Collapse
- Wars make more carbon emissions than many countries, making humanitarian crises into environmental disasterswww.aa.com.tr Wars make more carbon emissions than many countries, making humanitarian crises into environmental disasters
US Defense Department, world's largest fossil fuel-using institution, ranks 1st globally in greenhouse gas emissions - Anadolu Ajansı
- Rising Extreme Meltwater Trends in Greenland Ice Sheet (1950–2022): Surface Energy Balance and Large-Scale Circulation Changesjournals.ametsoc.org Rising Extreme Meltwater Trends in Greenland Ice Sheet (1950–2022): Surface Energy Balance and Large-Scale Circulation Changes
Abstract The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) meltwater runoff has increased considerably since the 1990s, leading to implications for the ice sheet mass balance and ecosystem dynamics in ice-free areas. Extreme weather events will likely continue to occur in the coming decades. Therefore, a more thorough...
Abstract
The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) meltwater runoff has increased considerably since the 1990s, leading to implications for the ice sheet mass balance and ecosystem dynamics in ice-free areas. Extreme weather events will likely continue to occur in the coming decades. Therefore, a more thorough understanding of the spatiotemporal patterns of extreme melting events is of interest. This study aims to analyze the evolution of extreme melting events across the GrIS and determine the climatic factors that drive them. Specifically, we have analyzed extreme melting events (90th percentile) across the GrIS from 1950 to 2022 and examined their links to the surface energy balance (SEB) and large-scale atmospheric circulation. Extreme melting days account for approximately 35%–40% of the total accumulated melting per season. We found that extreme melting frequency, intensity, and contribution to the total accumulated June–August (summer) melting show a statistically significant upward trend at a 95% confidence level. The largest trends are detected across the northern GrIS. The trends are independent of the extreme melting percentile rank (90th, 97th, or 99th) analyzed and are consistent with average melting trends that exhibit an increase in similar magnitude and spatial configuration. Radiation plays a dominant role in controlling the SEB during extreme melting days. The increase in extreme melting frequency and intensity is driven by the increase in anticyclonic weather types during summer and more energy available for melting. Our results help to enhance the understanding of extreme events in the Arctic.
- Enough, already: why humanity must get on board with the concept of ‘sufficiency’theconversation.com Enough, already: why humanity must get on board with the concept of ‘sufficiency’
Sufficiency is a new approach to solving humanity’s consumption problems. It’s about using less, ensuring wellbeing for all humans, and staying within planetary boundaries.
>Humanity’s rapacious consumption is more than Earth and its climate can handle, which is driving an ecological crisis.
- Getting shorter and going hungrier: how children in the UK live todaytheconversation.com Getting shorter and going hungrier: how children in the UK live today
Children are becoming poorer in the UK – more so than in other countries.
- Storm Reports: Hurricane Helene’s ‘historic flooding’ made worse by global heating, Fema says | 'We're desperate': Mexico's Acapulco relives hurricane nightmare | Record Rain in Ishikawa | More
Hurricane Helene’s ‘historic flooding’ made worse by global heating, Fema says
Helene aftermath: At least 92 dead, severe flood risk remains
Historic North Carolina village underwater after devastating damage from Helene
'We're desperate': Mexico's Acapulco relives hurricane nightmare - One year after Otis
Edit: I forgot to post links about Nepal.
At least 193 killed, 100 injured in flooding and landslides in Nepal
Nepal floods and landslides death toll passes 200, reports say
- The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India - American Economic Associationwww.aeaweb.org The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India - American Economic Association
The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India by Eyal Frank and Anant Sudarshan. Published in volume 114, issue 10, pages 3007-40 of American Economic Review, October 2024, Abstract: Scientific evidence has documented we are undergoing a mass extinctio...
