The Elephant
The climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
The ElephantThe climate change and environmental emergency: a comprehensive resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens
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Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades | Science
2024-08-23 (or before) in Science | AAASMeeting the Paris Agreement’s climate targets necessitates better knowledge about which climate policies work in reducing emissions at the necessary scale. We provide a global, systematic ex post evaluation to identify policy combinations that have led ...
Tagged under: The Paris Agreement
Anthropogenic amplification of precipitation variability over the past century | Science
2024-07-26 in Science | AAASAs the climate warms, the consequent moistening of the atmosphere increases extreme precipitation. Precipitation variability should also increase, producing larger wet-dry swings, but that is yet to be confirmed observationally. Here we show that ...
‘It’s really scary’: How rat poisons are wreaking havoc on raptors and other wildlife
2024-07-25 (or before) in Science | AAASSupertoxic rodenticides can accumulate in birds, mammals, and insects, even killing some. Scientists want to understand the damage—and limit it
Tagged under: Insects | Birds | Agriculture | Pollution
Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries | Science Advances
2024-06-25 (or before) in Science | AAASTransgression of planetary boundaries by human activities have now brought humanity well beyond a “safe operating space.”
Tagged under: Doughnut Economics | Collapse
Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets | Science
2024-05-04 (or before) in Science | AAASConcerted efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from food production are necessary to limit increases in global temperature.
Last Glacial Maximum pattern effects reduce climate sensitivity estimates | Science Advances
2024-04-19 (or before) in Science | AAASIce sheet–driven temperature patterns amplified glacial cooling, implying less future warming than previously estimated.
Energy and the U.S. Economy: A Biophysical Perspective | Science
2024-04-01 (or before) in Science | AAASA series of hypotheses is presented about the relation of national energy use to national economic activity (both time series and cross-sectional) which offer a different perspective from standard economics for the assessment of historical and ...
Tagged under: Economics
Climate change is an important predictor of extinction risk on macroevolutionary timescales | Science
2024-03-08 in Science | AAASBoth species traits and climate change explain why certain marine invertebrates went extinct across the Phanerozoic.
Tagged under: Extinction
Dehydrate the stratosphere to curb global warming? Scientists float risky new strategy
2024-03-01 (or before) in Science | AAASSeeding clouds above the western Pacific would keep water vapor, a greenhouse gas, from reaching the atmosphere’s rooftop
Tagged under: Geoengineering
Legal limits to the use of CO2 removal | Science
2024-02-29 (or before) in Science | AAASClimate targets that depend heavily on CO2 removal may contravene international law
Observed Arctic sea-ice loss directly follows anthropogenic CO2 emission | Science
2024-02-27 (or before) in Science | AAASArctic sea-ice loss during the summer scales directly with cumulative carbon dioxide emissions.
Tagged under: Arctic
Conflation of reforestation with restoration is widespread | Science
2024-02-16 in Science | AAASAcross Africa, vast areas of nonforest are threatened by inappropriate restoration in the form of tree planting
Tagged under: Africa
Sustainability limits needed for CO2 removal | Science
2024-02-02 in Science | AAASThe true climate mitigation challenge is revealed by considering sustainability impacts
Tagged under: Climate Change Mitigation | Sustainability
Greater role for Atlantic inflows on sea-ice loss in the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean | Science
2024-01-31 (or before) in Science | AAASThe eastern Arctic Ocean is becoming more like the Atlantic as climate changes.
Genomic evidence for West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse during the Last Interglacial | Science
2023-12-22 in Science | AAASGenetic analyses of a type of octopus found around Antarctica show that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed during the last interglacial period.
Tagged under: Collapse | Antarctic
Avoiding ocean mass extinction from climate warming | Science
2023-12-19 (or before) in Science | AAASClimate change threatens marine biodiversity with a mass extinction unless greenhouse gases are rapidly stabilized.
