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Experts dispute NASA study showing Antarctic ice gain
Posted by Al Jazeera: Renee Lewis on November 3rd, 2015
Al Jazeera: A number of experts are disputing the conclusion of a recent NASA study that says more ice is accumulating in Antarctica than is being lost due to climate change. They argue that the study contradicts more than a decade of other scientific measurements -- including previous NASA studies.
The NASA report issued last week, “Mass Gains of Antarctic Ice Sheet Greater than Losses,” argued that snow accumulation in East Antarctica has added enough ice to the continent to outweigh the losses from the...
El Niño, climate change likely signposted in deadly Southwest storms
Posted by Al Jazeera: Renee Lewis on May 27th, 2015
Al Jazeera: The storms that slammed into Texas and Oklahoma over Memorial Day weekend may signal the beginning of an El Niño year, but their unusual ferocity could be due to climate change, scientists said Wednesday. Torrential rains and tornadoes killed at least 17 people in the Southwest, with the death toll expected to rise as authorities in Texas continue to search for about a dozen missing people. In Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, record flooding damaged an estimated 4,000 structures, including...
Capping warming at 2 C not enough to avert disaster, experts warn
Posted by Al Jazeera: Renee Lewis on November 9th, 2014
Al Jazeera: Scientists, environmentalists and world leaders alike have generally agreed that capping Earth’s temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius would prevent the worst effects of climate change -- a cut-off touted again in the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
But many experts in the field, including former IPCC leaders, have said that even if global warming is kept to that limit, such a rise could nevertheless devastate the environment and endanger humanity -- the...
Earth head toward another mass extinction
Posted by Al Jazeera: Renee Lewis on May 31st, 2014
Al Jazeera: Species are now disappearing at a rate of up to 1,000 times faster than they did before humans started walking the earth, a new study says.
“The Biodiversity of Species and their Rates of Extinction, Distribution, and Protection” was published Thursday in the journal Science, and it warned that the world is on the brink of its sixth great extinction.
Mass extinctions have wiped out the majority of life on Earth at least five times. About 66 million years ago, a mass extinction killed off the...
Oil spills in flood-hit Colorado raise concerns over industry regulation
Posted by Al Jazeera: Renee Lewis on September 20th, 2013
Al Jazeera: At least two large oil spills have been confirmed in the wake of Colorado's historic floods -- with almost 20,000 gallons of oil being spilled into Colorado rivers -- raising fears of contamination and questions about the regulation of the state's growing oil and gas industry.
On Wednesday, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. said that a 5,000 gallon tank had spilled oil into the South Platte River near the town of Millikin in flood-ravaged Weld County -- the most heavily drilled county in the state, with...