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Archive for October 27th, 2014
Australia Blasted by Record Heat — Again
Posted by Climate Central: John Upton on October 27th, 2014
Climate Central: Strange early-season temperatures again dogged sweaty Australians over the weekend, with Saturday's continent-wide average maximum topping 97°F -- a record for October.
Spring heat waves that have been baking the continent in recent weeks are "consistent' with the modeled effects of global warming in Australia, said Tom Knutson, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate modeler.
But global warming alone couldn't explain the unseasonably hot weather. It's likely that climate...
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Drying Amazon Could Be Major Carbon Concern
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on October 27th, 2014
Climate Central: The lungs of the planet are drying out, threatening to cause Earth to cough up some of its carbon reserves.
The Amazon rainforest inhales massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping keep the globe's carbon budget in balance (at least until human emissions started throwing that balance off). But as a new study shows, since 2000 drier conditions are causing a decrease in lung capacity. And if the Amazon's breaths become more shallow, it's possible a feedback loop could set in,...
Population controls ‘not effective’
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on October 27th, 2014
BBC: Restricting population growth will not solve global issues of sustainability in the short term, new research says.
A worldwide one-child policy would mean the number of people in 2100 remained around current levels, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Even a catastrophic event that killed billions of people would have little effect on the overall impact, it said.
There may be 12 billion humans on Earth by 2100, latest projections suggest....
Humanity’s ‘inexorable’ population growth is so rapid even global catastrophe wouldn’t stop it
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2014
Independent: The global human population is “locked in” to an inexorable rise this century and will not be easily shifted, even by apocalyptic events such as a third world war or lethal pandemic, a study has found. There is no “quick fix” to the population time-bomb, because there are now so many people even unimaginable global disasters won't stop growth, scientists have concluded. Although measures designed to reduce human fertility in the parts of the world where the population growth is fastest will eventually...
Mature Forests Protect Waterways From Nitrogen Pollution, Researchers Find
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2014
Yale Environment 360: Forest top soils capture and stabilize nitrogen pollution very quickly but release it slowly, according to new research published in the journal Ecology. The findings indicate that mature forests may be providing an under-appreciated service by storing excess nitrogen, which can lead to algal blooms and oxygen-depleted dead zones if too much is released into lakes and waterways. Older forests store nitrogen more efficiently than young forests recovering from clear-cuts, the researchers found, because...
Love in the time of Ebola
Posted by Ecologist: Dr. Glen Barry on October 27th, 2014
Ecologist: The human family must come together now to stop Ebola in West Africa or risk a global pandemic that could potentially kill billions, writes Glen Barry. And that will mean solving, with equity and justice, the disease's root causes: rainforest loss, poverty, war and overpopulation.
In order to avoid global pandemic, the human family must show it loves each other and our shared Earth more than consuming stuff and political partisanship.
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa is doubling every 20...