Home/Posts Tagged ‘Climate change’
Posts Tagged ‘Climate change’
Climate Change, Nature, Science & Technology, Nov 25th, 2010,
In a global survey of temperature trends in major lakes, a first of it’s kind, NASA researchers have found that the Earth’s largest lakes have warmed up in the past 25 years in response to climate change. For the study, researchers at NASA measured and monitored the surface temperatures of 167 large lakes worldwide. Per decade, an average warming rate of 0,45 degrees Celsius (0,81 degrees Fahrenheit) was reported, with some exceptions where surface temperature warm-up reached as much as 1 degree Celsius (1,8 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade. The overall warming of lakes is not local trend but of global…
Tags: Climate change, global warming, lake surface temperature, NASA, warming of lakes
Climate Change, Green living, Nature, Politics, Nov 24th, 2010,
“REDD Alert: Protection Money”, an extensive report issued by Greenpeace last Tuesday, claims that the Indonesian government has plans to use the billion dollars the country will get from the U.S., Norway and the U.K. under the REDD program to cut down 37 million acres of rainforest. Greenpeace’s findings are based on leaked documents from the ministry of Agriculture, Energy and Forestry. The report states that Indonesia’s greenhouse gas reduction proposals may create perverse incentives to clear forests and peat lands, create opportunities for corruption and actually drive an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. According to the leaked documents Indonesian…
Tags: Climate change, deforestation, forests, Greenpeace, Indonesia, natural forests, palm oil industry, pulp & paper, REDD Alert: Protection Money
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Nov 17th, 2010,
I don’t know if you are familiar with the SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence)@home project, where computer owners can use their personal computers to help search for extraterrestrial life by analyzing narrow-bandwidth radio signals from space. The SETI project has been around since May of 1999 and the idea behind it is pretty unique: tap into the computing power of as many personal computers as you possibly can, considering otherwise a lifetime will not be long enough to process all the data you’re up against. Well from today on a new project with the same basic idea of shared and…
Tags: Climate change, climate models, Climate@home, ClimatePrediction, computing power, forecast climate change, global warming, natural disasters, SETI, SETI@home, weatherathome
Climate Change, Green living, Science & Technology, Nov 15th, 2010,
Recently Facebook launched their Green on Facebook page in an effort to green up their image after the big dirty coal data center debacle of earlier this year. According to their Facebook page, the Green on Facebook is run by Facebook and will highlight our efforts to be a green and sustainable global citizen. Together with 56.000 others, I became a fan op the page, and as many others I’m sure I’m pretty disappointed with the content of it. The wall is filled with links to various articles about different environmental topics, but very little information is available about Facebook’s…
Tags: carbon emissions, Climate change, CO2 emissions, coal, datacenter, Facebook, global warming, Green on Facebook, Greenpeace, renewable energy
Climate Change, Nature, Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, Nov 12th, 2010,
The Chinese are well known for their strange experiments and use of nature. Just think about China’s rainmaking escapades, the country’s unstoppable need for damn building and it’s bewilderment over artificial snowflakes. Well this winter, the Chinese have yet another quiet unusual plan. To help solve the water shortage in Peking, the country is putting everything into place to collect and melt snow into water. One hundred cubic meter of snow should be processed hourly this winter. Parts of the collected snow will be turned into water; some of it will be dumped in neighboring rivers. By doing this, China…
Tags: China, Climate change, global warming, melted snow, peking, water shortage, water shortage in Peking
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Nov 11th, 2010,
Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo was hit by heavy rainshowers today. As a result, an extensive part of the city and surroundings are flooded. According to city officials, this is the heaviest rainfall in over 18 years. Schools are closed, power supply is disturbed and even the parliament was evacuated. Meteorologists expect the heavy rain showers are not over yet.
