Climate change increasing Canada's boreal forest mortality reducing carbon sink capacity

Climate change induced drought and water stress is increasing tree mortality in Canada's boreal forests, particularly in western Canada, resulting in a reduction in biomass which reduces it's capacity as a carbon sink. As tree mortality increases, there is reduced capacity to absorb carbon dioxide, resulting in a feedback loop where conditions become warmer and drier increasing the stress on the

Critical time for stopping the HRL Coal fired power station in Victoria

Victorian residents are fighting to stop the construction of a new 600MW coal fired power station at Morwell in the La Trobe valley. The HRL coal gasification plant proposes to turn brown coal into a synthetic gas which is mixed with natural gas to fire steam turbines to generate electricity. The pollution generated will be the equivalent of a black coal fired powered station, around 4 million

Freshwater wetlands are important carbon sinks says scientific study

A new study has emphasised the importance of the carbon sequestration capacity of freshwater wetlands. The researchers suggest that temperate freshwater wetlands may have a significant part to play in offsetting greenhouse gas emissions as carbon sinks.


The study was conduced by William Mitsch, an environment and natural resources professor and Blanca Bernal, a graduate student, both from

Biodiversity crisis: Habitat loss and climate change causing 6th mass extinction

Scientists meeting at the University of Copenhagen have warned that biodiversity is declining rapidly throughout the world, describing the loss of species as the 6th mass extinction event on the earth. The world is losing species at a rate that is 100 to 1000 times faster than the natural extinction rate, with the challenges of conserving the world's species larger than mitigating the negative

Video: Call of Life - Facing the mass extinction

While writing the article on Biodiversity crisis: Habitat loss and climate change causing 6th mass extinction I came across this film - Call of Life - Facing the mass extinction made by Species Alliance and released in 2010. I found the interviews with scientists and academics engaging and in the sum total empowering to face this issue of the biodiversity crisis and the 6th mass extinction which

Wandering Albatross Riding the winds of climate change

We are stacking the climate dice against the survival of many species on planet earth. A few species may be able to ride the changes, at least temporarily. And so it is with the largest of birds, the wandering albatross, with some populations of this species able to take advantage, so far, of the changing winds of climate change. But for how long?
Global warming has caused the westerly winds in

Biodiversity a crucial climate change buffer for ecosystem and cultural diversity

A new multi-author scientific study says that preservation of plant biodiversity provides a crucial buffer to negative effects of climate change and desertification in drylands. Preventing ecosystem degredation in a warming world is significant with drylands particularly vulnerable to environmental changes and desertification. Dryland ecosystems cover 41% of the land surface of the Earth and

Climate activists protest spying and surveillance authorised by Energy minister Martin Ferguson

Climate and Environment activists along with Occupy Melbourne paid a call on thursday afternoon to Martin Ferguson's electoral office at 159 High Street, Preston. The office was closed early supposedly on occupational health and safety grounds, and had a Federal and Victorian police presence.
Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources and Energy has pushed for increased surveillance of environmental

Scientific breakthrough: Remove CO2 from pollution and atmosphere for alternate fuel

An improved method of removing carbon dioxide (CO2) cheaply from industrial smoketacks and even scrubbing the air has been discovered which may help in stabilising climate and reducing carbon emissions. Resolving the huge problem of climate change and global warming is going to take significant action on many levels. This new technology, if it can be rapidly developed and commercialised, may

Climate change and habitat loss threaten biodiversity, extinction rate underestimated

Two new scientific papers have emphasised the threat to biodiversity from the impacts of climate change and habitat loss. A study by US ecologist Mark Urban identified that predictions of the loss of animal and plant diversity due to climate change may be greatly underestimated as most predictions of the rate of extinctions don't take into account species competition and movement. A second key

Species biodiversity under threat from the velocity of climate change

Scientists have been able to calculate the velocity of climate change on land and ocean environments using temperature records to determine isotherms and their change in a fifty year period from 1960 to 2009. So how fast are climate envelopes moving? The general median answer is 27.3 km/decade on land, and 21.7 km/decade in the ocean. This equates to a speed needed to outrun climate change on

Extreme Weather: Cyclone Thane hits India

One of the last tragic extreme weather events of 2011 was Cyclone Thane hitting the Tamil Nadu coast of India. It caused 46 deaths and damaged buildings, roads and crops. It was the strongest tropical cyclone of 2011 within the North Indian Ocean.
Image from NOAA - Cyclone Thane in the Bay of Bengal
on 28 December 2011, taken by Meteosat

From the Bay of Bengal it made landfall as a very severe

Cyclone Intensity in North Indian Ocean linked to increasing air pollution

A recent study linked increasing air pollution over the Indian sub-continent to an increase in the intensity of Tropical cyclones in the Arabian Sea. The air pollution over the Indian sub-continent changes wind circulation patterns reducing wind shear in the Northern Indian Ocean providing more potential for intense cyclones to form. This is combined with warm sea surface temperatures in the