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J. Timmons Roberts: What did Durban do for climate?

By Guest PostDecember 13, 2011Environment1992 earth summit, american, atmosphere, brown researchers, carbon dioxide, center for environmental studies, China, climate change, climate change negotiations, climate talks in durban, copenhagen, democrats, durban, environmental experts, fossil fuel emissions, global citizens, global network, greenhouse gas emissions, India, j timmons roberts, kyoto protocol, mood, republicans, richard lewis, rio de janeiro, South Africa, timmons roberts, united nations, united states

J. Timmons Roberts, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Environmental Studies, led a group of Brown researchers and students to the United Nations climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa. On his return, Roberts spoke with Richard Lewis, reflecting on the Durban meetings, the status of research, and the challenges of activism on issues of climate change.

Timmons Roberts, professor and director of the Center for Environmental Studies, has just returned from attending climate talks in Durban, South Africa. Roberts and a delegation from Brown — faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students — witnessed the negotiations up close as observers to ministerial speeches and negotiations. The talks ended with an agreement to extend the greenhouse gas emissions targets set under the Kyoto Protocol and a pledge to work on a replacement treaty incorporating the United States, China, and India.

Roberts spoke with Richard Lewis on the importance of the talks, the need for industrialized countries to compensate developing countries for damages from climate change, and the unique opportunity for people from Brown’s environmental program to attend the talks. (more…)

New Projection Shows Global Food Demand Doubling by 2050

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2011Economy, Generalagricultural land, agricultural practices, agronomic practices, belinda befort, carbon dioxide, christian balzer, david tilman, earth, ecosystems, Environment, environmental effects, extinction of species, global agriculture, global food demand, greenhouse gas emissions, human prosperity, jason hill, nitrogen, nitrogen fertilizers, poorer countries, saran twombly, technology transfer, united states, university of minnesota, yield

*Increasing yield in poorer countries could decrease adverse environmental effects*

Global food demand could double by 2050, according to a new projection reported this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The analysis also shows that the world faces major environmental challenges unless agricultural practices change.

Scientists David Tilman and Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota (UMN) and colleagues found that producing the amount of food needed could significantly increase levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the environment, and may cause the extinction of numerous species. (more…)

Scientists Uncover Mechanism That Regulates Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Metabolism

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2011Scienceadenosine triphosphate, atp, body cells, california institute for regenerative medicine, carbon dioxide, carla koehler, cell differentiation, cell functions, chicken or the egg question, cytoplasm, electron transport chain, energy, energy generation by mitochondria in pluripotent stem cells, glycolysis, glycolytic and biosynthesis pathways, human pluripotent stem cells, inactive mitochondria, jin zhang, kim irwin, mature cells in children and adults, metabolic activities, method of generating energy, michael teitell, mitochondria, oxidative phosphorylation, protein, respiration, stem cells, sugar fermentation, ucp2, uncoupling protein 2, visual appearance

Human pluripotent stem cells, which can develop into any cell type in the body, rely heavily on glycolysis, or sugar fermentation, to drive their metabolic activities.

In contrast, mature cells in children and adults depend more on cell mitochondria to convert sugar and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water during a high energy–producing process called oxidative phosphorylation. (more…)

Geologist Finds Fiery Volcano Offers Glimpse into Land That Time Forgot

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Science2009 expedition, birth of a subduction zone, boninite, carbon dioxide, chemical and mineralogical variations in a pristine specimen, david and lucile packard foundation, deep sea volcano, exploding rock and molten lava, fiji, gaseous water, geological and geochemical cycles, geologist, global geochemical cycles, glowing magma, joseph resing, kenneth rubin, lau basin, lava, noaa, nsf, oceanographer, relic volcanos, robert embley, samoa, southwest pacific ocean, submarine volcanic activity, sulfur dioxide, tectonic plate, tonga, university of hawaii at manoa, university of washington, west mata volcano

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa geologist Kenneth Rubin is among the first scientists to witness exploding rock and molten lava from a deep sea volcano, seen during a 2009 expedition. He is co-author of a paper reporting that the eruption was near a tear in the Earth’s crust that is mimicking the birth of a subduction zone.

