Are Tropical Forests Immune to Global Warming?

In recent studies, it has been shown that the rain forest might be more resilient to global warming than other ecosystems. This was found after a study by Dr. Chris Huntingford used digital climate models to show the effects of greenhouse gases. Surprisingly, only one of the models showed a large amount of lost tree cover. We could study what makes the rain forests so resilient, so we could work to make our more vulnerable ecosystems less risky. Personally, I think it is good that the rain forests are so resilient to outside forces, because they contain a large percentage of our world's animal and plant species.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130310163823.htm

Polar Bear Habitat Disappearing

Dr. Seth Carry, a representative from the University of Alabama, is currently working with his team in the western part of the Hudson bay, studying polar bears. They want to know how the melting and refreezing of ice affects the polar bears’ migration. They think that the polar bears are losing area to grow up in. Ways we could help the polar bears, is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that work to melt the polar ice caps. The melting of ice in the polar bears’ habitat is making it hard for them to survive. Personally, I think we should try to help repopulate the polar bear population.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130319202040.htm

Invasive Species Article

Professor David Kimbro and his team of scientists study what factors allow invasive species to survive and succeed in their new habitats, or die and fail. Knowing these things can help prevent the destruction of ecosystems, or help to find ways the invasive species could help out its new environment. Kimbro says that not all invasive species are bad, and that some are needed in their ecosystems. He believes that they are like a double-edged sword; something you should treat with care. Kimbro, currently stationed in Nahant, collects research on the local marine life, to help us better understand the diversification of the ecosystem.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130322125354.htm

Ants Rise With Temperature

Warren with Phd Lacy Chick recently conducted a study on climate temperatures and the migration of ants. The study shows that the lowest not the highest temperatures are critical in determining the migration of warmth-loving ants,Aphaenogaster rudis, to higher elevations. When temperatures begin to drop the ants tend to seek higher elevations. However, when temperatures decrease, the ants seek lower elevations. Ants literally rise with tempature. This same study was done in 1974 and that study recorder much lower elevations than today's study. The scientist concluded that the ants have adapted and become acclimated to higher elevations due to the change in climate temperature. This could indicate that our planet has become warmer. Scientist Warren said, "What seems like a small difference--just two degrees--is having a big impact." So is global warming really occuring?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130321081505.htm

Road Traffic Pollution as Serious as Passive Smoke in the Development of Childhood Asthma

In a resent study, European scientists did a study on the link between chronic asthma and pollution. Their findings were shocking and scary. The results showed that about fourteen percent of Chronic Asthma in children was caused by pollution. The world health organization links another fourteen percent to passive smoking. The team of scientists also configured the percentage of cases that could be prevented in the ten cities if the children were not exposed to road pollution. The findings showed that a large percentage, twenty-five percent could have been prevented if they did not receive exposure. Because of this study the European Commission has declared 2013 the "Year of Air" They have pledged to focus on improving their air quality as well as finding ways to reduce the pollution output. Many American scientists feel like the same study should be done in the states in order to raise better awareness!


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130321205530.htm

Nancy Pelosi urges change

A representative, nancy pelosi is urging congress to start putting more of an emphasis on the environment. When meeting with CNN, nancy told them that she is pushing harder than ever to get people holding political positions more active when it comes to our planet. Nancy is concerned that without awareness of the environmental issues at hand, things will only get worse. She feels that the government puts no time into issues such as: pollution, green energy, alternative energy, and other issues. Nancy has put a lot of pressure on representatives to help raise awareness as well. Nancy could cause our government to push harder than ever for alternative fuel. Nancy and many others feel that we are using up our natural resources at such a fast rate and politicians in Washington are simply turning their cheek! So lets all help out Nancy and her fight for environmental awareness!


http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/03/08/exp-sotu-nancy-pelosi-get-the-job-done-meetings-far-more-important-than-elections-.cnn?iref=allsearch

EcoAndrewSolar

This article might be one of the first of its kind. A new building in England has all solar glass that then transfers it to energy. Its provides an extra 180,000 kilowatts to per year to the UK. Now if every building could move towards this what would our enviroment be like? This is the solution itself. The barrier was broken by this. The world now knows that you can build a skyscraper and have it make its own energy. I think that if every building that had this capability to be remodeled and use solar glass as windows, do it without hesitating. Best idea ever.
http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2013/03/solar-glass-nears-mass-production-levels/

EcoAndrewKillerCats

Did you know that if you have a cat you are taking care of an animal that is slowly ruining our enviroment? Hate to ruin that for you but yes cats have already killed off 9 bird species in Australia! They are also impacting 33 other birds that are now endangered species. Over 100 birds can be killed by one cat in a single week! Do you really want to be the person that has a silent murderer in your house? Think about it. The birds need saved!!! If we can't remove cats what should we do? One plan is to keep them indoors but thats not fair to the animal.My opion is that if you own a cat it shouldn't be outside often enough to kill birds whenever they want. Feed your cats and this won't happen.
http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2013/03/kitty-threat-environment/

