires, and growth of native and exotic species accelerate the changes caused by global warming. The authors argue that prairie lands could expand by […]
In the isolated border lands between Kenya and Somalia, families have always clung to a precarious existence. Now a decade of droughts has tested their endurance By Peter Beaumont in Elwak Hawa Hassan comes leading three donkeys, accompanied by two female relatives and a handful of the family’s smallest children. They have walked out of […]
Just about everywhere you look ice is melting — see USGS report details “recent dramatic shrinkage” in U.S. glaciers, matching global decline. Here is a very impressive presentation from a 2009 TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference: “Photographer James Balog shares new image sequences from the Extreme Ice Survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers […]
Direct and rapid responses to recent Arctic climate change have included earlier flowering of plants in Greenland [replicate slopes for each genus are based on annual estimates from 1996 to 2008 in Zackenberg; adapted from T. T. Høye, E. Post, H. Meltofte, N. M. Schmidt, M. C. Forchhammer, Curr. Biol. 17, R449 (2007)]. Eric Post, […]
