Tag: Global Warming

Climate change could turn oceans from friend to foe, UN report warns

  by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Global warming and pollution caused by humanity’s carbon-heavy footprint are ravaging Earth’s oceans and icy regions in ways that could unleash misery on a global scale, a landmark UN report to be unveiled next week will warn. Diplomats and scientists from 195 nations gather in Monaco from Friday to validate a summary for leaders of observed and projected impacts ranging from vanishing glaciers and […]

Alaska’s thaw threatens prehistoric sites once frozen in time

  by Jocelyne Zablit Agence France Presse QUINHAGAK, United States (AFP) — The first artifact — a wooden mask — was discovered in 2007 by a child who stumbled upon it while playing on the beach near his home in Quinhagak, a village in western Alaska that sits by the Bering Sea. Over the following months, hundreds of similar objects — baskets, finely carved harpoon shafts, lip plugs, wooden dolls, ivory tattoo needles — emerged […]

Canada experiencing warming at twice global level: report

  MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Canada is experiencing warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world, with the effects most pronounced in the country’s north, according to a new government report cited by local media Monday. Average temperatures have risen by 1.7 degrees Celsius (3.1 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1948, or about double the global average of 0.8 degrees Celsius, and “will warm further in the future, driven by human influence,” according to […]

Global warming imperils clouds that deter hothouse Earth

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Marine clouds that protect us from hothouse Earth conditions by reflecting sunlight back into space could break up and vanish if CO2 in the atmosphere triples, researchers warned Monday. “Our results show that there are dangerous climate change thresholds of which we were unaware,” Tapio Schneider, a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California and lead author of a study detailing the findings, told […]

LOOK: The effects of global warming in the Arctic

Warming Arctic driving extreme weather Infographics on how global warming in the Arctic is weakening the jet stream and polar vortex, leading to severe winter storms at lower latitudes. Arctic warming at twice global average Variation in temperature, in the Arctic and worldwide, compared to the average temperature for the period 1981-2010

Earth needs climate ‘reality check’, space pioneer warns

KATOWICE, Poland (AFP) — The world needs a “reality check” on the threat posed by climate change, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison said Tuesday at a UN summit to chart mankind’s path away from runaway global warming. Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, brought a little galactic perspective to the COP24 talks in Poland, calling on delegates from nearly 200 countries to tackle “the most difficult problem we’ve ever faced.” “When people say save the […]

The Terminator insists US will help battle climate change

by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse KATOWISE, Poland (AFP) — Governments must protect citizens from the killer effects of climate change, movie tough guy-turned-statesman Arnold Schwarzenegger told AFP, insisting the United States was committed to a greener future despite Donald Trump reneging on the Paris agreement. In an interview on the sidelines of a UN climate summit in Poland this week, the Terminator actor and three-time Mr. Universe winner said he was on an “environmental crusade” […]

Greenhouse gas levels in atmosphere hit new high: UN

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main driver of climate change, have hit a new record high, the UN said Thursday, warning that the time to act was running out. “Without rapid cuts in CO2 and other greenhouse gases, climate change will have increasingly destructive and irreversible impacts on life on Earth,” the head of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas said in a statement. “The window of […]

Two thirds of African cities face ‘extreme climate risk’

by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Rapid population growth and poor infrastructure have put two out of three cities in Africa at “extreme risk” of the threats posed by climate change, according to a new analysis released Wednesday. With UN figures showing 86 of the world’s 100 fastest-growing cities are in Africa, experts warned nearly half of the continent’s GDP was exposed to the perils posed by our warming planet. The findings […]

Modest warming risks ‘irreversible’ ice sheet loss, study warns

by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Even modest temperature rises agreed under an international plan to limit climate disaster could see the ice caps melt enough this century for their loss to be “irreversible”, experts warned Monday. The 2015 Paris Agreement limits nations to temperature rises “well below” two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and to less than 1.5C if at all possible. That ballpark of getting 1.5-2C hotter […]

The importance of ice shelves

Videographic looking at the importance of ice shelves. A study shows that Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will continue to shrink this century, even if warming is limited to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. https://youtu.be/TOhPgqM0tt4

‘Bad news’: CO2 emissions to rise in 2018, says IEA chief

by Catherine HOURS / Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Energy sector carbon emissions will rise in 2018 after hitting record levels the year before, dimming prospects for meeting Paris climate treaty goals, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Wednesday. The energy sector accounts for 80 percent of global CO2 emissions, with most of the rest caused by deforestation and agriculture, so its performance is key to efforts to rein […]