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Academics warn Canada against further tar sands production

Letter urges natural resources minister Joe Oliver to consider consequences of his support for controversial policy

“We are not convinced that your advocacy in support of new pipelines and expanded fossil fuel production takes climate change into account in a meaningful way,” the academics went on.

(Source: newsreelz)

jtotheizzoe: What would 25 feet of sea-level change actually look like? According to worst-case climate models (meaning “what would happen if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at the rate we do today”), our grandchildren and great-grandchildren could experience a world with remarkably higher sea levels. Up to 25 feet higher.  Using data from a New York Times interactive feature, Nickolay Lamm made a collection of photos showing us just what that might look do to tourist destinations. io9 has even more, including Miami Beach and the Washington Monument. The saddest part of these future-shock photos is that tourist destinations will be the last of our worries. This means entire cities could be at risk, from New Orleans to Los Angeles to London. And outside of industrialized nations, with their levees and engineers, more than 40% of the world’s population lives in coastal regions at risk of Earth-changing floods. 
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jtotheizzoe:

What would 25 feet of sea-level change actually look like?

According to worst-case climate models (meaning “what would happen if we continue to emit greenhouse gases at the rate we do today”), our grandchildren and great-grandchildren could experience a world with remarkably higher sea levels. Up to 25 feet higher. 

Using data from a New York Times interactive feature, Nickolay Lamm made a collection of photos showing us just what that might look do to tourist destinations. io9 has even more, including Miami Beach and the Washington Monument.

The saddest part of these future-shock photos is that tourist destinations will be the last of our worries. This means entire cities could be at risk, from New Orleans to Los Angeles to London. And outside of industrialized nations, with their levees and engineers, more than 40% of the world’s population lives in coastal regions at risk of Earth-changing floods. 

Science - Critical Theory: EPA Finds Keystone Environmental Impact Statement “Insufficient” - Living on Earth

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Ann Carlson (photo: University of California at Los Angeles)image

The EPA has written to the State Department, criticizing its draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Keystone XL oil pipeline. UCLA law professor Ann Carlson joins host Steve Curwood to discuss the criticisms in detail and explain how this might impact the Keystone decision.

Transcript

CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston, this is Living on Earth. I’m Steve Curwood. Some say the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to bring tar sands crude from Canada would unleash climate disaster - others claim it would provide jobs and energy security. The US State Department has released a draft Environmental Impact Statement that favors the project. But now the US Environmental Protection Agency is calling the State Department analysis “insufficient,” saying it downplays the pipeline’s likely hazards…

California coastal redwoods to be planted in 7 nations to fight climate change A team led by a nurseryman from northern Michigan and his sons has raced against time for two decades, snipping branches from some of the world’s biggest and most durable trees with plans to produce clones that could restore ancient forests and help fight climate change… Although measuring just 18-inches tall, the laboratory-produced trees are genetic duplicates of three giants that were cut down in northern California more than a century ago… “This is a first step toward mass production,” said David Milarch, co-founder of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a nonprofit group spearheading the project. “We need to reforest the planet; it’s imperative. To do that, it just makes sense to use the largest, oldest, most iconic trees that ever lived.” —excerpts from “Earth Day: California Coastal Redwoods To Be Planted in 7 Nations To Fight Climate Change” in SCPR.org. Photo credit: Richard Masoner/Flickr (Apr. 22, 2013)
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California coastal redwoods to be planted in 7 nations to fight climate change

A team led by a nurseryman from northern Michigan and his sons has raced against time for two decades, snipping branches from some of the world’s biggest and most durable trees with plans to produce clones that could restore ancient forests and help fight climate change…

Although measuring just 18-inches tall, the laboratory-produced trees are genetic duplicates of three giants that were cut down in northern California more than a century ago…

“This is a first step toward mass production,” said David Milarch, co-founder of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a nonprofit group spearheading the project. “We need to reforest the planet; it’s imperative. To do that, it just makes sense to use the largest, oldest, most iconic trees that ever lived.”

—excerpts from “Earth Day: California Coastal Redwoods To Be Planted in 7 Nations To Fight Climate Change” in SCPR.org. Photo credit: Richard Masoner/Flickr (Apr. 22, 2013)

Rapid Arctic sea ice loss is probably the most visible indicator of global climate change; it leads to shifts in ecosystems and economic access, and potentially impacts weather throughout the northern hemisphere.
James Overland, of the NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory • Speaking on summertime Arctic ice levels, and how they portend the future of climate change. According to Overland, the time when the Arctic will see a nearly ice-free summer is creeping faster than expected — likely in advance of 2050, and perhaps sometime over the next two decades. His full report, authored with NOAA colleague Muyin Wang, was published online for Geophysical Research Letters, and is available to read here. source (via shortformblog)

New scientific study rates our dire place in climate history

shortformblog:

  • 4000year high for global temperatures, according to a new research study headed by climatologist Shaun Marcott of Oregon State University. The study utilized the most in-depth reconstruction of climate information from over the last 11,300 years, virtually the entire Holocene era, and was released in the academic magazine Science earlier this week. source

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