News

The research suggests that scientists are not studying the impacts of urban growth in the right places.

From Environmental News Network

https://www.enn.com/articles/61248-cities-and-their-rising-impacts-on-biodiversity-a-global-overview

Source:
University of Texas at Austin

Summary:
As the world gathers in Madrid to discuss how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change, a newly released study makes the case that trapping emissions underground could go a long way toward solving the problem.

From Science Daily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191209182006.htm

• The sea near Ventanas, Chile, was generous in the 1980s. There were urchins, limpets, clams and fish. Tourists summered there and fishermen thrived.
• That all changed as the local industrial park grew. In 2000 the National Health Service discovered serious heavy-metal and fecal-bacteria contamination of local shellfish, and prohibited their sale, effectively shuttering the local seafood industry.
• Fishermen attempted to revive their aquaculture operations, despite a series of oil spills. But poisoning episodes in 2018 quashed that initiative.
• “Could they have seen us as a dumpsite? Like their backyard? … I don’t know how the […]
  

• Forest fires that swept across Indonesia this year emitted nearly twice the amount of greenhouse gases as the fires that razed parts of the Brazilian Amazon, new research shows.
• The Indonesian fires pumped at least 708 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in the atmosphere, largely as a result of burning of carbon-rich peatlands.
• The fires were the most intense since 2015 and threaten to set back Indonesia’s commitments to reduce its carbon emissions and contribute to global efforts to slow climate change.

From MongaBay:

Plants will demand more water in the future making less water available for people.

With climate change, plants of the future will consume more water than in the present day, leading to less water available for people living in North America and Eurasia, according to a new study. The research suggests a drier future despite anticipated precipitation increases for places like the United States and Europe, populous regions already facing water stresses.

Source: Dartmouth College

From Science Daily

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191104112828.htm

Plastic is building up in the areas of the ocean where fish feed and grow, according to research.

From the BBC

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50375482

When you check the weather forecast in the morning, the results you see are more than likely determined by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, a comprehensive model that simulates the evolution of many aspects of the physical world around us.

From Environmental News Network

https://www.enn.com/articles/60761-deep-neural-networks-speed-up-weather-and-climate-models

Source: Washington University in St. Louis

Faced with extreme weather events and unprecedented environmental change, animals and plants are scrambling to catch up — with mixed results. A new model helps to predict the types of changes that could drive a given species to extinction.

From Science Daily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190930131549.htm

In a future with higher temperatures and other climate changes, Alaska’s boreal forests could look significantly different than they do now.

From Environmental News Network: https://www.enn.com/articles/60290-warmer-drier-climate-could-transform-alaskan-forests