Tagged under: Extinction | Oceans
After uproar, society backpedals from actions against scientists who staged climate protest at meeting
2023-12-11 (or before) in Science | AAASAmerican Geophysical Union agrees to restore researchers’ abstracts but stands by their expulsion from conference
Tagged under: Activism
State dependence of CO2 forcing and its implications for climate sensitivity | Science
2023-12-01 (or before) in Science | AAASCarbon dioxide becomes a more potent greenhouse gas as its atmospheric concentration rises
Subglacial discharge accelerates future retreat of Denman and Scott Glaciers, East Antarctica | Science Advances
2023-10-27 in Science | AAASSubglacial discharge enhances ice shelf melt, accelerating retreat of Denman and Scott Glaciers into the deepest trench on Earth.
Tagged under: Antarctic
The collapse of eastern Bering Sea snow crab | Science
2023-10-20 in Science | AAASA marine heatwave precipitated the collapse of the eastern Bering Sea snow crab population.
Tagged under: Collapse | Sealife
Observational and model evidence together support wide-spread exposure to noncompensable heat under continued global warming | Science Advances
2023-10-13 (or before) in Science | AAASAnalysis of observations and climate models suggest a rapid increase in noncompensable heat under moderate global warming.
Tagged under: Global Warming
Action needed to make carbon offsets from forest conservation work for climate change mitigation | Science
2023-10-06 (or before) in Science | AAASMost REDD projects deliver little to no decrease in deforestation and forest degradation.
Tagged under: Deforestation | Trees | Climate Change Mitigation
Intentional creation of carbon-rich dark earth soils in the Amazon | Science Advances
2023-09-22 (or before) in Science | AAASIndigenous Amazonians have deliberately improved soils for agriculture while sequestering and storing carbon over millennia.
Tagged under: Amazon Rainforest
U.S. cancels or curtails half of its Antarctic research projects
2023-09-15 (or before) in Science | AAASPandemic, renovation project, and rising costs create logistics nightmare for NSF-funded scientists
Tagged under: Antarctic
Mandatory disclosure would reveal corporate carbon damages | Science
2023-08-28 (or before) in Science | AAASAccurate reporting is critical for markets and climate policies
When will the next ocean heat wave strike? Scientists develop early warning systems
2023-08-28 (or before) in Science | AAASSea temperature forecasts could inform fisheries management and conservation
Global water use efficiency saturation due to increased vapor pressure deficit | Science
2023-08-15 (or before) in Science | AAASIncreases in global ecosystem water use efficiency have stalled since 2001 due to a rising vapor pressure deficit.
Contributions of Stratospheric Water Vapor to Decadal Changes in the Rate of Global Warming | Science
2023-08-09 (or before) in Science | AAASDecreases in stratospheric water vapor after the year 2000 slowed the rate of increase in global surface temperature.
‘We’re changing the clouds.’ An unintended test of geoengineering is fueling record ocean warmth
2023-08-05 (or before) in Science | AAASPollution cuts have diminished “ship track” clouds, adding to global warming
Tagged under: Oceans | Geoengineering
Declining oxygen in the global ocean and coastal waters | Science
2023-05-14 (or before) in Science | AAASAs plastic waste pollutes the oceans and fish stocks decline, unseen below the surface another problem grows: deoxygenation. Breitburg et al. review the evidence for the downward trajectory of oxygen levels in ...
How close are we to the temperature tipping point of the terrestrial biosphere? | Science Advances
2023-04-19 (or before) in Science | AAASFuture anticipated warming could reduce the terrestrial carbon sink by ~50% by mid-century.
Tagged under: Tipping Points
Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction | Science Advances
2023-04-19 (or before) in Science | AAASHumans are causing a massive animal extinction without precedent in 65 million years.
Tagged under: Extinction
Climate scientists open up their black boxes to scrutiny | Science
2023-04-15 (or before) in Science | AAASModelers becoming less hush-hush about tuning, the “secret sauce” that controls fine-scale processes.
A light-driven burst of hydroxyl radicals dominates oxidation chemistry in newly activated cloud droplets | Science Advances
2023-04-09 (or before) in Science | AAASFreshly formed cloud droplets produce a burst of highly reactive radicals, which increases their importance in the climate system.
Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections
2023-04-07 (or before) in Science | AAASExxonMobil’s own climate models showed that fossil fuel use would cause climate warming.
Tagged under: Exxon
The emergence of heat and humidity too severe for human tolerance
2023-01-25 (or before) in Science | AAASHumid heat extremes are rapidly increasing and may have already briefly exceeded humans’ physiological survivability limit.
Tagged under: Extreme Weather
Dying in the Sun: Direct evidence for elevated UV-B radiation at the end-Permian mass extinction
2023-01-10 (or before) in Science | AAASUV-B-absorbing compounds in fossil pollen suggest that UV-B radiation was a cause of the terrestrial end-Permian extinction.
Tagged under: Extinction
What will it take to stabilize the Colorado River?
2022-12-23 (or before) in Science | AAASA continuation of the current 23-year-long drought will require difficult decisions to prevent further decline
Tagged under: Colorado River | Drought | Rivers
Investments' role in ecosystem degradation
2022-12-07 (or before) in Science | AAASIn their Review “Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change” (13 December 2019, p. eaax3100), Díaz et al. discuss the results of the first integrated global-scale assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The authors identify extraction of resources to provide food, feed, and industrial feedstocks as the main direct driver of the observed changes in the ecosystems on which humans depend. Socioeconomic and institutional factors represent the indirect drivers. Although Díaz et al. mention that tax havens channel funds to support illegal fis...
Tagged under: Fish | Capitalism
Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change
2022-12-07 (or before) in Science | AAASFor decades, scientists have been raising calls for societal changes that will reduce our impacts on nature. Though much conservation has occurred, our natural environment continues to decline under the weight of our consumption. Humanity ...
Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet
2022-11-06 (or before) in Science | AAASDevelopments in the planetary boundaries concept provide a framework to support global sustainability.
Tagged under: Sustainability
Inefficient and unlit natural gas flares both emit large quantities of methane
2022-11-01 (or before) in Science | AAASNatural gas flaring destroys much less methane than thought.
Tagged under: Methane
Large contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought
2022-09-17 (or before) in Science | AAASGlobal warming is causing megadrought in southwestern North America.
Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points
2022-09-09 (or before) in Science | AAASGlobal warming greater than 1.5°C could trigger multiple climate tipping points.
Tagged under: Tipping Points
The oceanic sink for anthropogenic CO2 from 1994 to 2007
2022-07-18 (or before) in Science | AAASOcean uptake of atmospheric CO2 continued apace between 1994 and 2007.
Tagged under: Oceans
Natural gas could warm the planet as much as coal in the short term | Science | AAAS
2022-02-05 (or before) in Science | AAASTagged under: Coal
AAAS
2022-01-13 (or before) in Science | AAASIce core evidence for atmospheric oxygen decline since the Mid-Pleistocene transition
2021-12-21 (or before) in Science | AAASThe 1.5-million-year-old Antarctic ice indicates a balanced atmospheric oxygen budget before the Mid-Pleistocene Transition.
Tagged under: Antarctic
Ice shelf holding back keystone Antarctic glacier within years of failure | Science | AAAS
2021-12-18 (or before) in Science | AAASTagged under: Antarctic
To draw down carbon and cool off the planet, ocean fertilization gets another look | Science | AAAS
2021-12-17 (or before) in Science | AAASTagged under: Oceans
AAAS
2021-12-16 (or before) in Science | AAASUV Dosage Levels in Summer: Increased Risk of Ozone Loss from Convectively Injected Water Vapor
2021-11-19 (or before) in Science | AAASConvective injection of water vapor into the stratosphere increases the rate of ozone destruction there.
Intergenerational inequities in exposure to climate extremes | Science
2021-10-08 in Science | AAASYoung generations are severely threatened by climate change
Tagged under: Climate Change | Climate Justice | Women and Children | Children
A biodiversity target based on species extinctions
2021-09-25 (or before) in Science | AAASA single target comparable to the 2°C climate target may help galvanize biodiversity policy
Tagged under: Extinction
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