Most Powerful Image Yet Showing Huge Arctic Sea Ice Volume Loss
The volume of the Arctic sea ice falling even faster than the extent. Last year, it was 55% less than the 1979-2000 average. This year it is on course to be even lower.
As Global Temperature Rises, So Do Food Prices
As concerns mount over extreme weather hitting global food systems this year, governments are no closer to forging a pact to fight climate change. The effects of extreme weather on crops are only beginning to be understood.
For decades scientists studied the effect of global warming on crops by simply raising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels in greenhouses. They did not take into account the effects of floods and droughts, or reduced yields that result from higher temperatures.
James Hansen: What Global Warming Looks Like
Global warming on decadal time scales is continuing without letup, leading to the conclusion that there has been no reduction in the global warming trend of 15-0.20°C/decade that began in the late 1970s.
Entire Ice Mass of Greenland Will Melt at Two Degrees Celsius Temperature Increase
The entire ice mass of Greenland will disappear from the world map if temperatures rise by as little as 2C, with severe consequences for the rest of the world, a panel of scientists told Congress today.
Dramatic Depletion of World Food Production Linked to Wildfires
World climate events these past days have been so extreme and have caused so much destruction and loss of life, you might think you’re sitting through a bad disaster movie. But as tragic as the terrible flooding in Pakistan, China and Eastern Europe has been, the heat and wildfires in Russia will have a very serious long-term effect, that of drastically increasing atmospheric CO2 and Methane concentrations and thereby increasing the risk of drought and wildfires in many parts of the world.
Another long-term effect will be that of severely depleting world grain supply, already at a low level. Gwynne Dyer explains the implications of this in his disturbing article for Straight.com, “Gwynne Dyer: Russian response to wildfires gives an early glimpse of climate change impact.”
Russia Burning: The View From Above and at Ground Level
Note from Dorothy: As of today – Sunday, August 8 – there are 554 fires burning in Russia, in 190,000 hectares. On Friday, the air temperature in Moscow reached 37.3 C, beating the previous 1920 record by nearly 2 C. According to BBC World News, carbon monoxide was at six times the danger level. There [...]
Bill McKibben: We’re Hot as Hell and We’re Not Going to Take It Any More
By Bill McKibben Cross-posted from CommonDreams.org: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/04-1 Published on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 by TomDispatch.com Three Steps to Establish a Politics of Global Warming Try to fit these facts together: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the planet has just come through the warmest decade, the warmest 12 months, the warmest six months, [...]
‘Merchants of Doubt’ Misuse Science to Mislead the Public
A dark ideology is driving those who deny climate change People who claim that climate science is a conspiracy or the work of charlatans are talking rubbish by Robin McKie The Observer, August 1, 2010 Cross-posted from BC-SEA News Life can be hard in Moscow. The Russian capital is sweltering in temperatures that reached a [...]
Dark Commentary by Gwynne Dyer on Failure of US to Act on Climate Change Legislation
On the most optimistic timetable, there might be US climate legislation in 2013, and a global climate deal in 2014, and we really start reducing emissions by 2015. By then, we would need to be cutting emissions by 5 or 6 percent a year, instead of growing them at 3 percent a year, if we still want to come in under +2 degrees C.
