Environment

The Price Of Arctic Ice Putting an economic value on the loss of the Arctic's climate regulating abilities A report by the Pew Environment Group entitled An Initial Estimate of the Cost of Lost Climate Regulation Services Due to Changes in the Arctic Cryosphere is an attempt by scientists to put a dollar value on the climate regulating services of the Arctic Cryosphere. The report states: In economic terms, estimated costs in 2010 from the decline in albedo and increase in methane emissions range from $61 billion to $371 billion.  By 2050, this number rises to a cumulative range of $2.4…

Arctic Melt 2010 Is Faster Than Models Predicted The National Snow And Ice Data Center - NSISC - reports: Despite cool temperatures over most of the Arctic Ocean in January, Arctic sea ice extent continued to track below normal. By the end of January, ice extent dropped below the extent observed in January 2007....While temperatures over much of the central Arctic Ocean were 1 to 3 degrees Celsius (2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit) below normal, temperatures in the Kara and Barents seas were 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal. Ice extent was far below normal in the…

Ramesh loses cool as Bt Brinjal consultation generates heat Buzz Up Share Twitter Delicious Myspace Digg Stumble Upon Facebook Sat, Feb 6 06:11 PM Chaos, anger, repartees and some scientific reasoning marked the seventh public hearing on Bt Brinjal in Bangalore on saturday with Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh facing attacks from groups supporting and opposing the crop variety, prompting him to hit back at them. The minister, at the receiving end with NGOS, farmers, doctors and scientists making out a case for and against commercialisation of Bt Brinjal, countered some…

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University have designed an ultra-lightweight sponge made of clay and a bit of high-grade plastic they say will effectively clean up spills of all kinds of oils and solvents, and allow for the absorbed oil to be squeezed back out for use. The new material, called aerogel, is made by mixing clay with a polymer and water in a blender. The mixture is then freeze-dried; air fills the gaps left by the loss of water, and the resulting material is super light, comprised of about 96 percent air, 2 percent polymer and 2 percent clay. The oil-absorbing form is just…

Writing in the journal PLoS ONE, an international team of scientists says invasive plants could become even more prevalent and destructive as climate change continues. According to the new analysis of data stretching back more than 150 years, non-native plants, and especially invasive species, appear to thrive during times of climate change because they're better able to adjust the timing of annual activities like flowering and fruiting. Researchers analyzed a dataset that began with Henry David Thoreau's cataloging of plants around Walden Pond in the 1850s, when the famed naturalist kept…

An integrated approach is needed to mitigate climate change it needs social change in thinking process also. The bigger is better. More consumption is sign of prosperity. I can purchase gas , petrol , plants , food and recreation but at what cost. The earths resources are limited. Poverty stricken landowners of small land holding resort to cutting and selling woodfuel. Cowdung which can be used to provide organic fertilizers is burnt as fuel. Lately chaff from the wheat harvest is used in fireplaces for making bricks and cattles go for browsing whatever vegetation is left on the ground. It’…

R. K. Pachauri Are the world and human society in general ready and willing to take action on critical issues that require a major change in the manner in which we produce and consume goods and services? AP One of the favourable outcomes of the Copenhagen conference that ended in a stalemate, was the acceptance of a 2°C limit on temperature increase. The science of climate change is now well established. This is the result of painstaking work of over two decades carried out by thousands of scientists drawn from across the globe to assess every aspect of climate change for the benefit of…

A new study analyzing mixed hardwood forest plots in Maryland indicates that forests in the Eastern United States may be growing faster than they have in the past 225 years. On average, the forest is growing an additional 2 tons per acre annually--the equivalent of a tree with a diameter of 2 feet sprouting up over a year. Forests and their soils store the majority of the Earth's terrestrial carbon stock. Small changes in their growth rate can have significant ramifications in weather patterns, nutrient cycles, climate change and biodiversity. Exactly how these systems will be affected…

     I have been following with interest the columns and blogs related to climate change, most recently from Patrick Lockerby, who agrees with the evidence for human-caused global warming, and Karen Barnes, who comments on Jesse Ventura’s conspiracy theory.  Perhaps thoughttul readers of Scientific Blogging will be interested in seeing the actual data that supports global warming. Here is a NOAA website that succinctly summarizes the main lines of evidence. http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/indicators/     The evidence makes sense to me, and is consistent with…

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- A flailing economy and record crops have worked to pull corn prices some 20% off their 2009 peak, but analysts say the move's only a temporary setback with an economic recovery underway and ethanol demand on reliable footing, ready to lend a hand. "Nearly a third of the domestic corn output in the U.S is being used for ethanol production and this volume is set to expand even further going forward," analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a recent research note. "This should push up prices." Ethanol, which is made primarily from corn in the United States since the nation is the…