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Erosion in a Derbyshire, UK valley by the northern escarpment of Kinder Scout. Stephen Thompson / Bend in the River Ashop / CC BY-SA 2.0

UK Could Become ‘Net Zero by 2050’ Using Negative Emissions

By Daisy Dunne

The UK could cut its emissions to "net-zero" within the next three decades by stepping up investment into technologies that can remove CO2 from the atmosphere, a report finds.

However, such methods, which are known collectively as "negative emissions technologies" (NETs), would only be effective if paired with drastic efforts to cut the UK's current rate of emissions, the findings suggest.

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Climate
Roots of mangrove trees, Para State, Brazil. Ricardo Lima / Getty Images

Amazon Mangroves ‘Twice as Carbon Rich’ as Its Rainforests

By Daisy Dunne

The vast mangroves of the Amazon store twice as much carbon per hectare as the region's tropical forests, new research shows.

The relatively understudied ecosystem also stores 10 times more carbon than Amazon savannahs—a type of grassy plain with sparsely populated trees, according to the study.

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Animals
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New Sightings Prove Rare Bahama Bird Not Yet Extinct

A rare bird some feared extinct has been found by research teams at University of East Anglia (UEA) and University of the Bahamas-North after an extensive search, but that doesn't mean the endangered species is out of the woods, UEA reported Thursday.

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Climate
Cars drive down a hill in a mandatory evacuation area as the Holy Fire burns in Cleveland National Forest on Aug. 8 in Lake Elsinore, California. The fire has burned at least 6,200 acres and destroyed twelve structures. Mario Tama / Getty Images

Summer Rainfall Declines ‘Primary Driver’ of Surge in U.S. Wildfires

By Daisy Dunne

Sharp declines in summer rainfall could be a "primary driver" of the record-breaking wildfires ripping across the western U.S., research shows.

Using satellite data, the study finds that there have been "previously unnoted" declines in summer rainfall across close to a third of forests in the western U.S. over the past four decades. These declines are "strongly correlated" with wildfire increases, the study finds.

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Health
Hero Images / Getty Images

Study: Children Have Better Nutrition When They Live Near Forests

Spending time in nature is known to boost mental and emotional health. Now, a new global study has found that children in 27 developing nations tend to have more diverse diets and better nutrition when they live near forests.

The paper, published Wednesday in Science Advances, provides evidence that forest conservation can be an important tool in promoting better nutrition in developing countries, rather than clear-cutting forests for more farmland.

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Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing before attending a Trump cabinet meeting on Aug. 16. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Zinke Announces Plan to Fight Wildfires With More Logging

The Trump administration announced a new plan Thursday to fight ongoing wildfires with more logging, and with no mention of additional funding or climate change.

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GMO
Poplar trees in Morrow, Oregon. Andy Simonds / Flickr

Long-Term Risks of GE Trees Remain Unanswered

The following is a joint statement from Global Justice Ecology Project, Indigenous Environmental Network, Rural Coalition, Biofuelwatch and Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.

In an apparent effort to allay serious public and scientific concerns about contamination threats from genetically engineered (GE) trees, on Aug. 3 researchers at Oregon State University claimed they had genetically engineered sterility into poplar trees. The real story of the study, however, is that the risks of genetically engineering trees are too great and can never fully be known.

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The Blue Nile Falls / Tis Abay / Tis Issat near Bahar Dar, Ethiopia, East Africa. Arterra / UIG via Getty Images

Pay More Attention to Forests to Avert Global Water Crisis, Researchers Urge

Australia's Murray Darling basin covers more than a million square kilometers (approximately 386,000 square miles), 14 percent of the country's landmass. It's the site of tens of thousands of wetlands, but increasing demand for water has stretched its resources to the limit.

Many of the basin's wetlands and floodplain forests are declining—several former wetlands and forests have even been consumed by bushfires, which are becoming more frequent every year. Yet when Australian officials sought to introduce strict water allocation rules, they met with fierce resistance from farmers in the region who depend on irrigation for their livelihood.

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Insights
Sea level rise is a natural consequence of the warming of our planet. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

We Can’t Hide From Global Warming’s Consequences

Over the past few months, heat records have broken worldwide.

In early July, the temperature in Ouargla, Algeria, reached 51.3°C (124.34°F), the highest ever recorded in Africa! Temperatures in the eastern and southwestern U.S. and southeastern Canada have also hit record highs. In Montreal, people sweltered under temperatures of 36.6°C (97.88°F), the highest ever recorded there, as well as record-breaking extreme midnight heat and humidity, an unpleasant experience shared by people in Ottawa. Dozens of people have died from heat-related causes in Quebec alone.

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