NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission has produced unprecedented maps of the world’s mineral dust-source regions, significantly enhancing our understanding of these minerals’ roles in climate change.
In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon experienced a catastrophic “limnic” eruption, releasing a cloud of CO2 gas that tragically suffocated over 1,700 people and 3,000 livestock. This disaster prompted scientists and engineers to find ways to prevent similar events. Three years later, they started siphoning CO2 from the lake using initially a garden hose and …
Coastal river deltas, home to approximately half a billion people, are facing significant threats not solely attributable to climate change. These regions have been vital since the last ice age, offering flat, fertile lands ideal for agriculture, and have evolved into major hubs for global shipping trade, fostering the growth of megacities like Dhaka, Cairo, …
Continue reading “River deltas are threatened by more than climate change”
Johan Rockström, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, delivered a crucial message at the Cop28 UN climate summit in Dubai: addressing climate change requires not only a phase-out of fossil fuels but also an active commitment to preserving nature. His warning was stark: even if fossil fuel use is eliminated, the …
Continue reading “Fossil fuel phase out won’t save us without protecting nature”
A comprehensive study recently published in the journal Science reveals that Earth’s current carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, driven by human activity, match those last seen 14 to 16 million years ago, a significant shift from the previously estimated 3 to 5 million years.
Protecting and restoring forests stands as a highly efficient and economical strategy to mitigate carbon emissions, a crucial step in addressing global warming. Since the third UN climate change summit in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, several mechanisms have been trialed to fund deforestation reduction and forest restoration.
Dartmouth College researchers have adopted a novel approach to resolve the debate about whether a massive asteroid impact or volcanic activity led to the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. They removed human bias by using a computer model to analyze the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) extinction event.
The report, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Forest Service International Program, challenges the prevailing notion that logging invariably degrades tropical forests. It proposes a shift from exploitative “timber mining” to a more sustainable “managed forestry” model, emphasizing that poor logging practices are likely to persist in a …
Continue reading “Can we sustainably harvest trees from tropical forests?”
