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Yale Environment 360
Bird Flu Reaches Antarctic Region
Scientists have recorded the first cases of avian flu in the Antarctic, finding the disease has spread among migrating brown skuas. The recent unexplained deaths of brown skuas on Bird Island in South Georgia spurred researchers with the British Antarctic Survey to test the skuas for avian influenza. Swabs collected were sent to the UK for testing, and the results came back positive for H5N1, a highly contagious form of bird flu. Scientists believe the birds contracted the disease on their yearly migration from Argentina.
Why Native Women’s Voices Are Crucial to Saving Brazil’s Forests
It was 2015 when Cristiane Julião decided to bring together Indigenous women from across Brazil to form a collective that would fight for their rights. As the group — which would eventually be called the National Articulation of Ancestral Warriors Women (ANMIGA) — grew, it began seeking ways to amplify its members’ voices. In 2019, the first-ever Indigenous Women’s March was held in Brasília, with more than 2,500 women from more than 130 Indigenous groups discussing and protesting the rights violations they suffer as Indigenous women.
Human-Caused Warming Now a Major Factor in Formation of El Niño
A new study finds that climate change is increasingly influencing the formation of El Niño. In a typical year, the western Pacific is warmer than the eastern Pacific, but one or twice per decade, warm waters pool in the eastern Pacific. These waters radiate heat into the air, leading to warmer weather across much of the globe. A strong El Niño is now taking shape and, according to NOAA, there is a 99 percent chance that 2023 will be the hottest year on record.
Warming Could Make Northern Wilderness Ripe for Farming, Study Finds
The expansion of farmland is the main cause of terrestrial biodiversity loss globally. And climate climate could exacerbate those losses, according to a new study. Over the next 40 years, under a high-emissions scenario, warming temperatures are expected to make more than 1 million square miles of wilderness — representing 7 percent of the world’s total remaining wilderness outside of Antarctica — newly suitable for growing crops. Most of this land is in northern areas, including Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia.
With Climate Change, Ragweed Season Drags On
The growing season for ragweed, the main cause of allergies in the U.S., has expanded by an average of 11 days since the 1970s, according to a new analysis. As the northern hemisphere warms, the last spring frost of the year is occurring ever earlier, and the first fall frost ever later. As a result of this shift, trees, grasses, and weeds have more time to grow, flower, and release pollen that triggers allergy attacks. The longer growing season is extending pollen production by all 17 types of ragweed that grow in the U.S. in the fall, according to Climate Central. Rising carbon dioxide levels are also at play.
As World Nears Peak Fossil Fuels, Emissions Set to Fall, Analysts Say
As the world rapidly nears peak fossil fuels, energy emissions are headed for decline, according to multiple independent analyses. A new forecast from the historically conservative International Energy Agency indicates that demand for each fossil fuel — coal, oil, and natural gas — is set to peak this decade. “These remarkable shifts will bring forward the peak in global greenhouse gas emissions,” IEA chief Fatih Birol wrote in a recent op-ed for the Financial Times.
Why Is Britain Retreating from Global Leadership on Climate Action?
In 1988, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher became the first world leader to take a stand on fighting climate change. Last month, exactly a quarter-century later, her successor Rishi Sunak tore up a cross-party consensus on the issue that had survived the intervening eight general elections and replaced it with a populist assault on what had been his own government’s environmental policies.
Forest Clearing Slows in the Amazon, but Wildfires Are on the Rise
The last year has seen a dramatic drop in forest clearing in the Brazilian Amazon, but a concurrent rise in wildfires threatens to wipe out these gains, scientists warn. Since taking power in January, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has stepped up law enforcement in the Amazon, curbing the loss of forest to ranchers, farmers, and miners. So far, deforestation is down 50 percent year on year. “It’s incredible, totally crazy,” Tasso Azevedo, a Brazilian analyst, recently told The Guardian. “This is on course to be the sharpest fall since 2005.”
Wildcats Restored to Scottish Highlands
Conservationists have released 19 young wildcats into the Scottish Highlands, hoping to restore a cherished animal on the edge of extinction. Scottish wildcats, which measure around 25 percent bigger than domestic cats, were once common in Scotland, but as of 2019, only around 30 remained in the wild. To boost their numbers, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland began nurturing young cats at a wildlife park in Kingussie.
