BBC (June 18)
“Coffee production in Ethiopia, the birthplace of the high quality Arabica coffee bean and Africa’s largest exporter, could be in serious jeopardy over the next century unless action is taken.” According to a study by Kew Gardens, “current coffee growing areas in Ethiopia could decrease by up to 60% given a temperature rise of 4C by the end of the century.”
Tags: Action, Africa, Arabica, Coffee, Ethiopia, Exporter, Global warming, Jeopardy, Serious, Temperature
US News & World Report (December 28)
“It was about 37 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in the Arctic in November than it usually is this time of year. The week before Christmas, it was 50 degrees above the usual average. That is, to put it mildly, something quite out of the ordinary.” Even more troubling, “what every scientist in the world studying the Arctic knows is this: what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic; and global warming is now permanently altering the region in ways that will have untold consequences. In fact, the Arctic system has changed so dramatically that it may now be vulnerable to tipping points that affect the entire planet.”
Tags: Arctic, Christmas, Consequences, Global warming, Planet, Tipping points, Troubling, Vulnerable
Time (March 17)
“Global temperatures in February were the most above average since weather record keeping began nearly 150 years ago, bringing the world the closest it has ever been to what scientists consider dangerous levels of warming.” As if that’s not enough bad news, “climate scientists have already predicted that 2016 will trump last year as the warmest on record.”
Tags: Climate, Dangerous levels, February, Global warming, Records, Scientists, Temperatures, Weather
Washington Post (December 27)
“On climate change, curb your enthusiasm. It’s not that the recent international conference in Paris didn’t take significant steps to check global warming. It did. Nearly 200 countries committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from preindustrial times was reaffirmed. The trouble is that what’s being attempted is so fundamentally difficult that even these measures may be wildly unequal to the task.”
Tags: Climate change, Difficult, GHGs, Global warming, Paris, Preindustrial
Washington Post (August 20)
“If you care about climate change or air pollution, you cannot casually write off nuclear power, which produces virtually no carbon dioxide emissions while generating a tremendous amount of reliable power.” Renewables simply can’t fill the gap quickly enough. Without nuclear, burning additional fossil fuel is the alternative. “No one concerned about climate change should be willing to take it off the table…. The right response to Fukushima is to make sure reactors meet high safety standards, not to make the fight against global warming much harder.”
Tags: Air pollution, Climate change, CO2, Emissions, Fossil fuel, Fukushima, Global warming, Nuclear power, Renewables, Safety
New York Times (June 19)
“The timing of ‘Laudato Si’ could not have been better.” Nor could the compelling content on global warming. “Echoing the virtually unanimous findings of mainstream scientists, Pope Francis fixes the blame squarely on humans and their burning of fossil fuels.” But some U.S. politicians may remain too stubborn to change. “A pope in Rome worries about how we can shepherd the planet safely into the future. If only the senator from Kentucky and others in Congress could join him in thinking bigger.”
Tags: Congress, Fossil fuels, Global warming, Laudato Si, Pope Francis, U.S.
Los Angeles Times (January 25)
We mustn’t forget that any solution to climate change is centrally linked to limiting population growth. “It is not a sustainable scenario to keep producing larger young populations. Our finite planet cannot host infinite growth. It’s already showing the strain.” Family-planning programs can “make a real difference, both in slowing the rate of warming and in helping vulnerable nations adapt to its effects.”
USA Today (September 24)
27 years after the Montreal Protocol placed restrictions on chlorofluorocarbons, “the ozone layer is beginning to heal and is on track toward full recovery by the middle of the century.” This suggests hope in the fight against global warming. “Collective international action, even at a time of global tensions, can head off environmental catastrophe. And the sooner action is taken, the better, because the atmosphere can take decades to recover.”
Tags: Atmosphere, Catastrophe, Chlorofluorocarbons, Collective action, Environment, Global warming, Montreal Protocol, Ozone, Recovery, Tension
USA Today (August 3)
“As the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, China and America hold the key on global warming. If the U.S. acts to curb emissions, it puts pressure on China to go along. If it doesn’t, it gives China an excuse to delay.”
National Geographic (April 1)
“The world is not ready for the impacts of climate change, including more extreme weather and the likelihood that populated parts of the planet could be rendered uninhabitable,” according to 772 scientists who worked on a report released in Yokohama by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report “warns that the world is close to missing a chance to limit the global warming that has occurred since the Industrial Revolution.”
Tags: Climate change, Extreme weather, Global warming, Impacts, Industrial Revolution, IPCC, Planet, UN, Uninhabitable, Yokohama
