Category: Permafrost

The World in a Wheelchair

An interesting, scary &, I believe, accurate article by Eric Holthaus on where we are at concerning global warming was just published by Quartz. Below, the opening paragraphs & the graph: So it’s come to this. Last year, a researcher presented a paper on climate change at the American Geophysical Union’s meeting entitled ”Is Earth F**ked?” which advocated “environmental direct action, resistance taken from outside the dominant culture, as in protests, blockades and sabotage … Read more The World in a Wheelchair

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Quantifying Climate Impacts

Joint press release by the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)  02/07/2012 Quantifying climate impacts: new comprehensive model comparison launched Climate change has impacts on forests, fields, rivers – and thereby on humans that breathe, eat and drink. To assess these impacts more accurately, a comprehensive comparison of computer-based simulations from all over the world will start this week. For … Read more Quantifying Climate Impacts

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Gulf Oil isn't All that's Leaking…

Here are three reports, just in case we are forgetting other potential (& growing) catastrophic possibilities in our environment while focusing on BP’s crimes against the planet in the Gulf: 1) Methane release ‘looks stronger’ By Michael Fitzpatrick Science reporter, BBC News Scientists have uncovered what appears to be a further dramatic increase in the leakage of methane gas that is seeping from the Arctic seabed. Methane is about … Read more Gulf Oil isn't All that's Leaking…

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Undersea Release of Methane

The New York Times today reports on a study that says that “Undersea Release of Methane Is Under Way.” Below, the opening paras of Cornelia Dean‘s article. You can read the whole piece here. Climate scientists have long warned that global warming could unlock vast stores of the greenhouse gas methane that are frozen into the Arctic permafrost, setting off potentially significant increases in global warming. Now researchers at … Read more Undersea Release of Methane

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How Stable is the Contemporary Environment?

Via the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: Tipping Elements in the Earth System: How Stable is the Contemporary Environment? 12/08/2009 – A Special Feature of the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” presents the latest scientific insights on so-called tipping elements in the planetary environment. These elements have been identified as the most vulnerable large-scale components of the Earth System that may be profoundly altered by human … Read more How Stable is the Contemporary Environment?

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Anthropocene: the Shortest Geological Epoch?

Interesting speculations in this week’s New Scientist cocnerning what Earth will look like after we are through with it (& it with us, of course). Below, the opening paragraphs of Bob Holmes’ piece. You can read the full article here. Post-human Earth: How the planet will recover from us WHEN Nobel prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen coined the word Anthropocene around 10 years ago, he gave birth to a … Read more Anthropocene: the Shortest Geological Epoch?

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