Gorgeous Glimpses of Calamity
“Welcome to the Anthropocene.” That is the message of a stunning collection of satellite images recently compiled by the New York Times.
-
-
How Extreme Australian Rains Made Global Sea Levels Drop
Global sea level has been rising as a result of global warming, but in 2010 and 2011, sea level actually fell by about a quarter of an inch. Scientists now say they know why: It has to do with extreme weather in Australia. The sea level drop coincided with some of the worst flooding in…
-
West Antarctica Warmed Quickly: 20,000 Years Ago
The modern meltdown of the Antarctic Ice Sheet mirrors the frozen continent’s big thaw after the last ice age ended 20,000 years ago, a new study finds. New ice core records from West Antarctica show the huge ice sheet started heating up about 20,000 to 22,000 years ago, 2,000 to 4,000 years earlier than previously…
-
101 Top Web Resources on Climate Change
EnvironmentalScienceDegree.com is an enormously helpful platform for anything and everything environmental. Their mission is to help environmentally conscious professionals and those seeking an education in the field to move forward. Recently, they have compiled a list of 101 Web Resources on Climate Change. As an incredibly complex and controversial topic, it is difficult to find…
-
Hot Climate Scientists in Cool Places
Ecology is the new theology and women in climate science rock! “Climate Wake-Up” was the title of Connie’s and my four-church speaking tour in Kentucky in early May. The star of our illustrated talks turned out to be the northern jet stream — and how the 2012 record melt of Arctic sea ice has already…
-
We Fit Nature to Us: Evolution’s 2-Way Street
It is in our nature to fit nature to us. We are best at it, but other species do it. This obvious but overlooked factor contradicts the dominant one-way-street gene-centric view of adaptation. A better framework for evolution is needed. Its shape isn’t clear, but it must incorporate: extracorporeal gene effects, “gene-culture coevolution,” “niche construction,”…
-
That Elastic Term
Forty years after C.S. Holling gave academic status to the word “resilience,” the concept has found a home in several different disciplines. From ecology, where Holling first defined resilience in 1973 as the measure of a system’s ability to maintain its operational integrity, the term is now cropping up frequently in economics, psychiatry, robotics, medicine,…
-
Nature’s Limits
The gorgeous red tomatoes, piled high in the hot West African sunshine, suggested a huge success. Just two years after the region’s economically vital crop was decimated by a fly-borne virus, university experts found a gene that conferred resistance and bred it into the tomato seeds. The science was so efficient that the tomatoes quickly…
-
White House warned on imminent Arctic ice death spiral
Senior US government officials are to be briefed at the White House this week on the danger of an ice-free Arctic in the summer within two years. The meeting is bringing together Nasa’s acting chief scientist, Gale Allen, the director of the US National Science Foundation, Cora Marett, as well as representatives from the US…
-
Megadam Project Galvanizes Native Opposition in Malaysia
Most villages along the Baram River in Malaysia cannot count on round-the-clock electricity. Diesel generators hum at night near longhouses in the northwestern corner of the island of Borneo. Mobile and Internet coverage are almost nonexistent. A plan to dam the Baram River would generate power far in excess of current demand in the rainforest…
