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Think Globally, but Act Locally When Studying Plants, Animals, Global Warming, Researchers Advise

By Guest PostMarch 22, 2011Environment, Natureagriculture, air pollution, butterfly, camille parmesan, climate, climate change, climate change impacts, effects of climate change, extinctions, global scale, global warming, greenhouse gas, habitat fragmentation, human activities, invasive species, los angeles, mediterranean geraniums, michael singer, multiple factors, natural changes, nobel prize, plants and animals, policy makers, quino checkerspot butterfly, san diego, southern california, species, united states, urban sprawl

AUSTIN, Texas — Global warming is clearly affecting plants and animals, but we should not try to tease apart the specific contribution of greenhouse gas driven climate change to extinctions or declines of species at local scales, biologists from The University of Texas at Austin advise.

Camille Parmesan, Michael C. Singer and their coauthors published their commentary online this week in Nature Climate Change.

“Yes, global warming is happening. Yes, it is caused by human activities. And yes, we’ve clearly shown that species are impacted by global warming on a global scale,” says Parmesan, associate professor of integrative biology. (more…)

Reframing Climate Change: It’s as Much Cultural as Scientific

By Guest PostMarch 16, 2011Culture, EnvironmentAl Gore, andy hoffman, climate change, climate change exists, debate, democrats, diagnostic, Environment, evidence of global warming, logic schism, man made phenomena, newspaper editorials, political ideology, prognostic, republicans, united states, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— While debate on climate change often strikes a caustic tone, the real impediment to meaningful dialogue is that the two sides often talk past each other in what amounts to a “logic schism,” says a University of Michigan researcher.

“In a logic schism, a contest emerges in which opposing sides are debating different issues, seeking only information that supports their position and disconfirms their opponents’ arguments,” said Andy Hoffman, the Holcim (U.S.) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at U-M’s Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment. “Each side views the other with suspicion, even demonizing the other, leading to a strong resistance to any form of engagement, much less negotiation and concession.” (more…)

It’s all in a Name: ‘Global warming’ versus ‘Climate change’

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2011Environmentamericans, climate change, conservative think tanks, democrats, general changes, global climate change, global warming, jonathon schuldt, levels of belief, liberal think tanks, norbert schwarz, partisan divide, phenomenon, political orientation, political think tank, republicans, sara konrath, temperature, temperature increases, wording matters, world weather

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Many Americans are skeptical about whether the world’s weather is changing, but apparently the degree of skepticism varies systematically depending on what that change is called.

According to a University of Michigan study published in the forthcoming issue of Public Opinion Quarterly, more people believe in “climate change” than in “global warming.” (more…)

Drier Conditions Projected to Accelerate Dust Storms in the Southwest

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2011Environmentagricultural productivity, arches, arid landscapes, biological soil crusts, canyonlands national parks, climate change, cyanobacteria, drier conditions, drought conditions, dust storm, grasslands, magnitude of runoff, perennial vegetation cover, rates of dust emission, sediment transport, semiarid and arid environments, seth munson, shrublands, southeastern utah, southwest, wind erosion

MOAB, Utah — Drier conditions projected to result from climate change in the Southwest will likely reduce perennial vegetation cover and result in increased dust storm activity in the future, according to a new study by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of California, Los Angeles.

The research team examined climate, vegetation and soil measurements collected over a 20-year period in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in southeastern Utah. Long-term data indicated that perennial vegetation in grasslands and some shrublands declined with temperature increases. The study then used these soil and vegetation measurements in a model to project future wind erosion. (more…)

Canadians More Likely to Support Policies to Address Climate Change Than Americans

By Guest PostFebruary 28, 2011Environmentamerican public opinion, climate change, evolution, global warming

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Americans are less willing to open their wallets to pay for increased production of renewable energy resources than Canadians, a new University of Michigan report indicates. (more…)

Climate Change Affecting Food Safety

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2011Environmentclimate change, food safety, food supply, mycotoxin problem, warm ocean water

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Climate change is already having an effect on the safety of the world’s food supplies and unless action is taken it’s only going to get worse, a Michigan State University professor told a symposium at this year’s meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. (more…)

‘Thawing Permafrost Likely Will Accelerate Global Warming in Coming Decades’

By Guest PostFebruary 18, 2011Environmentalaska, Arctic, atmosphere, carbon, carbon dioxide concentration, climate change, CO2, earth, environmental sciences, fossil fuel emissions, frozen in soil, greenhouse gases, industrial age, kevin schaefer, last glacial period, lori bruhwiler, noaa, permafrost, Siberia, tingjun zhang, warming temperatures

Up to two-thirds of Earth’s permafrost likely will disappear by 2200 as a result of warming temperatures, unleashing vast quantities of carbon into the atmosphere, says a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.

The carbon resides in permanently frozen ground that is beginning to thaw in high latitudes from warming temperatures, which will impact not only the climate but also international strategies to reduce fossil fuel emissions, said CU-Boulder’s Kevin Schaefer, lead study author. “If we want to hit a target carbon dioxide concentration, then we have to reduce fossil fuel emissions that much lower than previously thought to account for this additional carbon from the permafrost,” he said. “Otherwise we will end up with a warmer Earth than we want.” (more…)

Improved Measurements of Sun to Advance Understanding of Climate Change

By Guest PostJanuary 17, 2011Environment, Scienceamount of energy, anthropogenic causes of climate change, calibration facility, climate change, climate respond, earth, global temperature, global warming, greg kopp, industrial revolution, judith lean, laboratory, NASA, optical design, planet, satellite data, solar fluctuations, solar irradiance, solar radiation and climate experiment spacecraft, sorce, spacecraft easurements, sun, tim, total irradiance monitor, total solar irradiance, tsi, tsi value

WASHINGTON — Scientists have taken a major step toward accurately determining the amount of energy that the sun provides to Earth, and how variations in that energy may contribute to climate change.

In a new study of laboratory and satellite data, researchers report a lower value of that energy, known as total solar irradiance, than previously measured and demonstrate that the satellite instrument that made the measurement—which has a new optical design and was calibrated in a new way—has significantly improved the accuracy and consistency of such measurements. (more…)

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