The world is on a crash course to run out of freshwater, according to United Nation’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. At yesterday’s UN’s International Day of Biological Diversity, Ban Ki-moon addressed a number of the water security issues facing the planet today. Only a small amount of water on earth is freshwater, and the Secretary General reinforced that there is a delicate relationship between water and biodiversity.

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Post tags: ban ki-moon, Biodiversity, Climate Change, conservation, ecology, ecosystems, global crisis, United Nations, water issues, water shortage

Last week the world reached a grim milestone: Levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide passed 400 parts per million for the first time in human history. It’s widely understood that this is the result of human carbon dioxide emissions. But did you know that without the help of the oceans, plants and soils this figure would already be well above 500 ppm? By analyzing where our carbon emissions come from and where they go we know that less than half of human emissions since the industrial revolution remain in the atmosphere. Although they don’t get much press we should all be thankful to these wonderful carbon sinks. Without them things would be even worse. Learn more at Shrink That Footprint.

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Post tags: carbon dioxide levels, carbon sinks, carbon sinks infographic, Climate Change, climate change infographic, global warming, human carbon dioxide emissions, shrink that footprint

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.

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Post tags: Climate Change, eco design, food extinction, food shortage, green design, ruined crops, sustainable design, world food supply

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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Post tags: alaska, Arctic Council, bering strait, Climate Change, climate refugees, erosion, glacial melt, global warming, newtok, ninglick river, obama administration, us army corps of engineers, water issues

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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Post tags: anthropogenically-induced climate change, Climate Change, Environment, global warming, melting glaciers, News, University of Milan, world's highest mountain

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.”

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Post tags: ban ki-moon, Climate Change, disaster risk reduction, extreme weather, GAR, global warming, UN, UNISDR, United Nations

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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Post tags: carbon emissions, cfl bulb, Climate Change, conservative, consumer, dena gromet, Environmentally Friendly, green, incandescent, jacquelyn ottman, liberal, light bulb, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, protect the planet, the new rules of green marketing, wharton school of the university of pennsylvania

Every year since 2005, the North Pole has shifted several centimeters, and researchers have now attributed those rapid changes to climate change. While the location of each pole is always in seasonal flux, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin used data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) to establish that the melting Greenland Ice sheet and other ice losses are responsible for the accelerated yearly polar drift.

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Post tags: Climate Change, Environment, global warming, melting greenland ice sheet, melting polar caps, Nature, News, Shifting polar poles, university of texas

We all know that sea levels across the world are steadily rising due to climate change, but just how these changes will affect us remains to be seen. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) just released a report that states melting ice could cause water levels to rise nearly 27 inches around the world by 2100.

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Post tags: Climate Change, eco design, global warming, green design, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, sustainable design

After news broke last week that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have officially passed the 400 parts per million mark, a leading economist and researcher warned that hundreds of millions of people will become climate refugees in the coming decades. The head of Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Lord Stern warned that mass migrations will occur as a result of climate change, which will exacerbate desertification and cause entire continents to experience crop failure.

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Post tags: 400ppm carbon dioxide levels, armed conflict from climate change, Climate Change, climate refugees, crop failure, desertification, environmental news, Lord Stern Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, melting ice caps, News, rising sea levels, rising temperatures

Google’s amazing new Timelapse may be the closest thing to a time machine that we’ve seen yet. Forget waiting for Doc to fix the time-traveling Delorean, Timelapse has the capability of showing some of the big changes seen on Earth since 1986. Although it can only go back 28 years, the feature lets us see the incredible growth of urban sprawl, or deterioration of the world’s forests, and the drift and melt of glaciers from year to year.


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Post tags: Climate Change, eco design, global change, Google Timelapse, green design, nasa, sustainable design, US Geological Society

We broke a record this week — but not the good kind. On Thursday, scientists at a research facility on top of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii reported that average daily levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time. As the New York Times notes, CO2 levels haven’t been this high for at least 3 million years, meaning that we are likely to see changes to the climate never experienced by humans before. The 400 PPM milestone is symbolic, but it’s a reminder of how global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions are failing.

