The Economist (April 29)
“Those who doubt the power of human beings to change Earth’s climate should look to the Arctic, and shiver…. In the past 30 years, the minimum coverage of summer ice has fallen by half; its volume has fallen by three-quarters. On current trends, the Arctic ocean will be largely ice-free in summer by 2040.”
The Economist (August 27)
The discovery of the star Proxima Centauri is piquing imaginations. “What is exciting about this new world is not what is known—which, so far, is almost nothing…. It is what is unknown and the possibilities it may contain. It is the chance that there is life beneath that turbulent red sun, and that humans might be able to recognise it from 40 trillion kilometres away.”
Tags: Discovery, Exciting, Humans, Life, Possibilities, Proxima Centauri, Star, Sun, Turbulent, Unknown
New York Times (April 20, 2013)
“The central Arctic Ocean has been covered in ice for eons, but under the influence of global warming, nearly half of it is now open water for part of the year.” Humans must now step up with a treaty to protect this fragile ecosystem, which includes some of Earth’s last untouched fishing stocks. “No matter how severe, how austere, the Arctic may seem in our imaginations, it is almost unbelievably fragile, as are many of the species newly exposed under what is now open water. It is time, now, to intercede and protect this environmental oasis.”
Tags: Arctic Ocean, Environment, Fishing, Fragile, Global warming, Humans, Ice, Species
New York Times (July 28)
Richard Muller had been one of the most outspoken climate-change skeptics. No longer. The “converted skeptic” writes, “three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.”
Richard Muller had been one of the most outspoken climate-change skeptics. No longer. The “converted skeptic” writes, “Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.”
Tags: Climate change, Global warming, Humans, Muller, Skeptic
