Ecology
MEPs Urge EU to Ratchet Up Climate Target
Lawmakers in the European Parliament have agreed a new resolution urging EU leaders to set out a 2050 net zero emissions target for the bloc by 2020. In a vote on Wednesday, ahead of the UN’s COP23 meeting in Bonn…
Paris Banned All Cars for a Day to Highlight Pollution Issues
Pedestrians and cyclists cheered two days ago as Paris closed all of its streets to cars. The government held a Car Free Day and the streets filled with bikers, walkers, and roller-bladers instead of smog. Paris held a Car Free…
Geologists: Holocene Epoch Ended, ‘Anthropocene’ Started in 1950s
A group of scientists said that the scope of human impact on planet Earth is so great that the “Anthropocene” warrants a formal place in the Geological Time Scale. “Our findings suggest that the Anthropocene should follow on from the…
New Study Finds Methane Emissions from Cows 11% Higher
Actual global methane emissions from livestock are much higher than previous estimates and could help account for the dramatic upswing in methane emissions over recent years, according to new research. A study published last week in the journal Carbon Balance…
World Can Meet Growing Food Demands and Limit Warming to 1.5°C, Study Says
Agriculture and food production is responsible for around 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Slashing the sector’s emissions is considered to be key to limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, which is the aspirational target of the…
Degraded Tropical Forests Now Release More Carbon Than They Store, New Study Finds
Tropical forests may no longer be acting as carbon sinks and could be releasing more carbon than they store, according to troubling new research. A study published Thursday in the journal Science finds that forests across Asia, Latin America and…
Climate Change May Allow Forest-Destroying Beetles To Move North Rapidly, Study Finds
The range of the southern pine beetle could expand significantly further north than it now does within just a few decades as the result of increasingly warm winters in the regions in question, according to a new study published in…