Increase of plant species on mountain tops is accelerating with global warming

By Peter F. Gammelby 4 April 2018 (Aarhus University) – It is not as lonely at the top as it used to be. At least not for plants which, due to global warming, are increasingly finding habitats on mountain tops that were formerly reserved for only the toughest and most hardy species. A large international […]

New Antarctic process contributing to sea-level rise and climate change revealed, that “may trigger a transition from a cold regime to a warm regime, characterised by high rates of melting from the base of ice shelves”

24 April 2018 (University of Tasmania) – A new Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)-led study has revealed a previously undocumented process where melting glacial ice sheets change the ocean in a way that further accelerates the rate of ice melt and sea level rise.Led by IMAS PhD student Alessandro Silvano and published in […]

WHO report: 90 per cent of world population breathes polluted air

2 May 2018 (UN News) – In a call for Member States to take action urgently, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, warned that air pollution “threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalized people bear the brunt of the burden.”According to WHO’s ambient air quality database, despite some improvements, pollution levels […]

UN forest accounting loophole allows CO2 underreporting by EU, UK, US – “There may not be a pathway to 1.5 degrees anymore — at all. Carbon capture and storage is a fantasy.”

By Justin Catanoso 2 May 2018 (Mongabay) – For the past ten years, Mary Booth, an ecologist with the Partnership for Policy Integrity in Pelham, Massachusetts, has immersed herself in the complex, nuanced, politically charged world of international carbon emissions accounting models as if the planet’s fate depends on it. In many ways, it does. […]

Glacier loss is accelerating because of global warming

By John Abraham 18 April 2018 (The Guardian) – With global warming, we can make predictions and then take measurements to test those predictions. One prediction (a pretty obvious one) is that a warmer world will have less snow and ice. In particular, areas that have year-round ice and snow will start to melt. Alpine […]

Alaska sea ice took a steep, unprecedented dive to record low in winter 2018 – “There’s never ever been anything remotely like this for sea ice in the Bering Sea”

By Andrea Thompson 2 May 2018 (Scientific American) – April should be prime walrus hunting season for the native villages that dot Alaska’s remote western coast. In years past the winter sea ice where the animals rest would still be abundant, providing prime targets for subsistence hunters. But this year sea-ice coverage as of late […]

Warmer winters increasing risk of avalanches in the Himalayas, studies find

By Neha Jain 4 May 2018 (Mongabay) – Winters in the Himalayas are getting warmer, which is increasing the risk of avalanches, two new studies suggest. The Himalayas, a massive 2,500-kilometre (1,553-mile) arc-shaped stretch of lofty mountains straddling Pakistan, China, India, Nepal, and Bhutan, are home to the largest concentration of glaciers outside of the […]

Press freedom continues global decline in 2018 – U.S. falls to 45th due to Trump hostility to reporters – “The unleashing of hatred toward journalists is one of the worst threats to democracies”

25 April 2018 (RSF) – The 2018 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), reflects growing animosity towards journalists. Hostility towards the media, openly encouraged by political leaders, and the efforts of authoritarian regimes to export their vision of journalism pose a threat to democracies. [Читать на русском / Read in Russian] […]

EPA chief Pruitt overrules staff, gives Wisconsin’s Walker, Foxconn big break on smog

By Michael Hawthorne 2 May 2018 (Chicago Tribune) – The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted most of southeast Wisconsin from the latest federal limits on lung-damaging smog pollution, delivering a political victory to Gov. Scott Walker as he makes a new Foxconn Technology Group factory the centerpiece of his re-election campaign.By dramatically reducing the size […]

Video: Global warming eroding women’s status in Zanzibar

5 May 2018 (CBS News) – Warming ocean temperature is causing a severe decline in carrageenan production from the coastal waters of Zanzibar. Carrageenan aquaculture is traditionally an occupation for women, and without this income and the independence that comes with it, the status of women may decline.Dr. Flower Ezekiel Msuya and her team at […]

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