Home/Articles in: Climate & Change
Articles in: Climate & Change
Climate & Change, Politics, Pollution, May 16th, 2012,
Ready for some doom and gloom, alarmist and generally pessimistic news that will either make you want to not care at all (the current favorite option) or join the Dark Mountain Project? Talking about the environment and pretending to be eco-friendly by wearing a ‘Kiss me, I’m Green’ button has apparently not saved the Earth from going to Hell in a proverbial hand basket. Ready for some shocking, but (honestly) to be expected, figures from the new ‘Living Planet’ report compiled by the WWF, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network? Let’s get on with the ecocide…
Tags: Living Planet, report, WWF
Climate & Change, green living, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, sustainable living, May 14th, 2012,
A lot of people have heard about the importance of switching out Thomas Edison’s old incandescent light bulbs for energy saving bulbs such as LED or CFL. The same goes for replacing your old fossil fuel based car with one that runs on electricity. Energy efficiency and energy conservation is becoming increasingly important and people are starting to realize that everyone can contribute. In this article we are taking a closer look at something that takes up a few hours of your time, but potentially have a significant impact on saving the environment – not to mention your energy bill!…
Tags: energy efficienty, green living, insulation techniques, leaking roof, roof insulation
Climate & Change, Conservation, Politics, May 13th, 2012,
Join Brazilian environmental and human rights organizations, along with the WWF and Greenpeace to stop Brazil’s new ‘forest code’. Sign this petition to urge Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to veto the proposed law that would open up new areas to deforestation and provide amnesty to landowners who have previously cleared forestland illegally. This new law could result in the destruction of an area of Amazon rainforest equivalent to the size of France and the UK put together. Patrick Cunningham of the Indigenous People’s Cultural Support Trust is quoted in the Guardian: The changes will overturn a law which even Brazil’s…
Tags: amazon, Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, Forest code, petition, veto
Climate & Change, Politics, Science & Technology, May 10th, 2012,
By Michael D. Lemonick It’s just two weeks since a paper in Nature flagged an ominous thinning of ice shelves along parts of the Antarctic coast lying due south of the Pacific Ocean. The ice appears to be melting from below, as changing ocean currents are bringing relatively warm water to bathe the shelves’ undersides — and as the ice shelves lose mass, they also lose their ability to slow land-based ice in its slide toward the sea. Now there’s something new to worry about. A pair of brand-new studies published today, one in Nature and one in its sister…
Tags: Antarctica, climate change, climate science, climatecentral.org, global warming, ice melting
Climate & Change, Politics, Pollution, May 8th, 2012,
The chairman of the UK’s environment agency, Lord Smith, has voiced public support for the controversial natural gas and petroleum technique known as hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ with the argument that it will provide a secure and domestic source of energy. Fracking was linked to minor earthquakes when shale gas extraction was tried in the area around Blackpool, England. There are also concerns about groundwater contamination, methane leaks and the industrialization of the countryside, as has been experienced in large parts of the US, including government protected, publicly owned lands. From The Ecologist: Lord Smith’s backing follows pressure on the…
Tags: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, lord smith, nuclear
Climate & Change, Sustainable living, Videos & Documentaries, May 6th, 2012,
A lot of money and resources go into making our homes warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. How can we minimize the amount of power we use for climate control? For example, 1/3 of all energy consumed in Germany is used to heat or cool homes. This can be quite an expense and is a significant source of climate change driving greenhouse gases. People have been insulating their homes for thousands of years with grass, mud and other natural materials. Now we use fiberglass, foam insulation, special glass in more developed areas, while houses in poorer, hotter…
Tags: climate, energy, home, house, insulation
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Weird & Wonderful, May 3rd, 2012,
By Michael D. Lemonick I’ve never told anyone this before, but when I was a kid, I always wanted a rubber chicken. Many of the comedic heroes of my childhood got to play with them — the Three Stooges, for example, and Soupy Sales (I’m dating myself and revealing my lowbrow side all at once here). It’s not like they were all that hard to find, even before the Internet. I also had a slightly more elevated set of interests, including an endless fascination with the space program. I was too young to be aware of Sputnik, but I watched…
Tags: NASA, NASA rubber chicken, NASA rubber chicken Camilla, space, space exploration
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Apr 30th, 2012,
I read the news today, oh boy. Wind farms are causing global warming? No, but maybe a bit of local warming. A new study of wind turbines in Texas shows that rotating blades force warm air downwards at night, causing ground temperatures to rise by up to 0.72C (1.3F). And so the headlines read that wind farms warm the night, or as Reuters states ‘Wind Farms Might Have Warming Effect’. But they also cool ground temperatures during the day according to previous research. Isn’t this piece of information equally significant? The Guardian doesn’t include it in their article, while Discovery…
Tags: temperatures, Texas, warming, wind farm, wind turbines
Climate & Change, Health, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 25th, 2012,
It’s coming some time and maybe… The Asian tiger mosquito originates in hot and muggy South East Asia. But international trade, tourism and (increasingly) climate change will enable the tropical disease-carrying insect to establish itself in northern Europe, including the UK. Reports last September from the US told of how the smaller, but more aggressive Asian tiger mosquito was causing problems in the states of California, Texas, Florida and Hawaii; and cities including Memphis, New Orleans and Washington DC. In Europe, the Asian tiger has already encroached upon parts of Italy, Spain, southern France, the Balkans and even The Netherlands….