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Post tags: 400 parts per million, 400 PPM, atmospheric CO2, Bill McKibben, carbon dioxide, Climate Change, CO2 concentrations, CO2 emissions, global warming, greenhouse gasses, james hansen, NOAA, Pollution

A crater lake in northeast Siberia is giving researchers a much better idea of how the world’s polar regions may change due to the increased saturation of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Formed by a one kilometer wide meteorite about 3.6 million years ago, the un-glaciated Lake El’gygytgyn lies 100 km north of the Arctic circle and provides the only unbroken climate record depicting the last time CO2 levels were as high as they are now. At the time, temperatures were 8C higher, the north was covered in lush tundra forests, and sea levels were 40 meters higher, The Guardian reports.

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Post tags: Climate Change, climate change research, environmental news, global warming, Lake El'gygytgyn, meteorite crater, NE Siberia crater lake, rising temperatures

Though they cover 30 percent of Earth’s total land area, we know remarkably little about how much biomass and carbon are contained in the planet’s forests. A new satellite will be launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in an attempt to expand this area of knowledge, and learn more about the viability of current and future conservation tactics. The satellite, named Biomass, will use advanced sensors to map and monitor every tree-covered portion of the planet, “weighing” their biomass and hidden carbon. ESA scientists hope new data collected by the satellites will help researchers understand better the role trees play in the cycling of carbon on Earth and, by extension, the influence this has on the planet’s climate.

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Post tags: biomass, carbon storage, Climate Change, conservation, european space agency, global warming, Satellite, Trees

With tomatoes from Chile, salmon from Norway, chocolate from Africa, and coffee from Indonesia, a trip to the local grocery store can seem like a journey around the world. But food security is a serious issue in the 21st century, as countries around the world struggle to produce enough food to feed their growing populations. A new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany that was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters suggests that over half of the world’s population could depend on imported foods by 2050.

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Post tags: central america, Climate Change, diet, food security, germany, imported food, marianela fader, Middle East, North Africa, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, self sufficiency

Read the rest of Haunting Images Show What Major US Cities Would Look Like if Sea Levels Rose 25 Feet

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Post tags: boston, Climate Change, global climate change, Miam, New York., Nickolay Lamm, rising sea levels, sea level, Washington DC

Researchers warn that the cold Arctic seas are undergoing a process of rapid acidification as a result of rising carbon emissions. With its protective ice cap diminishing during summer months and greater swaths of surface area exposed to the air, the cold Nordic seas absorb atmospheric carbon at a faster rate than warmer waters. Acidification destabilizes ocean chemistry and endangers the fragile ecosystem. Though scientists from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) warn that rapid change is afoot, they are unable to predict exactly what changes will occur.

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Post tags: acidification, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), arctic seas, carbon emissions, Climate Change, Environment, global warming, Nature, News, nordic seas, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, ocean chemistry, pH of arctic seas, science

NASA’s Mars Rover might have captured headlines, but a new bot deployed in Greenland might be doing even more important work. NASA’s newest scientific rover, a robot known as GROVER, is on its way to Greenland for over a month of testing on the ice-covered country’s highest elevations. GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, is powered by the sun and will help scientists better understand changes in the quickly-shrinking ice sheet.

Read the rest of NASA Sends ‘Grover’ Solar-Powered Rover Right Over Greenland’s Shrinking Arctic Ice Sheet

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Post tags: Arctic, arctic ice, Climate Change, global warming, greenland, Grover Eco Rover, nasa, robots, Rover, scientific research

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Post tags: climate central, Climate Change, environmental destruction, environmental news, global warming, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Sandy's wake, new jersey, New York., News, sewage, superstorm, untreated human waste

Critics say that the Obama Administration hasn’t done enough to fight climate change, but a new campaign launched by Organizing for Action – the group behind both of Obama’s presidential campaigns – suggests otherwise. OFA sent out an email to supporters this week with a video that pokes fun at leading Republican figures who have publicly denounced climate change as a hoax, The Guardian reports. This new grassroots push aims to call out congressional leaders who have blocked efforts to implement widespread reforms that combat climate change.

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Post tags: Climate Change, climate politics, congress, Environment, global warming, grassroots campaign, John Boehner, News, Obama campaign, Organizing for Action, republican climate skeptics, united states