Tuesday, 25 Jan 2005

A Warm Unwelcome

Warming waters threaten seabirds and marine species of all sizes

The problem with cold-water phytoplankton is that they prefer cold water. When climate change makes their home waters too warm for comfort, the tiny plant organisms move north in search of cooler climes. As the miniscule photosynthesizers migrate, all of the little organisms that depend on them for food are out of luck, as are the small fish that depend on those small critters, as are the seabirds and other larger predators that eat the small fish -- well, you get the picture. And scientists say the cause-and-effect story is only getting grimmer. Audrey Schulman investigates the ripple effect that may carry a tidal wave of consequences -- today on the Grist Magazine website.

Ay, Chihuahua!

New drilling approved for New Mexico's Otero Mesa

The Bureau of Land Management yesterday made the final decision to open nearly 2 million acres of Chihuahuan desert grassland in southern New Mexico to oil and gas drilling. The Bush administration insists that drilling in the area, known as Otero Mesa, won't be a "free-for-all," as the BLM's plan calls for close management and environmental assessments before drilling begins, and also prohibits activity on some 124,000 acres in order to protect sensitive areas and provide habitat for the endangered Aplomado falcon. Stephen Capra of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance calls the agency's environmental-protection efforts "window dressing." He and other enviros say the plan didn't take into account public opinion -- more than 85 percent of those who commented on the plan favored a prohibition on drilling in the area. Says New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), "The state is going to fight this with everything we've got."

Drought, Drought, Let It All Out

Drought is up, and climate change seems partly to blame, report says

The proportion of the planet's land area suffering from drought has more than doubled since the 1970s, to about 30 percent, according to a recent study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Researchers attribute about half of that change to rising temperatures caused by global warming rather than to a lack of precipitation. The drying has been widespread in Europe, Asia, Canada, western and southern Africa, and eastern Australia, said Aiguo Dai, the study's lead author. Climate models predict that rising temperatures will lead to most of earth's land masses experiencing more warm-season drying in coming decades. "Our analyses suggest that this [greenhouse-related] drying may already have begun," said Dai.

Two Degrees of Separation

Report warns of major climate catastrophe in as few as 10 years

A task force of leading politicians, academics, and business leaders from around the world has quantified global warming's so-called "point of no return." And it's bloody soon! In as little as 10 years, says a report by the task force, the global average temperature could rise 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit from its pre-industrial level. At that point, the authors contend, the tipping point will have been reached and major droughts, sea-level rise, and widespread crop failures are all but certain. So far, global average temperature has risen about 1.4 degrees since 1750, meaning we've still got a couple of degrees before the threshold is reached. To help beat the clock, the report calls on all G8 nations to produce a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and double their expenditures on low-carbon energy technologies by 2010. "There is an ecological time bomb ticking away," said British Member of Parliament Stephen Byers, who co-chaired the task force with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).