Tags: Climate change, colombo, flooding, heavy rain, rainfall, Sri Lanka
Climate Change, Green living, Politics, Science & Technology, Nov 8th, 2010,
Biofuel production is an odd thing. At least that’s how I look at it. As a derivative of biomass, biofuel is created using plants, trees, grass and any other natural component that can ferment and produce bioethanol. But now there’s the first real problem. Although the idea sounds great – “let’s use natural waste to produce fuel” – the impact on the environment could be catastrophic, as where money and business is concerned it’s hard to imagine waste material alone will do. This is precisely what the IEEP concludes in their study. By studying the indirect land use change or…
Tags: 2020 targets, bioethanol, biofuel production, biofuels, carbon dioxide, Climate change, co2, European biofuel industry, European carbon reductions, IEEP, natural waste
Climate Change, Nov 6th, 2010,
“There is insufficient data to say what will happen to the Indus,” says David Grey, the World Bank’s senior water advisor in South Asia. “But we all have very nasty fears that the flows of the Indus couldbe severely, severely affected by glacier melt as a consequence of climate change,” and reduced byperhaps as much as 50 percent. “Now what does that mean to a population that lives in a desert[where], without the river, there would be no life? I don’t know the answer to that question,” he says.“But we need to be concerned about that. Deeply, deeply concerned.”
Tags: Climate change, climate change in Pakistan, flooding, Floods in Pakistan 2010, Global Climate Change, Pakistan
Climate Change, Green living, Pollution, Science & Technology, Nov 2nd, 2010,
As an opening statement from a current venue by The Geological Society in London, geologists have warned about the consequences of our current high-level greenhouse gas emissions. According to them, if we keep on pumping greenhouse gases into the air as we are doing now, the earth will need no less than 100.000 years to recover from global warming. By studying rock sediments, scientists have been able to assess the link between greenhouse gas increase and temperature change on our planet. According to professor Jim Zachos, a gigantic volcanic eruption that occurred about 55 million years ago released close to…
Tags: carbon emissions, Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gases, temperature rise
Climate Change, Green living, Politics, Oct 27th, 2010,
A report from the Climate Action Network (CAN) states that a number of European companies are supporting climate legislation blockers in the U.S. by funding the campaigns of republican candidates to the U.S. Senate. The CAN came to this conclusion by analyzing publicly available campaign finance records. The Climate Action Network reviewed financing streams from a number of candidates that are actively lobbying against climate change legislation. Their findings are that a number of big European industrial companies already spent a total of 171.000 EUR on candidates. Arcelor Mittal, GDF Suez, BP, BASF, Bayer and Lafarge are some of the…
Tags: climate action network, Climate change, climate change deniers, european companies, senate elections, U.S. elections, U.S. senate
Climate Change, Politics, Oct 22nd, 2010,
The politicization of science class in the American public education system is nothing new, the main issue of contention being the teaching of evolution or natural selection in biology classes. Recently, however, teaching climate change in state schools has come under fire from skeptics in much the same way that evolution in the science curriculum has been challenged by creationism – most lately the proponents of intelligent design. A New York Times piece explores how in certain American states, advocates of climate change skepticism are campaigning to include their side of the climate argument in the curriculum. South Dakota has…
Tags: American, Climate change, creationism, New York Times, Politics, religion, school, science, skeptic, skepticism
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, Oct 8th, 2010,
The international effort to halt the destruction of rainforests and biodiversity loss is considered to be far behind the fight to stop or mitigate man-made climate change. Since the later has been more or less a total failure so far, how can we hope for the former? Representatives at the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan will attempt to put a price tag on the preservation of natural resources such as forests, coral reefs and wetlands. What is hoped for is to achieve a deal for ‘equitable sharing’ of the benefits of such resources to prevent what is being…
Tags: biodiversity, Climate change, deforestation, forests, Nagoya, rainforest
Climate Change, Conservation, Nature, Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Oct 7th, 2010,
We are heading to the US Southwest today to find one of the most critically endangered species in the country: the Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog. This little critter is so endangered that Animal Planet actually lists it on their Top 5 Endangered Frogs list. This creature is mainly found in the Sierra Nevada area of California. They range approximately between 2 and 3 inches (5 and 7.5 cm) in size, have orange or yellow coloring on their underside, yellow or red coloring on their topside, and black or brown spots. They love sunny riverbanks, lake borders, and meadow streams; unfortunately,…
