Archive for January, 2016

Ethiopia seeks donor support to meet drought needs

Reuters: Ethiopia urged international donors on Sunday to offer aid promptly for relief operations to support 10.2 million people critically short of food, and said it was committed to allocating as much of its own funds as necessary. Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonen was speaking beside U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during a tour of an area where one of the worst droughts in decades has left children malnourished, killed livestock and damaged livelihoods. The relief operation by the government,...

Human impacts on climate caused record warm years

Environmental News Network: Recent record warm years are with extremely high likelihood caused by human-made climate change. Without greenhouse-gas emissions from burning coal and oil, the odds are vanishingly small that 13 out of the 15 warmest years ever measured would all have happened in the current, still young century. These odds are between 1 in 5000 and 1 in 170.000, a new study by an international team of scientists now shows. Including the data for 2015, which came in after the study was completed, makes the odds...

Scientists find some clues to climate change in plants

Bend Bulletin: The National Parks Service is partnering with citizen scientists to track when plant species flower, leaf out or set seed. The way plants grow gives clues to changes in the environment and the impact of climate change. “Plants, as we know, have the most sensitive biological responses to climate change,” said Nancy Fernandez, a climate change intern with Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. “They are sensitive to temperature change and precipitation.” Fernandez discussed plant responses to...

Like losing the thylacine: Fire burns Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area

Whyalla News: Ancient alpine ecosystems unique to Tasmania's remote world heritage wilderness, including trees that lived for more than a millennium, have been killed by fires that scientists say are linked to climate change. The first images of the damage on the state's central plateau have triggered calls for governments to do more to protect internationally recognised landscapes as part of their fire response. Taken on Saturday near Lake Mackenzie at an altitude of about 1200 metres, the photographs show...

Madagascar scientists unsure best guard frogs from fungus

Mongabay: Madagascar is rich in amphibian species. It boasts 500 species of frog, almost all endemic, with more likely undiscovered. That diversity could be in immediate jeopardy due to the chytrid fungus — then again, maybe not. Two new, but possibly conflicting, studies, one saying that the fungus is in country and spreading, the other saying it has not yet taken a firm hold, are leaving policymakers with more questions than answers about how to use limited funds to most effectively combat the problem....

How Climate Change Could Spread Diseases Like Zika

Time: For thousands of years, humans have taken every precaution to avoid mosquitoes and the diseases they carry, from Malaria to Zika. But while techniques for fighting the insects have improved dramatically over time, scientists say long-term climate change could soon make protecting humans from mosquitoes much more difficult. The link between climate change and mosquito-borne illness centers around how rising temperatures may expand the area in which mosquitoes can thrive. Most such illnesses can...

DiCaprio: ‘It’s a sin to destroy our planet’

USA Today: Leonardo DiCaprio's meeting with Pope Francis this week might have been even bigger news than winning the coveted best actor award for The Revenant at the SAG Awards. Backstage at the SAG Awards Saturday night, DiCaprio talked about his private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss climate change, calling it an "honor." "(Pope Francis) has been inspiring and revolutionary to come out and be outspoken on the issue of climate change and endorse the scientific community," said DiCaprio....

Cloud Blanket Warms Up Melting Icecap

Climate News Network: Researchers have identified another piece in the climate machinery that is accelerating the melting of the Greenland ice cap. The icy hills are responding to the influence of a higher command system: the clouds. An international research team led by scientists from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium report in Nature Communications journal that cloud cover above the northern hemisphere’s largest single volume of permanent ice is raising temperatures by between 2 degrees and 3 degrees...

Oilsands’ share of GHG emissions to double by 2030

Ottawa Citizen: Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says “more needs to be done” to curb greenhouse gas emissions, as new data show Canada is drifting further away from its climate targets while the oilsands’ share of national greenhouse emissions is projected to double by 2030. Briefing materials prepared for McKenna, and obtained by the Citizen, show that oilsands emissions are expected to account for more than half the increase in total Canadian GHGs between 2010 and 2030. Greenhouse gas emissions from...

South Florida mayors have reason goad candidates on climate

Palm Beach Post: Climate change in South Florida isn’t theoretical. It isn’t some problem for some undefinable future that our kids will have to deal with. It’s a pain in the neck right now. Ask the people of Miami Beach, where they’re elevating streets to cope with the unstoppable rise of sea water. The people of Hallandale Beach, where most drinking wells are closed because the water is too salty. Yet the two candidates for president from South Florida cannot bring themselves to acknowledge what’s happening....