Hunting accounts for massive declines in tropical animal populations

13 April 2017 (Radboud University) – Hunting is a major threat to wildlife particularly in tropical regions, but a systematic large-scale estimate of hunting-induced declines of animal numbers was lacking so far. A study published in Science on April 14 fills this gap. An international team of ecologists and environmental scientists found that bird populations […]

Atmospheric CO2 levels accelerate upward, smashing records

By Barry Saxifrage 10 April 2017 (National Observer) – The primary driver of global warming, disruptive climate changes and ocean acidification is the ever-increasing amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Despite decades of global efforts towards climate policies, clean energy and efficiency, CO2 levels continue to rise and are actually accelerating upward. For those […]

Two-thirds of Great Barrier Reef hit by back-to-back mass coral bleaching – “I showed the results of aerial surveys of bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef to my students, and then we wept”

10 April 2017 (ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies) – For the second time in just 12 months, scientists have recorded severe coral bleaching across huge tracts of the Great Barrier Reef after completing aerial surveys along its entire length. In 2016, bleaching was most severe in the northern third of the Reef, […]

Scientists highlight Antarctic ice upheaval in response to prehistoric climate change – “The Antarctic ice cap is not some enduring monolithic block but a much more slippery ephemeral beast”

28 March 2017 (University of Southampton) – A team of scientists led by the University of Southampton has found that the Antarctic ice cap underwent dramatic cycles of expansion and melt-back millions of years ago when carbon dioxide levels were similar to those experienced today. The research, led by palaeoclimatologist Dr Diederik Liebrand as part […]

New study finds that carbon pollution influences giant airstreams, causing weather extremes

27 March 2017 (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) – The increase of devastating weather extremes in summer is likely linked to human-made climate change, mounting evidence shows. Giant airstreams are circling the Earth, waving up and down between the Arctic and the tropics. These planetary waves transport heat and moisture. When these planetary waves […]

Carbon dioxide levels could reach their highest point in 50 million years by the end of the century

By Chelsea Harvey 5 April 2017 WASHINGTON (The Washington Post) – Continuing to burn fossil fuels at the current rate could bring atmospheric carbon dioxide to its highest concentration in 50 million years, jumping from about 400 parts per million now to more than 900 parts per million by the end of this century, a […]

Trump preparing order to expand offshore oil drilling

By Jennifer A Dlouhy6 April 2017 (Bloomberg) – President Donald Trump is preparing to issue an executive order with the goal of giving oil companies more opportunities to drill offshore, reversing Obama-era policies that restricted the activity. The offshore drilling directive is set to be issued soon, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told an industry conference […]

Disabled or just desperate? Rural Americans turn to disability as jobs dry up

By Terrence McCoy30 March 2017 (The Washington Post) – The lobby at the pain-management clinic had become crowded with patients, so relatives had gone outside to their trucks to wait, and here, too, sat Desmond Spencer, smoking a 9 a.m. cigarette and watching the door. He tried stretching out his right leg, knowing these waits […]

Deforestation increased 79 percent in Amazon rainforest protected areas from 2012 to 2015

By E. Araújo, P. Barreto, S. Baima, and M. Gomes [Translation by Google.]26 March 2017 (Imazon) – Conservation Units (CUs) cover 22% of the Amazon forest and are an effective strategy to conserve animals, plants and environmental services, contain deforestation and maintain the planet’s climate balance. However, deforestation rates in PAs have been increasing – […]

Forest fragmentation may be releasing much more carbon than we think

By Morgan Erickson-Davis31 March 2017 (Mongabay) – The earth’s forests have been broken into around 50 million fragments, the edges of which add up to a length that would make it a third of the way to the sun and which increase annual tropical deforestation carbon emissions by 31 percent. This, according to a new […]

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