HUMANITY IS STRUGGLING to contain two compounding crises: skyrocketing global temperatures and plummeting biodiversity. But people tend to tackle each problem on its own, for instance deploying green energies and carbon-eating machines, while roping off ecosystems to preserve them. But in a new report, 50 scientists from around the world argue that treating each crisis in isolation means missing out on two-fer solutions that resolve both. Humanity can’t solve one without also solving the other.
Tag Archives: environment
Block of Ice Larger Than New York City Breaks Off In Antarctica
A massive iceberg broke away from Antarctica on Friday, CNN reports.
A 490 square mile block of ice— bigger than New York City—broke free from the Brunt Ice Shelf near a British scientific outpost.
Wildfire smoke travels far but never really disappears
For several awful days in early September, it seemed like the entire West was burning. Unusually high winds coming off the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains fanned the flames of dozens of new wildfires that touched off from Washington to Mexico. In California alone, nearly a million acres burned in the period between September 7 and September 10.
Tree rings contain secrets from the forest
Neil Pederson’s introduction to tree rings came from a “sweet and kindly” college instructor, who nevertheless was “one of the most boring professors I’d ever experienced,” Pederson said. “I swore tree rings off then and there.” But they kept coming back to haunt him. Continue reading Tree rings contain secrets from the forest
There’s plastic in your poop, but we have no idea how dangerous that is
Humans love plastic. We put it on and in everything from food wraps to face wash, and in doing so we also send it off to distant oceans and the dusty corners of our homes in the form of microplastics. Continue reading There’s plastic in your poop, but we have no idea how dangerous that is
NASA almost never came to be. Its creation is a lesson in political power.
President Trump’s proposed 2019 budget calls for deep cuts to research, and while it is unlikely to gain traction in Congress, it is a troubling statement of the administration’s priorities. As Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted, “The fastest way to Make a America Weak Again: Cut science funds to our agencies that support it.” Continue reading NASA almost never came to be. Its creation is a lesson in political power.
What happens if Earth gets 2°C warmer?
If the world gets warmer by two degrees Celsius, we’re screwed. To prevent that, the United Nations signed the Paris Agreement, an international treaty designed to keep the average global temperature “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels”…A.K.A. what the Earth was like before factories started spewing greenhouse gases into the air.
