Climate Change Stress Killing Forests, and Why it Matters
Forests cover some 30 percent of Earth’s surface, and it’s hard to overestimate how crucial they are to the functioning of the planet. Forests provide shelter for uncountable numbers of species, hold soil in place that would otherwise wash away, pull excess carbon out of the atmosphere, absorb and re-emit water at such a rate that they literally … Read More
‘Blue Carbon’ Adding to Carbon Emission Blues
According to a new paper in the journal PLOS ONE, so-called blue carbon “ carbon that is pulled from the atmosphere by coastal vegetation including mangroves, sea grasses and salt marshes and stored away in sediments at the edge of the sea -- is now being released at the prodigious rate of between 150 million and 1.02 billion tons every year.… Read More
Encroaching Seas Pit Parking Against Preservation
CHINCOTEAGUE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Va. — A sign at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service visitor center here states a simple motto: "Where Wildlife Comes First." But many visitors never see the sign, or much wildlife. Cars stream past the center on hot summer days, headed for a mile-long public beach at the refuge's southern end. The prime goals … Read More
In Fear of Firebugs Across the West
In a little over a decade, the largest mountain pine beetle outbreak on record (by a factor of 10) has killed more than 70,000 square miles of Rocky Mountain forests — an area the size of Washington State. From above, the infested pine trees seem color-coded: green is healthy, red is dead, and after three or four years, the dead red needles fall of… Read More
Climate is Ripe for Deadly West Nile Virus Attack on Texas
Texas dodged one major bullet this year: the crushing drought that seared the Lone Star State in 2011 shifted its sights northward in 2012, frying the nation’s agricultural midland but leaving Texas at least a little wetter than it was last summer. But that little bit of extra moisture has put Texas in the crosshairs of another climate-related … Read More
Forest Service Fights All Fires Now, But at What Cost?
On July 12, lightning sparked a forest fire in western Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex — a place where wildfires are common this time of year. Usually, if they’re small and don’t threaten to get out of control, the U.S. Forest Service will let them burn. Small fires are good for the forest ecosystem, burning off dead timber and creating … Read More
Study Shows Planet Keeping Pace With CO2 Emissions
Climate change is a serious enough problem, but it could be a lot worse. About half of the carbon dioxide we’ve pumped into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels has been re-absorbed by plants and oceans, rather than staying in circulation to drive up temperatures. Scientists are convinced this can’t go on forever — but a new study in Nature shows… Read More
Drought Intensifies and May Last Through October
“It’s hard to believe that it’s getting worse, but it is, even with some rain in the region, said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.… Read More