Abstract
Scientific evidence has documented we are undergoing a mass extinction of species, caused by human activity. However, allocating conservation resources is difficult due to scarce evidence on damages from losing individual species. This paper studies the collapse of vultures in India, triggered by the expiry of a patent on a painkiller. Our results suggest the functional extinction of vultures—efficient scavengers that removed carcasses from the environment—increased human mortality by over 4 percent because of a large negative shock to sanitation. We quantify damages at $69.4 billion per year. These results suggest high returns to conserving keystone species such as vultures
- Sloth metabolism may make survival untenable under climate change scenariospeerj.com Sloth metabolism may make survival untenable under climate change scenarios
Although climate change is predicted to have a substantial effect on the energetic requirements of organisms, the longer-term implications are often unclear. Sloths are limited by the rate at which they can acquire energy and are unable to regulate core body temperature (Tb) to the extent seen in mo...
- Evidence for widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals - Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiologywww.nature.com Evidence for widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals - Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology
Over 1800 food contact chemicals (FCCs) are known to migrate from food contact articles used to store, process, package, and serve foodstuffs. Many of these FCCs have hazard properties of concern, and still others have never been tested for toxicity. Humans are known to be exposed to FCCs via foods,...
Abstract
Background
Over 1800 food contact chemicals (FCCs) are known to migrate from food contact articles used to store, process, package, and serve foodstuffs. Many of these FCCs have hazard properties of concern, and still others have never been tested for toxicity. Humans are known to be exposed to FCCs via foods, but the full extent of human exposure to all FCCs is unknown. Objective
To close this important knowledge gap, we conducted a systematic overview of FCCs that have been monitored and detected in human biomonitoring studies according to a previously published protocol.
Methods
We first compared the more than 14,000 known FCCs to five biomonitoring programs and three metabolome/exposome databases. In a second step, we prioritized FCCs that have been frequently detected in food contact materials and systematically mapped the available evidence for their presence in humans.
Results
For 25% of the known FCCs (3601), we found evidence for their presence in humans. This includes 194 FCCs from human biomonitoring programs, with 80 of these having hazard properties of high concern. Of the 3528 FCCs included in metabolome/exposome databases, most are from the Blood Exposome Database. We found evidence for the presence in humans for 63 of the 175 prioritized FCCs included in the systematic evidence map, and 59 of the prioritized FCCs lack hazard data.
Significance
Notwithstanding that there are also other sources of exposure for many FCCs, these data will help to prioritize FCCs of concern by linking information on migration and biomonitoring. Our results on FCCs monitored in humans are available as an interactive dashboard (FCChumon) to enable policymakers, public health researchers, and food industry decision-makers to make food contact materials and articles safer, reduce human exposure to hazardous FCCs and improve public health.
- Self-Sufficiency Milestones & the “Magic Five-Year Threshold” | Rewilding Updateanimistsramblings.substack.com Self-Sufficiency Milestones & the “Magic Five-Year Threshold” | Rewilding Update
[ERT: 30 min.] - Feun Foo Permaculture & Rewilding Update (September 2024) - Part Two (Practice/Actions)
- Electric Vehicles and Renewables: Misleading Solutions to a Deeper Climate Crisis | Art Bermanwww.artberman.com Electric Vehicles and Renewables: Misleading Solutions to a Deeper Climate Crisis | Art Berman
If you think electric vehicles and renewable energy will solve climate change, you’re missing the bigger picture. The problem runs deeper than technology alone can fix, so keep reading. Cars dominate our energy mindset just like gasoline prices are the main way we understand energy costs. Electric v...
- Why are we seeing more pandemics? Our impact on the planet has a lot to do with ittheconversation.com Why are we seeing more pandemics? Our impact on the planet has a lot to do with it
When human activities disrupt and unbalance ecosystems, such as by way of climate change and biodiversity loss, things go wrong.
>Pandemics – the global spread of infectious diseases – seem to be making a comeback. In the Middle Ages we had the Black Death (plague), and after the first world war we had the Spanish flu. Tens of millions of people died from these diseases.
>Then science began to get the upper hand, with vaccination eradicating smallpox, and polio nearly so. Antibiotics became available to treat bacterial infections, and more recently antivirals as well.
>But in recent years and decades pandemics seem to be returning. In the 1980s we had HIV/AIDS, then several flu pandemics, SARS, and now COVID (no, COVID isn’t over).