Tags: Asian Tiger, dengue, Europe, mosquito
Climate & Change, climate change, Natural disasters, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 19th, 2012,
By Michael D. Lemonick For years, we who communicate about climate change have been wringing our hands over how to make people understand the problem at a gut level. Endangered polar bears? Too far removed. Island nations like the Maldives sinking beneath the waves? Too far away. Hot temperatures by 2100? Too far in the future. But like the first, outlying squalls from an oncoming hurricane, the first effects of climate change are already here, in the form of heat waves, droughts, intense rainstorms and more, and people are evidently noticing. Not just the extremes themselves: you couldn’t have missed…
Tags: climate change, climatecentral.org, extreme weather, global warming, natural disasters
Climate & Change, Conservation, Politics, ,
Brazil’s controversial Belo Monte Dam project is set to be the 3rd largest dam in the world and is expected to displace roughly 20,000 people and submerge some 4,000 sq km (1,550 sq mi). Located in the Amazon rainforest in the state of Pará, the dam is being built on the Xingu River, which many people depend on for their livelihoods. But it’s not just locals, indigenous groups or environmentalists who should be concerned. The Amazon is the “lungs of the Earth”, meaning that we all benefit from and/or depend on the oxygen the dense rainforest provides, not to mention…
Tags: amazon, Belo Monte, Brazil, dam
Climate & Change, Natural disasters, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 16th, 2012,
Dry weather in much of England is threatening to devastate farming and wildlife, and could extend past next Christmas. Parts of England have entered official drought status, with water rationing measures in place. Soils are so dried out that recent rains did little to help conditions. This may sound like strange weather in a country known for rain rather than droughts, especially in April, but the dangers are all too real. Helen Vale, national drought coordinator at the Environment Agency is quoted in the Guardian: The amount of water that we use at home and in our businesses has a…
Tags: drought, England, water, wildlife
Climate & Change, Natural disasters, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 13th, 2012,
It must be hail season, though I’ve never before heard that a hail season exists. On Tuesday I was caught in a sudden, though fairly light, hailstorm in central Scotland. Yesterday I read a post here on Greenfudge that mentioned a recent hailstorm in Texas that caused disruptions at Dallas Fort Worth Airport. And it’s not just the Scotland and Texas that have experienced hail this week. A poor doggy was left tied out during a hailstorm in Cheltenham, England. Furthermore, California crops suffered major damage due to a hailstorm in that state. From freshplaza.com: 150 acres of his 4,000…
Tags: China, hail, hailstorm, Scotland, Texas
Climate & Change, Natural disasters, Nature, Science & Technology, Apr 12th, 2012,
By Andrew Freedman Severe thunderstorm season is upon us, with the array of threats it brings, from tornadoes to flash flooding. On Tuesday, tornadoes grabbed most of the headlines, as several strong tornadoes struck the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area, tossing tracker trailer trucks into the air, and damaging dozens of homes. But the large hail the same supercell thunderstorms dropped caused major impacts as well, largely because they fell on top of one of the world’s busiest airports. A passenger aboard a flight preparing to depart DFW International Airport when the storm hit described the sounds of the hail hitting…
Tags: big hail, changes due to climate change, climate change, climatecentral.org, global warming, hail, hailstone climate change, supercell thunderstorms, tornadoes
Climate & Change, Apr 9th, 2012,
Will the youth of China and Brazil lead the way in the new environmental ‘Great Leap Forward’ while British and American young people languish in egomaniacal tweets and preposterous dreams of stardom, not giving two cares about the future of the planet? A recent survey by the Carbon Trust attempts to measure concern about CO2 and climate change in young populations around the world – and the results may surprise you. The scope of the survey focuses on the awareness and consumer values of young adults in 6 different countries on 5 continents – The US, UK, China, South Korea,…
