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Archive for Environmental News

Experts Gather in Bonn to Address Threats to “Water in the Anthropocene”

Member of the Global Water System Project meet in Bonn to discuss "water in the Anthropocene"Concerned about the availability and sustainability of water resources now and in the future, experts from around the world have gathered in Bonn, Germany to “synthesize major global water research achievements in the last decade and help assemble the scientific foundations to articulate a common vision of Earth’s water future.”

A “capstone event” for the Global Water Systems Project (GWSP), “Water in the Anthropocene” is expected to result in the recommendation of “priorities for decision makers in the areas of earth system science and water resources governance and management.” Read More→

Enviro News Wrap: Climate Science Confirmation (again); Beleaguered Oceans; Tar Sands Skyline, and more…

The Latest Environmental News HeadlinesGlobalWarmingisReal contributor Anders Hellum-Alexander wraps-up and comments on the climate and environmental news headlines for the past week:

  • Global warming is real, and it was just confirmed again for about the millionth time. The only people that doubt human-caused climate change are people that benefit from climate change denial or people that believe misinformation campaigns by people who benefit from climate change denial. The argument of there being debate about climate change science is false and should die like the thousands of species that are dying off right now in one of the largest die offs in earth’s history.
  • The higher the price of fossil fuels the more incentive people have to switch to alternatives; like solar, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, biking instead of driving, etc. Higher prices hurt the average citizen but it increases the rate of adoption to renewable energy. What is really effective is consistent high prices, spikes scare people but does not change behavior. We have created an economy where we can get addicted to products that have artificially low prices, do terrible damage to society, and when we want to switch to an alternative the only option is for everyone to pay high prices for the old product while paying for the new product as well. The structure of our economy is making the transition to renewable energy difficult and slow. Read More→

EarthTalk: Climate Change and Hawaii’s Coral Reefs

Poisonous run-off, rising ocean levels, increasingly acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on Hawaii's reefs and the marine life they support. Biologists are working hard to stem the problem but must now deal with invasive algaes that are compromising the whole reef system.EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: What’s the prognosis for Hawaii’s coral reefs in the face of global warming, invasive algae and other environmental threats?  – Bill Weston, San Francisco, CA

Despite sweeping protections put in place near the end of George W. Bush’s presidency for large swaths of marine ecosystems around the Hawaiian Islands, things are not looking good for Hawaii’s coral reefs. Poisonous run-off, rising ocean levels, increasingly acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on the reefs and the marine life they support. Biologists are trying to remain optimistic that there is still time to turn things around, but new threats to Hawaii’s corals are only aggravating the situation.

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Enviro News Wrap Up: 400 PPM CO2 Threshold Reached; Winters and Global Warming; Innovative Solar Financing a Game Changer, and more…

The Latest Environmental News HeadlinesGlobalWarmingisReal contributor Anders Hellum-Alexander wraps-up and comments on the climate and environmental news headlines for the past week:

Rising Temperature, Sea Level On Track to Wipe Out Major World Cities Former Shell Exec Tells UN

Global community risks catastrophic sea level rise if current fossil fuel and c02 emissions stay on trackConsensus among the world’s leading climate scientists has established a 2°C rise in global mean temperature as the tipping point for runaway climate change, but even that could result in catastrophic rises in sea level of as much as 6-7 meters (23 feet), energy expert Ian Dunlop and policy planner and scholar Tapio Kanninen told audiences at packed meetings and panel discussions at UN headquarters in New York City organized by the Finnish Mission to the United Nations, the Club of Rome, the Temple of Understanding and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Sea level rises of 6-7 meters would wipe out coastal cities, including London, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo, and that’s even if we could somehow manage to limit global average temperature rise to 2°C this century, Dunlop and Kanninen told shocked audiences at the UN, according to a Club of Rome report. Read More→