>So why is this happening, and is there anything we can do to avert future pandemics?
- By Kira & Hideaway: On Relocalizationun-denial.com By Kira & Hideaway: On Relocalization
The idea of rebuilding and relying on a supply of necessities near to where you live is called relocalization and is often promoted as a wise response by people aware of the simplification/collapse…
- 2024, A Year of No Significancecharleshughsmith.blogspot.com 2024, A Year of No Significance
Looking back, 2024 may well be viewed as insignificant compared to what lies ahead. That 2024 could be a year of no significance does ...
- Low-carbon technologies need far less mining than fossil fuelsourworldindata.org Low-carbon technologies need far less mining than fossil fuels
Mining for coal is much more resource-intensive than renewables or nuclear power.
But can you mine without fossil fuels and fossil-derived materials? How much materials do you need to mine to first transition and then maintain the infrastructure? Can you maintain renewable just with renewable? Taking progressively lower grade ores? What do you do with growing volume of tailings?
Such articles are more than a bit misleading.
- An escape from industrial foods, foraging nourishes soul and body | Aeon Essaysaeon.co An escape from industrial foods, foraging nourishes soul and body | Aeon Essays
Offering an escape from industrial foods, foraging nourishes the soul and body, but it needs democratic access to the land
- Waste Heat and Habitability: Constraints from Technological Energy Consumption
Abstract
Waste heat production represents an inevitable consequence of energy conversion as per the laws of thermodynamics. Based on this fact, by using simple theoretical models, we analyze constraints on the habitability of Earth-like terrestrial planets hosting putative technological species and technospheres characterized by persistent exponential growth of energy consumption and waste heat generation: in particular, we quantify the deleterious effects of rising surface temperature on biospheric processes and the eventual loss of liquid water. Irrespective of whether these sources of energy are ultimately stellar or planetary (e.g., nuclear, fossil fuels) in nature, we demonstrate that the loss of habitable conditions on such terrestrial planets may be expected to occur on timescales of ≲1000 years, as measured from the start of the exponential phase, provided that the annual growth rate of energy consumption is of order 1%. We conclude by discussing the types of evolutionary trajectories that might be feasible for industrialized technological species, and sketch the ensuing implications for technosignature searches.
- Equilibrium dynamics of European pre-industrial populations: the evidence of carrying capacity in human agricultural societies (2018)
Abstract
Human populations tend to grow steadily, because of the ability of people to make innovations, and thus overcome and extend the limits imposed by natural resources. It is therefore questionable whether traditional concepts of population ecology, including environmental carrying capacity, can be applied to human societies. The existence of carrying capacity cannot be simply inferred from population time-series, but it can be indicated by the tendency of populations to return to a previous state after a disturbance. So far only indirect evidence at a coarse-grained scale has indicated the historical existence of human carrying capacity. We analysed unique historical population data on 88 settlements before and after the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), one the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, which reduced the population of Central Europe by 30–50%. The recovery rate of individual settlements after the war was positively correlated with the extent of the disturbance, so that the population size of the settlements after a period of regeneration was similar to the pre-war situation, indicating an equilibrium population size (i.e. carrying capacity). The carrying capacity of individual settlements was positively determined mostly by the fertility of the soil and the area of the cadastre, and negatively by the number of other settlements in the surroundings. Pre-industrial human population sizes were thus probably controlled by negative density dependence mediated by soil fertility, which could not increase due to limited agricultural technologies.
- Observation-constrained projections reveal longer-than-expected dry spells - Naturewww.nature.com Observation-constrained projections reveal longer-than-expected dry spells - Nature
A newly identified emergent constraint applied to a key drought metric reduces uncertainty in future predictions of the longest annual dry spells, revealing that their increase due to climate change will be 40–50% greater than climate models project at present.
