This article explores the hypothesis that key human adaptations evolved in response to environmental instability. This idea was developed during research conducted by the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program. Natural selection was not always a matter of ‘survival of the fittest’ but also survival of those most adaptable to changing surroundings. By the Smithonian Background Paleoanthropologists – scientists who…
PBS: Flood-prone South Florida considers proactive investment against rising seas March 19, 2014 (with Transcript). White House starting to make bigger climate change push – will help protect #SWWater if successful, but … http://t.co/OA7EX3OhgQ — Jonathan Overpeck (@TucsonPeck) March 21, 2014 Visit the new White House climate website https://climate.data.gov
By Tim Radford (Climate News Network): Scientists think the amount of methane emitted to the atmosphere from freshwater ecosystems will increase as the climate warms, triggering further warming. LONDON, 20 March – British scientists have identified yet another twist to the threat of global warming. Any further rises in temperature are likely to accelerate the release of methane from…
Late-comers face a clear trade-off between lower short term costs and higher transitional challenges PIK (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) 03/19/2014 (Translation: Artikel in Deutsch) – This week, the heads of the EU member states will meet in Brussels to discuss the adoption of a 40 percent greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030. Despite…
By Anonymous (IMDB): Imagine a home that heats itself, that provides its own water, hat grows its own food. Imagine that it needs no expensive technology, that it recycles its own waste, that it has its own power source. And now imagine that it can be built anywhere, by anyone, out of the things society throws…
Is misinformation about the climate criminally negligent? By Lawrence Torcello, Rochester Institute of Technology The importance of clearly communicating science to the public should not be underestimated. Accurately understanding our natural environment and sharing that information can be a matter of life or death. When it comes to global warming, much of the public remains…
We must overcome short-termism, inconvenient truths and cuts to R&D and find the Brunels of low carbon technology By Tom Delay (The Carbon Trust): Here’s a thought. If necessity is the motherhood of invention how come we are so far away from the wholesale deployment of low carbon energy technologies that can redeem humanity from…
By Brian Merchant (Motherboard): Those who actively deny that climate change is a scientifically-established reality have never really been able to square one simple fact: The nation’s military leadership is in unified agreement that climate change is real, and also that it poses a clear and present danger to the troops. The Pentagon’s thinking is revealed plainly and publicly in its own 2014…
The Guardian: Rajendra Pachauri: human society will see sense on climate change Recent extreme weather in the UK, US and Asia is consistent with climate change, Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, tells John Vidal. He says such events will become more frequent unless carbon emissions can be brought under…
By Tim Radford (Climate News Network): Hopes that we may be able to use geo-engineering to avert dangerous levels of climate change have been dashed by a German research team. LONDON, 7 March – Global warming will be bad. Geoengineering could make it worse. Once again, a research team has considered all the benefits of climate…
By James Hansen: As I peer through Beijing’s impenetrable smog I feel nauseous. I have long been troubled by the injustice of human – made climate change to our children and grandchildren, which may soon constitute a tragedy of epic proportions. Now I stare in the face of another tragedy. Air pollution from coal kills over…
The current crisis between Russia, the Ukraine and the West has escalated so far to pose a threat to the energy security of Germany. The New York Times noted: “Germany is now heavily reliant on Russia for its energy needs, importing more natural gas from Russia than any other country in Europe.” Further is the situation a problem…