Ecology and Environment

By Julia Conley, As climate scientists raise alarm over hotter and hotter global temperatures, a top U.S. weather agency reported on Thursday that July 2019 was the hottest month the planet has ever experienced since the government began recording global temperatures nearly 140 years ago. NOAA’s monthly Global Climate Report revealed… »

While the rise of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere over the past decade has been “globally significant,” quick action to end fracking would have a rapid, positive impact on the environment by Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams New research by a scientist at Cornell University… »

Sea level has been stable, at current levels, throughout recorded history for 5,000 years. That’s about to change. Still, it’s very difficult for people to imagine a change in sea level after 5,000 years of rock-solid stability. Nevertheless, assuming sea levels do rise markedly, one of the biggest questions of… »

Rainforests are a crucial feature of Earth’s biosphere. Apart from being critical to Earth’s climate and vital carbon sinks, the major player in Earth’s hydrological (water) cycle, a massive producer of oxygen and home to most of the world’s species, rainforests are the home of a large indigenous human population. »

The first-ever comprehensive scientific assessment of the links between land and climate change is a critical contribution to efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, tackle the impacts of global warming and protect food security, the World Meteorological Organization said on 8 August 2019*. The release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate… »

As scorching temperatures continue to break records across Europe, unprecedented wildfires break out in the Arctic, and polar sea ice cover drops—again—to an all-time low, never before has the climate crisis been so palpable, for so many people. The increasing intensity and frequency of climate extremes impacts life on earth… »

By Robert Hunziker Greenland is one of the biggest targets for global warming, in part, because it’s so big it’s hard to miss.And sure enough, only recently crazy halting weather with inordinate hot temperature hit Greenland bull’s-eye, dead-on with one helluva meltdown. That’s bad news for pretty much everybody on… »

George Monbiot for The Guardian The fossil-fuel lobby is threatened by public concern over the climate crisis. So it’s buying influence to get the results it wants. The tragedy of our times is that the gathering collapse of our life support systems has coincided with the age of… »

Jayalaxshmi Mistry, Royal Holloway for The Conversation Despite centuries of persecution, indigenous groups still manage or have tenure rights over at least a quarter of the world’s land surface. Often inhabiting these lands as far back as memory extends, they share a deep and unique connection… »

Co-Written by Meena Miriam Yust and Arshad M. Khan The practice of recycling has everything to commend it:  On a finite planet, it conserves resources; it is meretricious allowing us, as it does, to pin a mental merit badge on our chests as we ready the assigned recycling bin once… »