October 2012 global warming headlines and climate change news
October 31 - Climate change - the destructive elephant in the
room
Given the incredibly destructive nature of Hurricane Sandy, climate
change may no longer be a topic that can be tippy-toed around during the
Presidential campaign. It's the elephant in the room demanding to be
thoroughly acknowledged. Read
more.
October 30 - Sandy studied by Australian scientists
Australian scientists and the Bureau of Meteorology are studying Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy for
lessons about climate risks in its own region. Hurricane Sandy formed
when ocean temperatures were between 3 to 5 degrees Celsius higher than average levels,
boosting its power. Read
more.
October 25 - Turning pig poop into carbon credits - and cash
A piggery in the state of New South Wales in Australia has become the
first in the nation to turn pig poop into carbon credits - and for its
efforts, it will earn as much as $150,000 a year. The farm captures methane;
uses it to generate electricity and exports the power into the mains
grid. Read
more.
October 24 - Australia's Antarctic airstrip melting
Australia's Antarctic air link opened four years ago with the expectation
many more flights could use the Wilkins runway than what has actually
occurred - and global warming could further decrease its accessibility. Read
more.
October 23 - 3rd Presidential debate and still no climate
change
Climate change failed to emerge as a topic in any of the three presidential debates,
with the participants being the first to totally shun the subject in
that arena since 1984. Read
more.
October 22 - Australia faces huge suburban climate change bill
Waterfront communities in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria in
Australia face a damage bill of more than $1 billion from severe storms and rising sea levels over the next 90
years. Read
more.
October 21 - Geoengineering experiment under the spotlight
A geoengineering experiment in July involving iron fertilization is
alleged to have been carried out under false pretences and may have
violated international agreements. Canada’s environment ministry says it is investigating the
incident. Read
more.
October 18 - Another debate, climate change avoided again
In the second Presidential debate, both candidates steered cleared of
what seems to be a dirty word to them - climate change. However, both
seemed happy to play one-upmanship in declaring their love for coal. Read
more.
October 15 - Food crisis looms next year
Failing grain harvests around the world this year have reduced reserves to their lowest level since 1974,
prompting the UN to warn that ongoing extreme weather could trigger a major hunger crisis next year.
Read
more.
October 14 - Wild polar bears extinct within decades?
According to Nikita Ovsyannikov, deputy director of Russia’s polar bear reserve on Wrangel Island;
there will be no polar bears anywhere in the wild within 20 to 25 years
due to the fallout from climate change. Read
more.
October 12 - Arctic sea ice freefall
With the Arctic possibly being totally free of ice during summer by 2016
- the first time in 125,000 years, the Earth Policy Institute has
published a series of graphs to show how recently the Arctic ice
freefall started occurring. Read
more.
October 11 - Extreme weather to boost food prices
The UN has sounded an alarm with regard to increased meat and dairy prices as a result of ongoing extreme weather in the United States and across large parts of Europe. Global yields for crops used to feed animals are down by as much as 10% on last year.
Read
more.
October 9 - Palm oil plantations a growing source of emissions
Researchers from Stanford and Yale universities estimate the continued expansion of
palm oil plantations in Indonesia will pile more than 558 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2020.
Read
more.
October 8 - Economic decline and carbon emissions
What's considered by some as the silver lining of the dark clouds of
economic troubles is not quite so bright when it comes to carbon
emissions. While declines in productivity and other activity do see a
reduction in carbon emissions, it's by no means enough to prevent the
steady rise of carbon emissions globally. Read
more.
October 6 - Global warming unveils a mammoth find
The rapidly thawing tundra in Russia is revealing secrets - such as a
one ton woolly mammoth. Up to 30,000 years old, the carcass is believed to be the most complete one discovered for over 100 years.
Read
more.
October 5 - Climate change ignored in Presidential Debate.
Although close to 200,000 petitions were sent to the moderator of the first 2012 Presidential
Debate, to urge him to ask the candidates how they plan to address Climate
Change, the question wasn't raised. Read
more.
October 4 - A global warming icon
There are well recognised icons for peace, for nuclear power, for
lightning and a multitude of other products, concepts and phenomenon -
but not it seems for global warming.. until now. Read
(and see) more.
October 3 - Sea level rise irreversible
European researchers have determined greenhouse gas emissions will
trigger a sea level rise that won't be able to be reversed for the the next several thousand years.
Read
more.
October 2 - Mediaeval Warm Period not as warm as now
The Mediaeval Warm Period, which occurred over a period of a couple
hundred years starting over a thousand years ago is one of the few
remaining tools in the climate skeptics' grab bag. It is often used as a
"we've been here before" statement to underpin arguments that
climate change of today is purely a natural occurrence. However,
researchers have determined a group of islands in the Arctic Ocean
have been between 3.6°F and 4.5°F warmer over the past quarter century
on average than the "warm" summers the Vikings may have
experienced. Read
more.
October 2 - Climate skepticism waning
United Nations’ top climate change official, Christiana Figueres,
says skepticism of the science relating to global warming is on the
decrease in the United States. Read
more.
October 2 - Great Barrier Reef in major decline
The amount of coral covering Australia's Great Barrier Reef has been
reduced by half since 1985, with two-thirds of that since 1998. One of
the contributing factors is coral bleaching, caused by stress such as warm seas or pollution.
Read
more.
October 1 - 50 months to prevent climate change catastrophe
A letter from various green groups to a major UK newspaper states there
were just 50 months before a critical threshold is reached and after
that, it is unlikely humanity could limit global temperature rises to
2C. Read
more.
October 1 - How to address climate change - blast an asteroid
In what is one of the more exotic solutions to the climate change issue,
Researchers at the University of Strathclyde have suggested blasting the surface of asteroids to create
massive clouds of dust that could play the role of sunscreen for Earth. Read
more
October 1 - The clown of climate change : Alan Jones
Australian shock-jock Alan Jones is in deep poop at the moment after
some particularly nasty remarks about Australia's Prime Minister. Mr.
Jones is no stranger to making statements well off the mark; he's done
so repeatedly in relation to climate change. Read
more.
October 1 - Honey, climate change shrunk the fish!
Fish species could shrink in size up to 24% because of global warming
according to scientists, due to warmer water holding less oxygen. Read
more
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