The Planet’s Big Blue Machine: Why the Ocean Engine Matters
Photographs of Earth taken by astronauts in space more than half a century ago revealed a blue planet dominated by oceans and billowing with clouds. Since then, says British oceanographer and physicist Helen Czerski, scientists have been documenting how global warming is changing the seas in ways that are transforming weather patterns worldwide and, in some cases, imperiling the agricultural systems upon which humanity depends.
In Global First, Farm in Kenya to Produce Fossil-Free Fertilizer On Site
The Kenya Nut Company, near Nairobi, will be the first farm in the world to produce fertilizer, on site, that’s free of fossil fuels. A small fertilizer plant, built by U.S. startup Talus Renewables, will use solar power to strip hydrogen from water; the liberated hydrogen then bonds with nitrogen in the air to form liquid ammonia. Every day, the plant will produce 1 ton of ammonia, which can be applied to crops as fertilizer.
Mutual Healing: The Lessons Learned from an Orphaned Owl
The photo in the text message, from a wildlife rehabilitator friend, looked like a wet washcloth. The text explained that this was a baby bird, found on the ground. No nest in sight. My own experience as a rehabilitator led me to conclude that if this bird was still alive, it would be a surprise.
In a Hotter Climate, Some Trees Could Make Air Pollution Worse
As temperatures rise, warmer weather will spur some trees to release a chemical known to worsen air quality, a new study finds. In hot weather, trees such as oaks and poplars produce isoprene, a compound that helps plants cope with heat stress. In cities, isoprene reacts with car exhaust to form ozone, a pollutant that, at ground level, can cause lung damage.
A Galapagos Island Project Aims to Restore Native Species by Eradicating Invasive Mammals
After more than a decade of intensive planning and research, an extensive campaign to eradicate invasive species on a Galapagos island got underway this week. One of the first islands to be colonized by settlers, in 1832, Floreana now has the highest concentration of threatened species in the Galapagos archipelago: 55 of the island’s native species are threatened, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and 12 species are locally extinct.
Climate Change Is Pushing These Migratory Birds to the Brink
A tight, fast-flying group of 15 small, gray birds appears out of the sky over the vast coastal mudflats of Mauritania’s Banc d’Arguin National Park, where the western edge of the Sahara meets the Atlantic Ocean. They circle around together, extend their long, thin legs, and flutter down to land; these young red knots have just concluded an epic trek that began in northern Siberia and passed through Europe.
Abandoned Lands: A Hidden Resource for Restoring Biodiversity
Gergana Daskalova was nine months old when she was taken in by her grandparents in their small village in Bulgaria. It was soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and her parents had left for the city after the closure of the village’s state-run collective farm. She grew...
Our Oceans Are Getting Greener, Remote Sensing Reveals
Satellite images have confirmed that the world’s oceans have become slightly greener. Scientists suspect climate change is the reason. In a recent study published in Nature, researchers in the United Kingdom and the United States found that nearly 60 percent of the Earth’s ocean surface has undergone a significant change in color, especially in the lower latitudes, over the past 20 years.
Clouds Carry Microplastics. That Could be Worrisome for the Climate.
After sampling the skies over two Japanese mountains, scientists have, for the first time, discovered microplastics in clouds. The finding underscores the extent to which the small particles have invaded nearly every part of the Earth, where they can harm living creatures and even potentially influence the climate, the researchers wrote in their paper.
As Waters Rise, a Community Must Decide: Do We Stay or Go?
Brenda Whitfield recalled the first major flood at her home in the Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, when Hurricane Floyd filled her ground floor with five feet of water. “I was scared half to death,” she said of the 1999 storm. “The water was coming, and the next thing I knew my husband was like, ‘Brenda, you got to leave.’” She rushed with her children to a relative’s house in a higher section of Eastwick while her husband stayed home. “We saw canoes coming to get pets and seniors here,” she said.
Spinning Wind Turbines Kill Nearly a Million Bats a Year. Researchers Aim to Find Out Why.
Land-based wind turbines kill as many as 880,000 bats a year, wiping out so many threatened bats that at least one species could soon become endangered without preventative action, according to a recent study. And since bats eliminate pests from farms and help to pollinate plants, their loss ripples through the environment.
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Yale Environment 360 is an online magazine offering opinion, analysis, reporting, and debate on global environmental issues.
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