The world is on track to have its 7th warmest year on record in 2013, which is up from 2012, which was the globe’s 9th warmest year, according to a new report released on Wednesday. The report from the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva found that the January to September period tied with 2003 for the 7th warmest such period on record, with an average global surface … [Read more...]
The cost of carbon in Africa
What is the true cost of carbon to the world and to our continent? 24 Hours of Reality hosted the global Cost of Carbon conversation on 22 -23 October which involved over 20 million people through Twitter, Facebook, Google Hangout and Skype. The third annual live streamed show demonstrated how carbon pollution costs different continents around the world. How does climate … [Read more...]
IPCC statement: warming is unequivocal
Human influence on the climate system is clear. This is evident in most regions of the globe, a new assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes. It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. The evidence for this has grown, thanks to more and better observations, an … [Read more...]
Fast food worsens GHG emissions
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says food wastage across the world – totalling 1.3 billion tonnes of food annually – is the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions after China and the USA. The FAO estimates the direct cost to producers of food that goes to waste is currently US $750 billion (R7356 billion) annually, a figure that excludes wasted … [Read more...]
Antarctic ice shelves melt from below
Scientists have discovered that many Antarctic ice shelves are losing ice not just by calving icebergs but by melting from their undersides as well. There’s much more of an iceberg under the water than above it. And, it turns out, there’s much more happening beneath the surface to Antarctic ice shelves than anyone had guessed. A team of researchers from British, Dutch and … [Read more...]
U.N’s latest climate change report shocks
Though the report has yet to be finalized, details gleaned from leaked copies of the draft indicate it will offer the most dire warnings yet about the threats posed by climate change. Here, four key findings: It's 95 percent likely humans are to blame The biggest headline from the report is that scientists are now more convinced than ever that humans are causing … [Read more...]
400 parts per million – now what?
On 26 June 2013 CO2 in the atmosphere rocketed to 400 parts per million, partly due to emissions caused by human actions. This carbon concentration was recorded in the Southern Hemisphere in the region of Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. According to the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii already had carbon recorded at this staggering amount in May. This last happened 3 to … [Read more...]
30 months to save the world
Scientist Julienne Stroeve has studied the Arctic ice for decades. Every summer she travels north to measure how much ice has melted, writes Avaaz. She knows that climate change is melting the ice fast, but on her last trip, she couldn’t believe what she saw. Vast areas of Arctic ice have disappeared, beyond our worst expectations. This is what the experts warned us about. … [Read more...]
Change comes to the once-pristine roof of the world
Renowned biologist George Schaller (pictured in main photo) has been traveling to the Tibetan Plateau for nearly three decades, studying its unique wildlife. But with climate change and overgrazing taking a toll on the landscape, he reports, scientists and the Chinese government are working to preserve one of the planet’s wildest places. Once the pristine roof of the world, … [Read more...]
Plenty more Katrina’s on the horizon as the planet heats up
The number of Atlantic storms with magnitude similar to killer Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, could rise sharply this century, environmental researchers reported on Monday. Scientists have long studied the relationship between warmer sea surface temperatures and cyclonic, slowly spinning storms in the Atlantic Ocean, but the new study … [Read more...]
Understanding global change
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), in collaboration with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), recently hosted a three-day national conference on global change in Gauteng. Following the finalisation of the Global Change Implementation Framework, one of the decisions by the global change research and policy … [Read more...]
Less than ¼ of us understand climate change threats
How aware, concerned and active are South Africans about climate change and how does this compare to Europeans and Americans? Who is the good, the bad and the ugly in this unfolding story? According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) climate change takes 150 000 casualties every year and will flood around 100 million people by the end of the century. What’s more though, … [Read more...]
How do heat waves affect our bodies?
Some might like it hot, but extreme heat can overpower the human body. An expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains how heat kills and why fans are worthless in the face of truly high temperatures. Climate change promises to bring with it longer, hotter summers to many places on the planet. With more heat waves on the horizon, the risk of … [Read more...]