Abstract
Climate models indicate that dry extremes will be exacerbated in many regions of the world1,2. However, confidence in the magnitude and timing of these projected changes remains low3,4, leaving societies largely unprepared5,6. Here we show that constraining model projections with observations using a newly proposed emergent constraint (EC) reduces the uncertainty in predictions of a core drought indicator, the longest annual dry spell (LAD), by 10–26% globally. Our EC-corrected projections reveal that the increase in LAD will be 42–44% greater, on average, than ‘mid-range’ or ‘high-end’ future forcing scenarios currently indicate. These results imply that by the end of this century, the global mean land-only LAD could be 10 days longer than currently expected. Using two generations of climate models, we further uncover global regions for which historical LAD biases affect the magnitude of projected LAD increases, and we explore the role of land–atmosphere feedbacks therein. Our findings reveal regions with potentially higher- and earlier-than-expected drought risks for societies and ecosystems, and they point to possible mechanisms underlying the biases in the current generation of climate models.
- Study finds marine animals in untouched habitats are at greater risk from human impacts than previously thoughtphys.org Study finds marine animals in untouched habitats are at greater risk from human impacts than previously thought
Climate change and a range of other human impacts are putting marine animals at risk of extinction—even those living in almost pristine marine habitats and diverse coastal regions—reports a new study by Casey O'Hara of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of Ca...
- Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check showswww.theguardian.com Earth may have breached seven of nine planetary boundaries, health check shows
Ocean acidification close to critical threshold, say scientists, posing threat to marine ecosystems and global liveability
- Heat extremes in Western Europe increasing faster than simulated due to atmospheric circulation trends - Nature Communications (2023)www.nature.com Heat extremes in Western Europe increasing faster than simulated due to atmospheric circulation trends - Nature Communications
Heat extremes in Western Europe have increased by an outstanding amount in the last 70 years. Climate models simulate weaker trends. This is largely due to atmospheric circulation trends, favouring heat, missed by climate models.
Abstract
Over the last 70 years, extreme heat has been increasing at a disproportionate rate in Western Europe, compared to climate model simulations. This mismatch is not well understood. Here, we show that a substantial fraction (0.8 °C [0.2°−1.4 °C] of 3.4 °C per global warming degree) of the heat extremes trend is induced by atmospheric circulation changes, through more frequent southerly flows over Western Europe. In the 170 available simulations from 32 different models that we analyzed, including 3 large model ensembles, none have a circulation-induced heat trend as large as observed. This can be due to underestimated circulation response to external forcing, or to a systematic underestimation of low-frequency variability, or both. The former implies that future projections are too conservative, the latter that we are left with deep uncertainty regarding the pace of future summer heat in Europe. This calls for caution when interpreting climate projections of heat extremes over Western Europe, in view of adaptation to heat waves.
- Richard Crim -- The Crisis Report - 90richardcrim.substack.com The Crisis Report - 90
Let’s be CLEAR about what “Mainstream” Climate Science actually says. (Part Two)
- 2030: Our Runaway Train Falls Off the Seneca Cliffthehonestsorcerer.substack.com 2030: Our Runaway Train Falls Off the Seneca Cliff
Exponential growth rarely ends well — OK, it never does so.
- Possible sink of missing ocean plastic: Accumulation patterns in reef-building corals in the Gulf of Thailand
Abstract
Individual coral polyps contain three distinct components—the surface mucus layer, tissue, and skeleton; each component may exhibit varying extent of microplastic (MP) accumulation and serve as a short- or long-term repository for these pollutants. However, the literature on MP accumulation in wild corals, particularly with respect to the different components, is limited. In this study, we investigated the adhesion and accumulation of MPs in four coral species, including both large (Lobophyllia sp. and Platygyra sinensis) and small (Pocillopora cf. damicornis and Porites lutea) polyp corals collected from Si Chang Island in the upper Gulf of Thailand. The results revealed that MP accumulation varied significantly among the four coral species and their components. Specifically, P. cf. damicornis exhibited the highest degree of accumulation (2.28 ± 0.34 particles g−1 w.w.) [Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) test, p < 0.05], particularly in their skeleton (52.63 %) and with a notable presence of high-density MPs (Fisher's extract test, p < 0.05). The most common MP morphotype was fragment, accounting for 75.29 % of the total MPs found in the coral. Notably, the majority of MPs were black, white, or blue, accounting for 36.20 %, 15.52 %, and 11.49 % of the samples, respectively. The predominant size range of MP particles was 101–200 μm. Nylon, polyacetylene, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were the prevalent polymer types, accounting for 20.11 %, 14.37 %, and 9.77 % of the identified samples, respectively. In the large polyp corals, while MP shapes, colors, and sizes exhibited consistent patterns, remarkable differences were noted in the polymer types across the three components. The findings of this study improve the understanding of MP accumulation and its fate in coral reef ecosystems, underscoring the need for further investigation into MP-accumulation patterns in reef-building corals worldwide.