Tags: amphibian, chytridiomycosis, Climate change, Conservation, Creature Feature, critically endangered species, introduced fish, pesticides, population decline, Sierra Nevada, Southern Mountain Yellow-legged Frog, wildlife
Climate Change, Weird Stuff, ,
Books like Stephen Baxter’s Flood, Saci Lloyd’s Carbon Diaries 2015 and 2017, Ronald Wright’s A Scientific Romance, and Maggie Gee’s The Flood and Ice Age have depicted a future London either in the violent throws of climate change or after such a radical change has already happened. These books are members of a growing cannon of science or speculative fiction about an often grim future that is difficult for most to conceive of: a vastly altered landscape, a flooded, tropical or frozen London which presents challenges that either crush or ignite the humanity of its inhabitants. Though most of these…
Tags: Climate change, exhibit, futures, london
Climate Change, Politics, Oct 6th, 2010,
The UN climate talks currently underway in Tianjin, China are smaller, more subdued and well organized when compared to the major international event at Copenhagen last December. But in the end they are still about China vs. the United States. Tianjin is being seen as an opportunity to find some common ground before the UN summit in Cancún, Mexico later this year, but the chief US envoy is frustrated at the level and speed of progress taking place. Instead of actual progress he sees backtracking. From a report in the Guardian: What is frustrating in these negotiations is to see…
Tags: China, climate, Climate change, copenhagen, low expectations, talks, Tianjin, UN, US
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Oct 2nd, 2010,
Is an environmental catastrophe on its way? How would you fare in a world where ecological disaster tests the limits of your archery and tent-setting-up skills? Would you be the rugged survivalist, the cannibal or the brainy nerd in the Hawaiian shirt? Saci Lloyd and Graham Land have fun discussing climate change-induced end of the world scenarios, Gaia theory and the Dark Mountain Project. To download this podcast in mp3, AAC or Ogg Vorbis click here Join the Facebook group for El Pod of Cast Saci Lloyd’s Carbon Diaries website
Tags: Armageddon, Carbon Diaries, Climate change, Dark Mountain, disaster, environment, Gaia theory, Graham Land, hexayut, Saci Lloyd, The Road
Climate Change, Politics, Sep 21st, 2010,
Is environmental writer/Guardian columnist George Monbiot getting all doom and gloom Dark Mountain on us? Well, maybe not quite, but he’s taken a decisive step in that direction. In his recent piece for the Guardian, entitled ‘Climate change enlightenment was fun while it lasted. But now it’s dead’, Monbiot laments the undeniable failure of legislation, global cooperation and civil society to tackle the problem of climate change. One of the loudest voices for British environmentalism has given up on the political machine he has tried for years to influence. Because it isn’t working. Anywhere. In fact things are just getting…
Tags: Climate change, Dark Mountain, failure, global, legislation, Monbiot, warming
Climate Change, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 18th, 2010,
Ireland industrialized and urbanized both later and to a lesser extent than many other European countries. It is known for its beautiful green countryside and pastoral villages and is considered to have low pollution levels in terms of water and air quality. Yet Ireland lost most of its forestland long ago due to the widespread establishment of agriculture. This put stresses on the survival native species, but hedgerows, riverbanks and other ‘green corridors’ still enable vestiges of Ireland’s native ecosystems to survive. The scale of Ireland’s forests have grown in recent years to cover around 10% of the island, yet…
Tags: Climate change, Comhar, ecosystems, government, green infrastructure, Ireland, Irish, Maguire, report
Climate Change, Conservation, Green living, Health, Nature, Pollution, Recycling, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, ,
In case you haven’t heard yet, this weekend is Clean Up The World Weekend! What is Clean Up The World Weekend? Simply put, it’s a weekend set aside for people to help clean up our world. More specifically, it’s a weekend for people to get together and clean up all the trash in our world. You can clean up the trash on a city block, in a park, at the beach, in a forest, in a parking lot, or anywhere else you can think of. Once collected, or even while collecting, be sure to separate the recyclables from actual trash….
Tags: clean up the world, Clean Up The World Weekend, Climate change, education, event, Go Green, help out, Pollution, trash, tree planting, volunteer, waste
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Sep 16th, 2010,
Future fossil fuel infrastructure set to be built between now and 2060 will have the strongest effect on climate change, according to a report in the journal Science. The global demand for energy is quickly rising, while political agreements and regulations to curb the resultant rise in greenhouse gas emissions have so far failed. A new study from scientists in the US and Canada has calculated that most of the ‘key’ impacts of climate change could be avoided if no further CO2 power plants were built and that the real risks come from fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure which has yet…
Tags: China, Climate change, co2, coal, emissions, energy, fossil fuel, future, greenhouse gas, infrastucture, science
