Month: July 2014

Addressing global warming is an economic necessity.

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/science-matters/2014/07/addressing-global-warming-is-an-economic-necessity/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+davidsuzuki%2Fscience-matters+%28David+Suzuki+Foundation+-+Science+Matters%29

Worst Ocean Mortality Event Ever Seen: Pathogen + Human-Caused Warming Likely Culprit in Mass Starfish Die-off

robertscribbler

“A warmer world would be a sicker world. Under warming conditions a lot of microorganisms do better. They grow faster. They replicate faster. Many of our hosts can actually be stressed by warm conditions. And so it kind of creates a perfect storm of sickness.” — Drew Havell, Marine Epidemiologist in a recent interview with PBS.

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It first started in the tidal basins of Southern California during floods of warm water accompanying the El Nino of 1982-83. Laying dormant for more than two decades, it again surfaced during the super El Nino of 1997-98. A chronic wasting illness that obliterated whole sea star populations along the southwestern Pacific Coast, threatening numerous species. After each event, however, the starfish came back. But, today, recovery is not so certain.

By 2013 human-caused ocean warming had greatly advanced. With it came a flood of much hotter than usual…

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A Group of Quakers Has Established a “New Underground Railroad” For LGBT Ugandans

Higher Learning

In February, Uganda enacted arguably the harshest anti-gay legislation in the world.

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill not only makes same-sex intercourse punishable by life in prison, it also puts people in prison for not reporting homosexual activity within 24 hours.

Though a number of other countries in Africa are known for having predominantly homophobic views, Uganda is probably the most severe in actively trying to eradicate homosexuality from society (ironically, they’re also one of the top searches of gay porn in the world).

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signs the Anti-Homosexuality BIll into law on February 24, 2014 (Photo: James Akena/Reuters)

LGBT Ugandans live in constant fear of being discovered. Not only are the legal consequences harsh, but groups of gangs have been known to go through neighborhoods rounding up suspected homosexuals and beating them brutally.

Now, a group of Quakers from Washington state have put together an organization to help LGBT Ugandans…

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Could climate’s crop impact catch us with our plants down?

Great work thanks

Simple Climate

The odds that yields of maize will fall by a tenth over the next 20 years have shortened from 1-in-200 to 1-in-10. Image copyright Raman Sharma used via Flickr Creative Commons license. The odds that yields of maize will fall by a tenth over the next 20 years have shortened from 1-in-200 to 1-in-10. Image copyright Raman Sharma, used via Flickr Creative Commons license.

With the next two decades set to see a stronger increase in demand for food than the rest of the 21st century, declining harvests would cause some serious problems. Right now crop yields are growing, but could climate trends cause them to fall by a tenth, say, over the next 10-20 years?

That’s the question David Lobell from Stanford University in California and Claudia Tebaldi from the US National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado have tried to answer. They find that if the world wasn’t warming, the chance of yields decreasing by a tenth over the next 20 years would be less than 1-in-200. However, climate change has made shrinking yields more likely, shortening the odds…

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New Global Warming Gases Found

We have no GHG budget left.

Climate Change Reports

Scientists Discover Three New Global Warming Gases – Comparison of air samples has revealed three new global warming gases and the evidence suggests they are man-made, reports Responding To Climate Change. Global warming gases have 3 or more atoms in their molecules, which allow them to trap heat that fuels global warming.

Industrial pollution has probably contributed many man-made heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere, but not necessarily in quantities large enough to significantly contribute to global warming for most gases, but what of their aggregated impact as a threat?

OO Threat from new gases found in air

Join the swelling numbers of voters TELLING Congressthey’ll vote for Clean Energy candidates here: http://signon.org/sign/we-are-the-clean-99?source=c.em.cp&r_by=487176 . This is an ongoing campaign (the next Congressional election is this year!) so please, spread the word. It’s our way of telling Congress that a strong clean energy voting bloc is out there. This…

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