Wired (August 30)
“A major driver of Antarctica’s cascading crises is the loss of floating sea ice, which forms during winter.” Since 2014, “the coverage of sea ice has fallen not just precipitously, but almost unbelievably, contracting by 75 miles closer to the coast.” Over the past decade, winter sea ice “has declined 4.4 times faster around Antarctica than it has in the Arctic…. Put another way: The loss of winter sea ice in Antarctica over just the past decade is similar to what the Arctic has lost over the last 46 years.”
Tags: 2014, 46 years, 75 miles, Antarctica, Arctic, Cascading, Coast, Contracting, Coverage, Crises, Decade, Driver, Loss, Precipitously, Sea ice, Winter
The Economist (May 21)
“China’s leaders are trying to fix a problem that has dogged the country for decades: how to spread wealth more evenly.” So far the problem is intractable. Per capita GDP throughout the bulk of China (the west and north-east) “is 70,870 yuan ($9,800) and 60,400 yuan, respectively. Along the coast it is 124,800 yuan. China’s richest provincial-level unit, Beijing, is four times wealthier than its poorest, Gansu (see map). And the richest areas are pulling further ahead.”
Tags: Beijing, China, Coast, Disparity, GDP, Intractable, Leaders, Poorest, Problem, Richest, Wealth, Wealthier
Time (January 4)
“Sea surface temperatures have risen globally in recent years as a result of man-made climate change,” but not uniformly. Though more hurricanes are being spawned in the middle of the Atlantic, temperatures along the U.S. coast “have remained relatively cool,” providing protection. Many storms “hit Caribbean islands hard but leave the U.S. largely unscathed.” Alas, the favorable “surface temperatures that protect the U.S. could easily disappear.”
Tags: Atlantic, Caribbean, Climate change, Coast, Hurricanes, Man-made, Sea, Temperatures, U.S.
