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Microsoft YouthSpark Grants to Encourage Youth to Do Great Things

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 2012Jobs, Technology21 st, akron, alex richards, america, anthony carmona, boys, brian hughes, brighton, century, Chicago, city year, clubs, create, cristian malpica, girls, high school, ja, marlin dacruz, megan pilbeam, Microsoft, new york, newton, nfte, nonprofit, ohio, opportunity, orion casey, ozone park, ryan gomes, samantha lewis, skill, stephanie foxworth, stephen hall, tiffany hill, travis holloway, US, Washington, world, year up, youth, youthspark initiative

As part of a commitment to create opportunities for 300 million youth around the world during the next three years, Microsoft announces support for five national U.S. nonprofits that focus on youth causes. Here’s a look at how these organizations are making a difference.

REDMOND, Wash. — As part of the launch of the Microsoft YouthSpark initiative, Microsoft announced national partnerships with five major nonprofit organizations with missions to give youth the skills, education and job training they need to succeed: Boys & Girls Clubs of America, City Year, Junior Achievement USA (JA), Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and Year Up.

On the surface, the nonprofit grants aim to bolster programs that help youth learn important 21st-century skills, find jobs and connect with caring adult mentors. (more…)

Today’s Severe Drought, Tomorrow’s Normal

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2011Environmentatmospheric greenhouse gases, balance, benjamin santer, berkeley lab, canada, century, climate models, david easterling, drought, dust bowl, evapotranspiration, global climate, jay lawrimore, Mexico, michael wehner, noaa, normal occurrence, North America, oklahoma, precipitation, richard heim, russell vose, severe drought conditions, simulations, state-of-the-art, texas, united states, warming planet

*Berkeley Lab scientists part of team that analyzed 19 state-of-the-art climate models.*

While the worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s grips Oklahoma and Texas, scientists are warning that what we consider severe drought conditions in North America today may be normal for the continent by the mid-21^st century, due to a warming planet.

A team of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) came to this conclusion after analyzing 19 different state-of-the-art climate models. Looking at the balance between precipitation and evapotranspiration—the movement of water from soil to air—they found that no matter how rainfall patterns change over the next 100 years, a warming planet leads to drought. Their results were published in the December 2011 issue of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Hydrometerology. (more…)

Tropical Forest Diversity Increased During Ancient Global Warming Event

By Guest PostNovember 18, 20101 commentEnvironment, Nature, Scienceangiosperm pollen, atmospheric carbon dioxide, carlos jaramillo, century, Colombia, eldredge bermingham, global warming, joe wright, outcrops, paleocene-eocene thermal maximum, panama, rainforests, scanning electron microscopy image, taxa, temperature increase, tropical areas, Venezuela

The steamiest places on the planet are getting warmer. Conservative estimates suggest that tropical areas can expect temperature increases of 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Does global warming spell doom for rainforests? Maybe not. Carlos Jaramillo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and colleagues report in the journal Science that nearly 60 million years ago rainforests prospered at temperatures that were 3-5 degrees higher and at atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 2.5 times today’s levels.

About the image: This is a scanning electron microscopy image of characteristic angiosperm pollen taxa from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Image credit: Francy Carvajal, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (more…)

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Microsoft YouthSpark Grants to Encourage Youth to Do Great Things

Today’s Severe Drought, Tomorrow’s Normal

Tropical Forest Diversity Increased During Ancient Global Warming Event