As if worrying about rising sea levels isn’t enough, the evils of climate change are also affecting our food supply. A mix of increased temperatures, changes in rain, and bacterial and fungi outbreaks have hit American farmers hard, causing harvests to fall behind schedule or find complete ruin. With dramatic shifts in weather becoming increasingly common, a number of foods we’re used to eating could be in danger of extinction.
Alaska Glacier photo from Shutterstock
For many years, climate change has displaced millions in the developing world – and now America is seeing its first climate refugees. Over 180 native communities in Alaska are under threat as ice melt, rising seas, and erosion threatens their traditional way of life. A new report by the US Army Corps of Engineers predicts that Alaskan villages such as Newtok (located on the western coast of Alaska and 400 miles south of the Bering Strait) could be completely underwater as soon as 2017.
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The glaciers atop Mt. Everest are melting at an unprecedented rate and anthropogenic global warming is likely to blame. The news comes on the heels of reports that CO2 levels have reached their highest in human history, surpassing the 400 parts per million mark, and climate change is shifting the location of the North and South Poles. Researchers from the University of Milan say that ice coverage on top of Earth’s highest mountain has shrunk by 13 percent in the last five decades.
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Japan has hemmed and hawed about closing its nuclear reactors after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. At first there was talk of closing down all reactors, but the motion was whittled down to affect just those that fail rigorous safety testing, and finally none at all. A panel of seismic experts just announced that one of Japan’s oldest reactors sits on a highly earthquake-prone site and should be shuttered permanently – and the government is taking the first steps towards shutting it down.
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It’s not the sounds of the city or early morning trash removal that forces some Greenpoint, Brooklyn residents out of bed in the morning. Instead, a neighborhood rooster has become a local town favorite by bringing a bit of the countryside to the Kingsborough. Though it may be rather odd for a rooster to be lurking about, most residents don’t seem to be bothered by its crows. We’re curious to know, would you want to trade in your alarm clock for a daily cockle-doodle-doo?
California-based company SeedTabs has announced plans to team up with local cafes to offer customers plant seeds along with their morning java. Customers will be able to sprinkle some seeds on their way to work and contribute to making the environment greener while sipping their first cup of coffee.
A new United Nations report makes the startling assertion that disasters have resulted in $2.5 trillion in damage within the last 13 years alone. Those losses fall principally on the private sector, warned UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said at a New York City launch event for the report: “Governments bear the responsibility for disaster risk reduction. But the level of risk is also related to the where and the how of investment by the private sector, which is responsible for 70 to 85 percent of worldwide investment in new buildings, industry and critical infrastructure.”
New research suggests that people with right wing views are less likely to buy light bulbs that are labeled as “pro-environment” due to the politicized nature of the carbon debate in the United States. In a study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dena Gromet of Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found that consumers’ purchasing decisions are divided along party lines.
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