Sea Level Rise Swamping Florida's Everglades - Yahoo News Canada. Rising sea levels are transforming the Florida Everglades, a new study shows. Plant communities that thrive in salt water are expanding along the coast, leaving less room for plants that depend on fresh water. Salt-loving mangroves in the Everglades have marched inland in the past decade, while freshwater plants — such as saw grass, spike rush and tropical hardwood trees — lost ground, according to a study published in the October 2013 issue of the journal Wetlands. The findings, which come from an analysis of satellite imagery from 2001 through 2010, match long-term trends tracked on the ground for the past 70 years, said lead study author Douglas Fuller, a geographer at the University of Miami. "I was very surprised at how well the results matched our understanding of long-term trends and field data," Fuller said in a statement.
"Normally, we don't see such clear patterns. " Tracking growth and plant loss is an important part of ongoing restoration efforts in the Everglades. Imagine - no extreme poverty. It's possible by 2030, says report. - Yahoo News Canada. Two recent reports say that extreme poverty could be effectively eliminated by 2030 (AP) More than a billion people around the world still exist in extreme poverty, which is defined by living on less than $1.25 a day.
The good news is that number dropped by half from 1990 through 2010. And a new report says eliminating extreme poverty altogether is “within reach” by 2030. The report was produced by the Brookings Institution, which says that a combination of increased shared consumption and improved global distribution of resources have dramatically reduced the poverty rate over the past 23 years, but that “both factors are needed simultaneously” to bring the total percentage of those living below the $1.25 rate to 3 percent or less. The report gained prominence on Friday when Bill Gates tweeted about it in a message to his 13-million-plus followers: What are the prospects of ending extreme poverty? From there, Brookings says sub-Saharan African faces the largest extreme poverty gap. Al Gore explains why he’s optimistic about stopping global warming. Al Gore was vice president of the United States from 1993-2001.
Since leaving politics, he's been heavily involved in the campaign to fight global warming, even winning a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. And he says he's more optimistic than ever that the issue has reached "a tipping point. " In this lightly edited interview transcript, he explains why. Ezra Klein: In 2005, when "An Inconvenient Truth" came out, I remember that the hope was we could keep the carbon load in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, and the fear was we would hit 400ppm.
Al Gore: We have already crossed the 400 parts per million mark. The appearance of more extreme and more frequent weather events has had a very profound impact on public opinion in countries throughout the world. A second factor is the sharp and unexpectedly steep decrease in prices for electricity produced from wind and solar and the demand destruction for fossil fuel energy from new efficiency improvements. AG: I’m very encouraged. Home - Environmental Options. A New Climate-Policy Paradigm by Oliver Geden. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space BERLIN – Let’s be serious: the ongoing United Nations climate negotiations will probably fail.
To be sure, as with the recent gathering in Bonn, expectations for the November climate conference in Warsaw are so low that there is almost no room for failure. But, with climate negotiators promising to deliver the global agreement that they could not deliver in Copenhagen in 2009, the December 2015 summit in Paris is almost certain to be another debacle. For the European Union, the leading authority in international climate policy, the outcome of the Copenhagen summit was particularly disappointing.
After years of negotiation and numerous scientific-assessment reports, delegations had the highest expectations for concluding a comprehensive climate treaty. Those expectations turned out to be illusory. This time will not be different. Moreover, negotiators will not get another chance. Hybrids Better for Climate than Leaf, Tesla in Most States. Research Report by Climate Central To embed this interactive, click the preferred size for the code: 700 x 625 | 600 x 536 | 500 x 447 An electric car is only as good for the climate as the electricity used to power it.
And in states that rely heavily on fossil fuels like coal and natural gas for their electricity there are many conventional and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that are better for the climate than all-electric cars today. But that is just part of the story. MORE: You Asked, We Answered: Response to 2013 Cars Report This comprehensive state-by-state analysis of the climate impacts of the electric car, plug-in hybrid electrics, and high-mileage, gas-powered hybrid cars takes both of these factors into account – the source of energy used to power the car and carbon emissions from vehicle manufacturing.
We found: Greener Grid Needed to Reap Benefits of Electric Cars State By State Summary Swing states. Click image to enlarge. Dirty Energy States.