- A possible explanation for the 'missing plastic problem': New detection technique finds microplastics in coral skeletonsphys.org A possible explanation for the 'missing plastic problem': New detection technique finds microplastics in coral skeletons
Researchers from Japan and Thailand investigating microplastics in coral have found that all three parts of the coral anatomy—surface mucus, tissue, and skeleton—contain microplastics. The findings were made possible thanks to a new microplastic detection technique developed by the team and applied ...
>Researchers from Japan and Thailand investigating microplastics in coral have found that all three parts of the coral anatomy—surface mucus, tissue, and skeleton—contain microplastics. The findings were made possible thanks to a new microplastic detection technique developed by the team and applied to coral for the first time. > > These findings may also explain the "missing plastic problem" that has puzzled scientists, where about 70% of the plastic litter that has entered the oceans cannot be found. The team hypothesizes that coral may be acting as a "sink" for microplastics by absorbing it from the oceans. Their findings were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. > > [...] > > As for types of microplastics, the team found that nylon, polyacetylene, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were the three most prevalent, accounting for 20.11%, 14.37%, and 9.77%, respectively, of the identified samples.
- Twenty years of microplastics pollution research—what have we learned?
Abstract
Twenty years after the first publication using the term microplastics, we review current understanding, refine definitions and consider future prospects. Microplastics arise from multiple sources including tires, textiles, cosmetics, paint and the fragmentation of larger items. They are widely distributed throughout the natural environment with evidence of harm at multiple levels of biological organization. They are pervasive in food and drink and have been detected throughout the human body, with emerging evidence of negative effects. Environmental contamination could double by 2040 and widescale harm has been predicted. Public concern is increasing and diverse measures to address microplastics pollution are being considered in international negotiations. Clear evidence on the efficacy of potential solutions is now needed to address the issue and to minimize the risks of unintended consequences.
- Emergent constraints on future Amazon climate change-induced carbon loss using past global warming trends - Nature Communicationswww.nature.com Emergent constraints on future Amazon climate change-induced carbon loss using past global warming trends - Nature Communications
A study shows an emergent constraint on the Amazon carbon cycle response to climate change. The CMIP6 ESMs that overestimate past global temperature trends, tend to project hotter, drier conditions and greater climate-induced Amazon carbon source.
Abstract
Reducing uncertainty in the response of the Amazon rainforest, a vital component of the Earth system, to future climate change is crucial for refining climate projections. Here we demonstrate an emergent constraint (EC) on the future response of the Amazon carbon cycle to climate change across CMIP6 Earth system models. Models that overestimate past global warming trends, tend to estimate hotter and drier future Amazon conditions, driven by northward shifts of the intertropical convergence zone over the Atlantic Ocean, causing greater Amazon carbon loss. The proposed EC changes the mean CMIP6 Amazon climate-induced carbon loss estimate (excluding CO2 fertilisation and land-use change impacts) from −0.27 (−0.59–0.05) to −0.16 (−0.42–0.10) GtC year−1 at 4.4 °C warming level, reducing the variance by 34%. This study implies that climate-induced carbon loss in the Amazon rainforest by 2100 is less than thought and that past global temperature trends can be used to refine regional carbon cycle projections.
