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Archive for October 31st, 2014
Amazon rainforest losing ability to regulate climate, scientist warns
Posted by Guardian: Jonathan Watts , on October 31st, 2014
Guardian: The Amazon rainforest has degraded to the point where it is losing its ability to benignly regulate weather systems, according to a stark new warning from one of Brazil’s leading scientists.
In a new report, Antonio Nobre, researcher in the government’s space institute, Earth System Science Centre, says the logging and burning of the world’s greatest forest might be connected to worsening droughts – such as the one currently plaguing São Paulo – and is likely to lead eventually to more extreme...
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Danger: irreversible climate-change forces at work
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2014
Telegraph: Campaigners against global warming and their bitterest opponents are united by one word this weekend: irreversible.
It appears 48 times in the draft of the most important report so far on climate change, being finalised today in Copenhagen, signifying that unless the world takes speedy action to curb emissions of greenhouse gases their dire effect will last for thousands of years, at least.
Reversal also motivates a growing number of sceptics calling for repeal of Britain's Climate Change Act...
EPA: Climate change can’t be stopped, prepare for wildfires, hurricanes, rising seas
Posted by Blaze: None Given on October 31st, 2014
Blaze: The Environmental Protection Agency released a grim report Friday that said it must start planning for the worst possible effects of climate change, and predicted a future world filled with rising sea levels, raging wildfires and more severe storms.
All of these factors will combine to create droughts, expose humans to dangerous chemicals and create other conditions that will put the human race at risk.
The EPA says climate change can`t be stopped, and is preparing for the worst.
"These...
UN report: Climate change has permanently ruined farmland the size of France
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2014
Independent: There may be those who feel the apocalyptic plot of the new Hollywood film Interstellar seems a bit far-fetched, with humans forced to look for an alternative planet because this world can no longer feed them.
But it has been given credence by a new United Nations report that has found that the destruction of the environment has left an area of farmland the size of France useless for growing crops.
Batman director Christopher Nolan’s latest film may ultimately prove implausible – Matthew McConaughey...
A County Resents Oil Drilling, Despite the Money It Brings In
Posted by New York Times: Aman Batheja on October 31st, 2014
New York Times: Dennis Seidenberger has farmed cotton for 49 years in this close-knit community 40 miles southeast of Midland. Farming is a way of life that he passed on to his son, and one that he hopes will stay in the family for generations. But his outlook has changed over the past three years as a surge in oil drilling has transformed Glasscock County, where he lives. “They’ve totally ruined our way of life here,” Mr. Seidenberger said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it.” His sentiments sum up how many...
Mystery of Earth’s Water Origin Solved
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2014
National Geographic: The water that makes Earth a majestic blue marble was here from the time of our planet's birth, according to a new study of ancient meteorites, scientists reported Thursday.
Where do the oceans come from? The study headed by Adam Sarafian of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, found that our seas may have arrived much earlier on our planet than previously thought.
The study pushes back the clock on the origin of Earth's water by hundreds of millions...