Scientists on the expedition collected boninite, a rare, chemically distinct lava that accompanies the formation of Earth’s subduction zones. (more…)

U.S. Rivers and Streams Saturated With Carbon

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2011Environmentatmosphere, carbon cycling, carbon dioxide, climate, coastal waterways, david butman, efflux of carbon dioxide, gasoline, global scales, henry gholz, national science foundation, nsf, peter raymond, rivers and streams in the united states, source of atmospheric carbon dioxide

*Significant amount of carbon in land is leaking into streams and rivers, then to the atmosphere*

Rivers and streams in the United States are releasing substantially more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than previously thought.

This according to researchers publishing their results in the current issue of the journal Nature Geoscience. (more…)

Links in the Chain: Global Carbon Emissions and Consumption

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2011Environmentburning fuels, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide emissions, carbon-based fuels, carnegie institution for science, earth’s atmosphere, fossil energy resources, gross domestic product, ken caldeira, national academy of sciences, natural gas, steven davis

Washington, D.C. — It is difficult to measure accurately each nation’s contribution of carbon dioxide to the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon is extracted out of the ground as coal, gas, and oil, and these fuels are often exported to other countries where they are burned to generate the energy that is used to make products. In turn, these products may be traded to still other countries where they are consumed. A team led by Carnegie’s Steven Davis, and including Ken Caldeira, tracked and quantified this supply chain of global carbon dioxide emissions. Their work will be published online by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of October 17. (more…)

U-M ecologist: Future Forests May Soak up More Carbon Dioxide than Previously Believed, Helping to Buffer Climate Change

By Guest PostOctober 16, 2011Environmentandrew burton, aspects of biological diversity, atmospheric carbon dioxide, biodiversity, carbon dioxide, climate change, co2 soaked trees, components of an ecosystem, donald zak, ecosystem, ecosystem modelers, experimental forest, experimental forest in rhinelander, fertilizing effect on trees, forage, genetic diversity, ground-level ozone, heat trapping carbon dioxide gas, human caused climate warming, kurt pregitzer, mark kubiske, nitrogen, north american forests, northeastern wisconsin, paper birch, photosynthesis, projected climate warming, rhinelander, simulate atmospheric conditions, smog, soil, sugar maple, trembling aspen, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— North American forests appear to have a greater capacity to soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas than researchers had previously anticipated.

As a result, they could help slow the pace of human-caused climate warming more than most scientists had thought, a U-M ecologist and his colleagues have concluded. (more…)

Bacterial Communication Could Affect Earth’s Climate

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Environmentatmospheric carbon dioxide, bacteria, bacterial communication, benjamin van mooy, british columbia, canada, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, clayoquot sound, climate, heat trapping greenhouse gas, laura hmelo, marine plants, microscopic bacteria, ocean, particles, particles of carbon rich detritus, phytoplankton, planet, rose kantor, source of carbon, tiny marine animals, tracy mincer, university of washington, vancouver island, vessel barnes, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution, zooplankton

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists have discovered that bacterial communication could have a significant impact on the planet’s climate.

In the ocean, bacteria coalesce on tiny particles of carbon-rich detritus sinking through the depths. WHOI marine biogeochemists Laura Hmelo, Benjamin Van Mooy, and Tracy Mincer found that these bacteria send out chemical signals to discern if other bacteria are in the neighborhood. If enough of their cohorts are nearby, then bacteria en masse commence secreting enzymes that break up the carbon-containing molecules within the particles into more digestible bits. It has been suggested that coordinated expression of enzymes is very advantageous for bacteria on sinking particles, and Hmelo and her colleagues have uncovered the first proof of this in the ocean. (more…)

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