Climate and South Africa

Worldwide, the media – especially the print media
– have been coming seriously awake to climate
change in just the past few years. Newspapers
I’ve noticed giving increased coverage to
climate-driven changes include Gulf Times (Qtar),
the Tehran Times (Iran), the Bangkok Post
(Thailand), the Jarkarta Post (Malaysia), and
others around the globe.

The deference to debunkers/deniers so common
until 2007 is all but gone,  the timidness about
reporting scenarios out toward the worst case end
of the spectrum has been going, and I think that
the new frankness in the media is helping the
conservation community proceed with a frankness
of its own.

Until very recently, the British press has
generally been ahead of the pack. But the world,
including the US, is catching up fast. And, tough
as life there is, the article below shows how
candid the discussion is becoming in Africa too.
Lance

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“The most recent report from the International
Panel on Climate Change says yields from rain-fed
agriculture in Africa could decrease by 50% by
2020 due to global warming, and the continent
would also be plagued by worse fires and more
pests and diseases.”

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Climate Snuffing Isle Royale Moose, Wolves

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“Moose were dropping dead of starvation right in front of park visitors.”
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Washington Post
July 21, 2008

Warming Alters Predator-Prey Balance
By Kari Lydersen
ISLE ROYALE, Mich. — For six decades since they
loped across frozen Lake Superior to reach this
rocky island, wolves have roamed 45-mile-long
Isle Royale, the nation’s least-visited national
park.

The wolves survived the extermination efforts by
the island’s few inhabitants, who in the 1950s
and ’60s saw them as mortal enemies. And they
survived an outbreak of deadly canine parvovirus
in the 1980s. Now, scientists tracking the wolves
in the world’s longest-running “single
predator-single prey” study fear that the Isle
Royale wolves could become extinct because of
global warming.

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A World Without Ice?

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” … several studies suggest that greenhouse
gases forty million years ago were similar to
those levels that are forecast for the end of
this century and beyond.”

” … the seawater chemistry shows there was little or no ice on the planet.”
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Public release date: 28-Jul-2008
Cardiff University

Contact: Dr. Cat Burgess
catherine_burgess99@hotmail.com
07-740-500-722

A snapshot of New Zealand’s climate 40 million
years ago reveals a greenhouse Earth, with warmer
seas and little or no ice in Antarctica,
according to research published this week in the
journal Geology.

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New Research: Climate and Aerosols

 

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“While soot emitted from sources like diesel engines and electric 

power plants is a focus of study, not all aerosols are man-made. The 

deserts and arid landscapes of the world produce an estimated 10 to 

20 billion tons of mineral aerosols a year. The air is full of 

biological aerosols as well – microbes, cells, and particles 

containing organic compounds. ”

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Public release date: 25-Jul-2008

Boston College

 

Contact: Ed Hayward

ed.hayward@bc.edu

617-552-4826

 

Scientists search for answers from the carbon in the clouds

Latest technology examines aerosol particles in the sky

 

 

CHESTNUT HILL, MA (JULY 25, 2008) – An aerosol mass spectrometer 

developed by chemists from Aerodyne Research Inc. and Boston College 

is giving scientists who study airborne particles the technology they 

need to examine the life cycles of atmospheric aerosols – such as 

soot – and their impact on issues ranging from climate change to 

public health.

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