EcoAndrewSeaLevel

Have you ever thought of what sea level rising can do besides flooding? Well if you didn't know, the glaciers melting will also cool off earth's temperature. Yes, it sounds backwards because they are melting but they water cools the air. Global warming can also be called "Global Cooling" just because the glaciers melt doesn't mean earth heats up too. A possible solution would be to use less substances that harm the enviroment that lead to glaciers melting. The bad part is not everyone will follow along because they just think it won't happen. So the main problem would be to make sure everyone worldwide is on board and willing to play a part. I think this would be great but honestly think it will never happen. Doesn't mean it won't but probably never will unless technology forces us into the situation.
http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2013/01/massive-sea-level-rise-cooling-effect/#via=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theenvironmentalblog.org%2F2013%2F01%2Fmassive-sea-level-rise-cooling-effect%2F&type=pidget

Polar Bears in Court

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/opinion/polar-bears-go-to-court.html?ref=environment

The battle in court over Polar bears is going on still but this time they lost. American officials met in Bangkok with other world leaders to limit polar bear hunting and poaching. Norway, Canada, Greenland, and Alaska all opposed this because of their Polar bear populations and need for those pelts for trade. They were successful in that but America won one for the bears by keeping them off the threatened list. The Fish and Wildlife service wanted to move Polar bears to the threatened list but America fought and kept them in the endangered list. This is good because they will receive more protection from the governments. One issue about the limit of poaching not regulated is polar bears could drop very fast and become gone forever. A solution would be to fight again to get polar bears limited from hunting. A barrier is that the governments of the countries that trade the pelts need that income from trade. I think we could maybe stop all the hunting but at least regulate it some so we can have polar bears for future generations.

Smog Problems

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729034.500-choking-china-the-struggle-to-clear-beijings-air.html

This Chinese New Year was less colorful than normal according to the article because of the intense smog over Beijing.  It was so bad the government told civilians to stay home indoors and not to use fireworks. The smog was so bad during this if you went outside you could be harmed seriously if you had exposed skin.  Respiratory problems and traffic accidents increased drastically because of the low visibility and air quality. This article describes how big problem smog is in china and if we don’t start changing we could become like them. Some ways to fix this is to try to use cleaner fuels, plant more trees in the cities to help cycle the air and try cleaning up. Some barriers to this are funding, government cooperation and willingness to work. I think China needs to change drastically because if they don’t do something they all could die from smog, we need to get up and start cleaning.

Is the ethanol dream dead?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/us/17ethanol.html?ref=earth&_r=0

               

 

This article is about how ethanol used to be a huge deal and a great idea. It provided many jobs and got lots of government subsidies to the middle of America.  Today however the story is different and the ethanol factories are closing down due to the drought making corn more expensive to use so thousands of barrels sitting in storage. This is causing many people to lose jobs and farmers lose a place to sell their corn reducing profits. A solution would be to either try to get the ethanol pumping again or get rid of it all together so farmers can move on. A barrier though is that the government has invested a lot of money into this idea and has most control on it so it would be hard to move on with them controlling it. I think dropping the program would be best economically, if it didn’t work now why would this work later after we have invested too much money in it?

. Major Fuel and Emissions Savings Unlikely in Automobiles

Major Fuel and Emissions Savings Unlikely in Automobiles

-The U.S. National Academy of Sciences suggests that it will be "extremely challenging" to cut emissions and oil use by 80 percent by 2050 in a new report

By Brian Bienkowski and The Daily ClimateinShare4

This article’s major theme is the current environmental issue, Fuel. Oil is not an unlimited resource, and my opinion on this article is that the public needs to be informed, and serious changes need to be put into place to help reverse this issue while we still have time. In the article it talks about a “Panel” that discusses how they can help this issue. The panel identified four ways to reduce oil use and emissions, or solutions: More efficient gas-powered engines, and vehicles that use biofuels, electricity or hydrogen. Natural gas vehicles were considered, but their greenhouse gas emissions are too high for the 2050 goal. The barriers in this factor would be money, time and research in saving gas but still making a vehicle affordable and also getting the public people to change their ways and begin to respect the environment.

This article originally appeared at The Daily Climate, the climate change news source published by Environmental Health Sciences, a nonprofit media company.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=major-fuel-emission-savings-unlikely-in-automobiles

Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change

Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change

This article is dancing around one of the most popular Economic debates, Climate Change. Climate Change is simply a flocculation in climate and temperature. The negative results webbing out from Climate change are droughts, floods, and water born diseases. With having a poor quality of water, that puts an enormous strand on our economic well-ness.  Poor quality of water means limited amounts of water, and limited water means stressful use of resources that need water. Along with decreasing global warming pollution, protecting and restoring rivers must be part of the solution. Unhealthy water from climate change has a series of solutions, the major is green infrastructure. Green infrastructure is a solution that protects communities and enhances health, the safety and quality of life. Barriers would be informing people of this issue, and having to enforce Green Infrastructure. American river is helping with Barriers to help implement policies that are informing, and preparing people and wildlife for climate change. My opinion is that people need to be more informed and understand the negative aspects that create a ripple down affect from climate change.

http://www.americanrivers.org/initiatives/climate/?gclid=CO-x74_SjLYCFQnznAodOHwATA