Tags: Brazil, Carbon Trust, China, climate change, Korea, survey, UK, USA, young, youth
Climate & Change, Nature, Sustainable living, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 7th, 2012,
Species: Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) Status: Critically Endangered (CR) Interesting Fact: The Philippine eagle is the world’s largest species of eagle. With a wingspan of up to two metres and sharp talons, the Philippine eagle is a formidable predator. Swooping from branch to branch in the canopy of its forest habitat, it uses its excellent eyesight to spot its prey of flying lemurs, palm civets and monkeys. This habit of hunting monkeys has earned the Philippine eagle the alternative common name of ‘monkey-eating eagle’. Philippine eagles are also known to hunt in pairs with one individual acting as a decoy…
Tags: ARKive.org, endangered birds, endangered species of the week, Philippine eagle, Pithecophaga jefferyi, wildlife
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 6th, 2012,
In some coastal areas climate change means a rise in sea levels, leading to an increase in water salinity, which in turn means a high salt content in soil. Increasing salinity in fresh water and soil poses problems for agriculture and fish farming. This is a particularly tricky aspect of climate change adaptation, but coastal communities as well as scientists are finding ways to cope. Hardy varieties of rice, wheat and vegetables are one way, as is shifting from freshwater fish farming to raising saltwater species such as crabs. In Sri Lanka, rice farmers, together with the United Nations Development…
Tags: australia, Bangladesh, farming, fish, India, rice, salinity, salty soil, water, wheat
Climate & Change, climate change, Conservation, Nature, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, Apr 5th, 2012,
One of the most striking changes that has taken place in the Arctic since the start of satellite monitoring in 1979 is the rapid decline of the perennial sea ice cover. This ice is the sea ice that survives the summer melt season, and is typically the thickest part of the sea ice cover, sometimes spanning several years. Sea ice extent has declined as the globe has warmed, but the ice cover has thinned as well. Thinner sea ice melts more easily, and as multiyear sea ice is lost, Arctic sea ice has declined more rapidly. This NASA visualization shows…
Tags: arctic ice, climate change, climatecentral.org, melting arctic ice, melting ice caps, NASA
Climate & Change, Conservation, Science & Technology, Mar 29th, 2012,
Video Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio A nifty animation from NASA illustrating the paths of global ocean surface currents from June 2005 through December 2007. Surface currents circulate water of varying temperature around the globe and thus play a significant role in weather and climate patterns. Note the Gulf Stream along the western edge of the Atlantic Ocean. This powerful current transfers warm water away from the equator and up into the North Atlantic Ocean, in turn warming the climate along the eastern coast of North America and the western coast of Europe. It is believed that…
Tags: climatecentral.org, NASA, oceans, science
Climate & Change, green living, Science & Technology, sustainable living, Mar 28th, 2012,
Last month we featured the first innovation challenge from E.ON Innovation. This time around, the question to answer is “What new home energy products or services can you think of that enhance your health and happiness? E.ON Innovation is an online innovation community, focused on encouraging the UK public to come up with the next big energy idea. Together with the new Channel 4 show Home of the Future E.ON is launching a new crowd sourcing project called E.ON Innovation. As an avid believer in social challenges I have been following the E.ON Innovation project very closely, looking out for…
Tags: E.ON, E.ON Challenge, E.ON Innovation, energy saving, green living
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