In an average year, the Great Lakes get about 40% ice cover. Now, after the warmest year on record and the first time the world has passed the 1.5°C target for a full year, the most recent Great Lakes ice cover analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service shows that average […]
Quick Key Facts What Are ‘Wetlands’? A wetland is exactly what it sounds like: ground that is covered by or saturated with water for all or part of the year. The water that makes a wetland can come from a variety of different sources, including ocean tides; freshwater sources like lakes, rivers, or ponds; underground […]
A first-of-its-kind study by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) has found that older elephants will have less chance of survival as the climate warms, and this will reverberate throughout the surrounding landscape. The research team has developed models for potential mitigation scenarios, which have already […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch has added three new alert levels to track potential risks to coral reefs and other marine life following the hottest year on record. Previously, Coral Reef Watch’s Bleaching Alert Area product stopped at a Bleaching Alert Level 2, which warned of a “risk of reef-wide […]
Newly discovered documents confirm that the petroleum and automobile industries funded the early climate science of Charles David Keeling at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from 1954 to 1956. Keeling became known for the “Keeling Curve,” which demonstrated the upward trajectory of the planet’s carbon dioxide levels. The documents show that industry leaders were […]
According to a new global policy report — The Economics of the Food System Transformation by the Food System Economics Commission (FSEC) — how food is produced and consumed worldwide is leading to environmental damage and health impacts that add up to about 12 percent of the world’s annual gross domestic product. The researchers found […]
A new study by a team of scientists with the Conservation Ecology Research Unit at South Africa’s University of Pretoria has found that the best way to keep elephant numbers stable is to let them roam freely in protected areas connected to buffer zones, rather than in “fortress” conservation areas where they have less space. […]
Ottawa’s 4.85-mile Rideau Canal Skateway, the largest ice skating rink in the world, reopened on Sunday after remaining closed last year due to climate change. Every winter from January to early March, the gigantic rink on the Rideau Canal — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — is transformed into a commuter’s dream connecting suburbs to […]
An intense drought has led to a 36% decline in traffic for the Panama Canal, one of the most important maritime trade routes in the world. Officials have denied ship crossings 36% as the canal has decreasing water levels from the drought, The Associated Press reported. According to Ricaurte Vásquez, the administrator of the Panama […]