postMigrator

Air Travel, Climate, and Disease Transmission

By postMigrator November 12, 2008 November 12, 2008 RT Newswire

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“It begins with a mosquito that is transported during
an international flight from a malaria-endemic region.”
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American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Public release date: 11-Nov-2008

Contact: jbender@environics-usa.com
jbender@environics-usa.com
203-325-8772 x18

‘Airport malaria’ — cause for concern in the US

In a global world, significant factors affect the spread of
infectious diseases, including international trade, air travel and
globalized food production. “Airport malaria” is a term coined by
researchers to explain the more recent spread of malaria to areas
such as the United States and Europe, which some scientists credit to
warmer climate changes.

New Study: Climate Already in Danger Zone

By postMigrator November 12, 2008 November 12, 2008 RT Newswire

Yale University
Public release date: 7-Nov-2008

Contact: Janet Rettig Emanuel
janet.emanuel@yale.edu
203-432-2157

Revised theory suggests carbon dioxide
levels already in danger zone

New Haven, Conn. – If climate disasters are to be averted,
atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) must be reduced below the levels
that already exist today, according to a study published in Open
Atmospheric Science Journal by a group of 10 scientists from the
United States, the United Kingdom and France.

The authors, who include two Yale scientists, assert that to maintain
a planet similar to that on which civilization developed, an optimum
CO2 level would be less than 350 ppm – a dramatic change from most
previous studies, which suggested a danger level for CO2 is likely to
be 450 ppm or higher. Atmospheric CO2 is currently 385 parts per
million (ppm) and is increasing by about 2 ppm each year from the
burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) and from the burning of
forests.

Climate, Oxygen, and Extinctions

By postMigrator November 12, 2008 November 12, 2008 Uncategorized

Climate, Oxygen, and Extinctions

Journal of Paleontology
Vol. 44, No. 3 (May, 1970), pp. 405-409

Animal Extinctions, Oxygen Consumption, and Atmospheric History
A. Lee McAlester

Abstract
Past susceptibility to family-level extinctions within major taxa of fossil animals shows a close positive correlation (r = .905) with oxygen uptake in Recent representatives of the same taxa. Taxa that have had high extinction rates have high present-day rates of oxygen consumption; taxa that have had unusually stable histories have very low rates. This correlation shows that periodic episodes of animal extinction were caused by environmental stresses that selectively eliminated animals having high rates of energy utilization. Past variation in the concentration of atmospheric oxygen appears to be among the mostprobable environmental changes that could be expected to produce such an effect.

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No Existing Climate Policy Prevents Further Warming

By postMigrator November 8, 2008 November 8, 2008 Uncategorized

No Existing Climate Policy Prevents Further Warming

Proceedings National Academy of Sciences
October 7, 2008 vol. 105 no. 40

Temperature increase of 21st century mitigation scenarios
D. P. Van Vuurena, et al

ABSTRACT

Estimates of 21st Century global-mean surface temperature increase have generally been based on scenarios that do not include climate policies. Newly developed multigas mitigation scenarios, based on a wide range of modeling approaches and socioeconomic assumptions, now allow the assessment of possible impacts of climate policies on projected warming ranges. This article assesses the atmospheric CO2 concentrations, radiative forcing, and temperature increase for these new scenarios using two reduced-complexity climate models. These scenarios result in temperatureincrease of 0.5- 4.4°C over 1990 levels or 0.3-3.4°C less than the no-policy cases. The range results from differences in the assumed stringency of climate policy and uncertainty in our understanding of the climate system. Notably, an average minimum warming of 1.4C (with a range of 0.5-2.8C) remains for even the most stringent stabilization scenarios analyzed here. This value is substantially above previously estimated committed warming based on climate system inertia alone. The results show that, although ambitious mitigation efforts can significantly reduce global warming, adaptation measures will be needed in addition to mitigation to reduce the impact of the residual warming.

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