Predictions suggest a build-up of about 80,000 tonnes of plastic in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between California and Hawaii.
This figure is up to sixteen times higher than previously reported, say international researchers.
lordofdiapers wrote:Paul is worthy
guy forget wrote:Woah wait a minute Phish is dumb as hell
object wrote:The tendency of people to move to cities, either out of desire or perceived necessity, creates a great opportunity. If we managed urbanisation properly, we could nearly remove ourselves from a considerable percentage of the the planet’s surface. That would be good for many of the threatened species we share this planet with, which in turn would be good for us, because we are completely enmeshed in Earth’s web of life.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018 ... y-robinson
WHAT’S REALLY IN THE PATCH?
Microplastics make up 94 percent of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch. But that only amounts to eight percent of the total tonnage. As it turns out, of the 79,000 metric tons of plastic in the patch, most of it is abandoned fishing gear—not plastic bottles or packaging drawing headlines today.
A comprehensive new study by Slat’s team of scientists, published in Scientific Reports Thursday, concluded that the 79,000 tons was four to 16 times larger than has been previously estimated for the patch. The study also found that fishing nets account for 46 percent of the trash, with the majority of the rest composed of other fishing industry gear, including ropes, oyster spacers, eel traps, crates, and baskets. Scientists estimate that 20 percent of the debris is from the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
DasLofGang wrote:the last male white rhino died
lordofdiapers wrote:Paul is worthy
guy forget wrote:Woah wait a minute Phish is dumb as hell
doomedhuh wrote:only love can break your heart
Each year the Earth's forests, oceans and land soak up about 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon that would otherwise end up in our atmosphere adding to temperatures.
But as the world experiences warming, these carbon sinks could become sources of carbon and make the problems of climate change significantly worse.
So whether it is the permafrost in northern latitudes that now holds millions of tonnes of warming gases, or the Amazon rainforest, the fear is that the closer we get to 2 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels, the greater the chances that these natural allies will spew out more carbon than they currently now take in.
According to the research paper, crossing into a Hothouse Earth period would see a higher global temperature than at any time in the past 1.2 million years.
The climate might stabilise with 4-5 degrees C of warming above the pre-industrial age. Thanks to the melting of ice sheets, the seas could be 10-60 metres higher than now.
Essentially, this would mean that some parts of the Earth would become uninhabitable.
The impacts would be "massive, sometimes abrupt and undoubtedly disruptive," say the authors.
The only upside, if you can call it that, is that the worst impacts may not be felt for a century or two. The downside is that we wouldn't really be able to do anything about it, once it starts.
lordofdiapers wrote:Paul is worthy
guy forget wrote:Woah wait a minute Phish is dumb as hell
Paul wrote:https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45084144Each year the Earth's forests, oceans and land soak up about 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon that would otherwise end up in our atmosphere adding to temperatures.
But as the world experiences warming, these carbon sinks could become sources of carbon and make the problems of climate change significantly worse.
So whether it is the permafrost in northern latitudes that now holds millions of tonnes of warming gases, or the Amazon rainforest, the fear is that the closer we get to 2 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels, the greater the chances that these natural allies will spew out more carbon than they currently now take in.According to the research paper, crossing into a Hothouse Earth period would see a higher global temperature than at any time in the past 1.2 million years.
The climate might stabilise with 4-5 degrees C of warming above the pre-industrial age. Thanks to the melting of ice sheets, the seas could be 10-60 metres higher than now.
Essentially, this would mean that some parts of the Earth would become uninhabitable.
The impacts would be "massive, sometimes abrupt and undoubtedly disruptive," say the authors.
The only upside, if you can call it that, is that the worst impacts may not be felt for a century or two. The downside is that we wouldn't really be able to do anything about it, once it starts.
I think I've been doing a pretty good job of reducing my carbon footprint on this planet, though I do still drive a car, but it'd be great if some people in charge would actually do something about it.
Please keep the republicans out of office, for starters.
Ferrous Bueller wrote:Milk wrote:Also read an article written by two ecologists who say that when the mic is off, a lot of people, experts and scientists, who have spent their lives fighting for the environmental cause and against climate change tell them they don't believe in the cause anymore, that it's over and that humanity have lost.
link?
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