- A 485-million-year history of Earth’s surface temperature
Abstract
A long-term record of global mean surface temperature (GMST) provides critical insight into the dynamical limits of Earth’s climate and the complex feedbacks between temperature and the broader Earth system. Here, we present PhanDA, a reconstruction of GMST over the past 485 million years, generated by statistically integrating proxy data with climate model simulations. PhanDA exhibits a large range of GMST, spanning 11° to 36°C. Partitioning the reconstruction into climate states indicates that more time was spent in warmer rather than colder climates and reveals consistent latitudinal temperature gradients within each state. There is a strong correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and GMST, identifying CO2 as the dominant control on variations in Phanerozoic global climate and suggesting an apparent Earth system sensitivity of ~8°C.
- World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C targetwww.theguardian.com World’s top climate scientists expect global heating to blast past 1.5C target
Exclusive: Planet is headed for at least 2.5C of heating with disastrous results for humanity, poll of hundreds of scientists finds
- #289: Project 2050, part onesurplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com #289: Project 2050, part one
THE END OF MODERNITY AND A RACE TO THE BOTTOM Since the preceding article, we have two new pieces of information to slot in to our evolving picture of the economic and financial future. The first i…
- The End of Growth: Why Oil Prices are Falling | Art Bermanwww.artberman.com The End of Growth: Why Oil Prices are Falling | Art Berman
Paradigms hold on until they can no longer offer believable explanations for what's happening. Oil markets and the global economy are now in the middle of such a shift. On Tuesday September 10, Brent futures price fell to its lowest level in three years as prices dropped more than $12…
- Human activities now fuel two-thirds of global methane emissions
Global average surface temperatures shattered all-time records in 2023 at 1.45 ± 0.12 °C above pre-industrial levels (WMO 2024). Worsened by climate change-induced drought, Canadian wildfires burned 18.5 million hectares, nearly three-times more land area than in any previous year on record (NRC 2023). Parts of the Amazon River reached their lowest levels in 120 years of data-keeping and, in places, recorded surface water temperatures near 40 °C (Rodrigues 2023). The world has reached the threshold of a 1.5 °C increase in global average surface temperature and is only beginning to experience the full consequences.
Methane (CH4) is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. It contributed 0.5 °C of warming in the 2010s relative to the late 1800s—two-thirds as much warming as CO2 (IPCC 2021). It is also far more potent than CO2 ton for ton, with a global warming potential (GWP) >80 and 30 times more than CO2 for the first twenty years and century after release, respectively (Forster et al 2021).
Methane is rising faster in relative terms than any major greenhouse gas and is now 2.6-fold higher than in pre-industrial times. Global average methane concentrations reached 1931 parts per billion (ppb) in January of 2024 (Lan et al 2024). Annual increases in methane are also accelerating for reasons that are debated. Global methane concentrations rose by 15, 18, 13, and 10 ppb each year from 2020 through 2023, respectively, the second, first, fourth, and fourteenth largest increases since the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) methane time series began in 1983 (Lan et al 2024).
The Global Carbon Project updates its Global Methane Budget (GMB) every few years (Saunois et al 2016, 2020, 2024). The GMB integrates results of: (1) bottom-up (BU) estimates based on process-based models for estimating wetland surface emissions and atmospheric chemistry, inventories of anthropogenic emissions, and data-driven extrapolations, and (2) top-down (TD) CH4 emission estimates based on atmospheric observations and an inverse-modeling framework. Here, we summarize new estimates of the GMB based on the new GMB (Saunois et al 2024). We estimate CH4 sources and sinks for the periods 2000–2002 and 2018–2020, as well as for the most-recent year (2020), the last year that full global TD and BU methane datasets are available. We compare 3 year-average estimates to smooth the inter-annual variability signals from climatic variability such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) that influence natural emissions from wetlands and other ecosystems, as well as from the chemical sink.
We provide insights on data for methane sources and sinks globally and for the geographical regions and economic sectors whose emissions have changed the most since 2000. We also provide additional data on changes in recent years using satellite-based inversions using the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) (e.g. Yu et al 2023).
- Scientists Will Engineer the Ocean to Absorb More Carbon Dioxidewww.scientificamerican.com Scientists Will Engineer the Ocean to Absorb More Carbon Dioxide
A research consortium plans to revive geoengineering trials of the controversial iron fertilization technique to pull carbon dioxide from the air, despite public backlash