Tag Archives: global warming

An Unexpected Source of Mercury: Greenland’s Glaciers

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

Greenland. Credit: (CC BY 2.0).

Greenland, the largest island in the world not considered its own continent, lies above the Arctic Circle with the exception of its Southern tip. Ice—the Greenland Ice Sheet—is everywhere but is rapidly becoming a major contributor to sea level rise as it melts because of climate change. Now, a shows that the resulting freshwater (or meltwater) runs off to the ocean taking along an unexpected and toxic companion—mercury, a chemical that when transformed into methylmercury bioaccumulates and biomagnifies in fish, shellfish, and animals that eat fish, causing nervous system damage and other deleterious effects in humans and wildlife.

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Global Warming and Economic Inequality Go Hand-in-Hand

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

Climate change is reshaping our planet—not only in its physically measurable aspects, but also in terms of humanitarian challenges. Melting glaciers, rising seas, flooding, heat waves and the like are accompanied by human displacement and migration, changes in the occurrence of infectious diseases and—as highlighted by a —the intensification of global economic inequality over the past half-century.

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The Dust Bowl on the Great Plains coincided with the Great Depression. South Dakota, 1936. Credit: Wikipedia

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What to Expect in 2018: Horizon Scanning Identifies Risks and Opportunities Related to Global Biological Diversity

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

What are the emerging issues that will likely affect global diversity, ecosystem services, and conservation efforts in 2018? Results from the 9th annual horizon scan, conducted by 24 experts and described in a , identified early signs of the 15 top future challenges and trends related to themes that include new mechanisms driving the emergence and geographic expansion of diseases, innovative biotechnologies, reassessment of global change, and the development of strategic infrastructure to facilitate global economic priorities. Continue reading →

Carbon-Sucking Technologies: Moving Forward Despite Controversy

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

The 23rd conference of the was in full swing recently (6–17 November 2017). There, the countries that signed the discussed steps to keep the threat of climate change under control and—according to the Paris Agreement’s central aim—hold the rise in global temperatures to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by curbing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide. At the same time, scientists involved in the reported that total carbon dioxide emissions held stable from 2014 to 2016, at about 36 billion tons per year. They went on to clarify that this was a that will end in 2017, and that economic projections suggest the likelihood of further emissions growth in 2018.  Continue reading →

Despite Major Improvements, Levels of Air Pollution in the U.S. Are Still Unsafe

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

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Credit: , .

Air pollution not only threatens the future of our climate by significantly contributing to global warming, it also causes some of our most common illnesses, accounting for 1 in 8 deaths worldwide.  It’s an invisible killer that is globally responsible for 36% of deaths from lung cancer, 35% of deaths from pulmonary disease, 34% of deaths from stroke, and 27% of deaths from heart disease, (WHO).

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The Arctic is Opening Up: Offshore Drilling and Melting Sea Ice

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

The heat is on in the Arctic. This region is now warming at a rate faster than twice the global average—known as . Consequently, the ice that covers the North Pole and surrounding areas, and melts to its lowest extent each September, has been disappearing at an alarming rate. Continue reading →

One of the Best Climate Communication Talks I Have Seen

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A guest post by Marshall Shepherd, Director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program, University of Georgia, and author of the Weather Underground blog “From the Mind of J. Marsh WxGeeks Edition”

On April 15, 2015, at the University of Georgia, I wandered over to the Miller Learning Center to hear a talk by Dr. Steve McNulty () with the United States Forest Service and the USDA Southern Regional Climate Hub (@SEClimateHub).

Let me start by saying this was one of the best and most effective climate communication talks that I have ever seen. It was so good that I felt compelled to write this blog to share some of it with you. Continue reading →

Climate Scientists Weigh-in on Scientific Disagreement and Public Trust

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A guest post by Kirk Englehardt, Director of Research Communication, Georgia Institute of Technology

A by the Pew Research Center explores many ways scientists engage with the public – and why.

The study is based on a survey of more than 3,700 members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It reveals that scientists who study areas that are regularly debated in the media are more likely to engage in public outreach than those working in less controversial areas. They’re also more likely to speak with reporters and blog about their research. Continue reading →

Climate Change: “Uncertainty” and the Hottest Year on Record

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

Credit: , .

Over the last month, much has been said about 2014 being the hottest year on record. The first came from the Japan Meteorological Agency during the first week of January. Later, a by NASA and NOAA reinforced the finding: 2014 was the hottest year in more than 120 years of record keeping. The joint announcement underscored the significance of two major scientific branches of the US government reaching the same conclusion through separate data analyses. Continue reading →

The Global Decline of Coral Reefs: Is There Hope for Recovery?

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By Roberta Attanasio, IEAM Blog Editor

Rainbow Reef, Fiji. Courtesy ,

During the past few decades, coral reefs—the rainforests of the sea—have been declining at an alarming rate around the world. The threats faced by these extremely diverse and fragile ecosystems are numerous and difficult to control. In addition to weather-related damage, pollution, ocean acidification, coral mining, disease, overfishing and destructive fishing practices, coral reefs are subjected to the negative effects of global warming—increasing sea surface temperatures lead to coral bleaching, a process that makes corals become bone white and often die. A couple of years ago, , “It is difficult being a coral reef scientist in 2012. The system we are studying is dwindling—and we feel there is an urgent need to understand the ecosystem while it still has a pulse. Coral reefs are on target to be one of the first major ecosystems to be pushed to an unproductive state.” Continue reading →