Europe is drowning Sea level rises
Animals on the move due to global warming
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nimals and plants adapting faster than anticipated to climatic change. According to a new study from the biology department of York University, published earlier this month, animals and plants appear to be adapting by migrating three times faster than anticipated to changing climatic conditions. Examples given include the Cetti’s warbler bird which has moved 150 kms North from Kent to the Humber, the Comma butterfly which has moved from central England to Edinburgh (220kms) and the Little Egret which has recently colonised Britain, a place originally too cold for this species.
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Fuel Ecoomy: Save Money on Gas
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he best way to burn less fuel is to buy a car that gets better gas mileage. But our tests with a Toyota Camry and other vehicles show there are ways to minimize what you spend at the pump with your current car.
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T Scientific research indicates sea levels worldwide have been rising at a rate of 0.14 inches (3.5 millimeters) per year since the early 1990s. The trend, linked to global warming, puts thousands of coastal cities, like Venice, Italy, (seen here during a historic flood in 2008), and even whole islands at risk of being claimed by the ocean.
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ore samples, tide gauge readings, and, most recently, satellite measurements tell us that over the past century, the Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL) has risen by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters). However, the annual rate of rise over the past 20 years has been 0.13 inches (3.2 millimeters) a year, roughly twice the average speed of the preceding 80 years. Over the past century, the burning of fossil fuels and other human and natural activities has released enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. These emissions have
caused the Earth’s surface temperature to rise, and the oceans absorb about 80 percent of this additional heat. The rise in sea levels is linked to three primary factors, all induced by this ongoing global climate change: Thermal expansion: When water heats up, it expands. About half of the past century’s rise in sea level is attributable to warmer oceans simply occupying more space. Melting of glaciers and polar ice caps: Large ice formations, like glaciers and the polar ice caps, naturally melt back a bit each summer. But in the winter, snows, made primarily from evaporat-
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ed seawater, are generally sufficient to balance out the melting. Recently, though, persistently higher temperatures caused by global warming have led to greater-than-average summer melting as well as diminished snowfall due to later winters and earlier springs. This imbalance results in a significant net gain in runoff versus evaporation for the ocean, causing sea levels to rise. Ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica: As with glaciers and the ice caps, increased heat is causing the massive ice sheets that cover Greenland and Antarctica to melt at an accelerated pace. Scientists also believe
meltwater from above and seawater from below is seeping beneath Greenland’s and West Antarctica’s ice sheets, effectively lubricating ice streams and causing them to move more quickly into the sea. Moreover, higher sea temperatures are causing the massive ice shelves that extend out from Antarctica to melt from below, weaken, and break off. Consequences. When sea levels rise rapidly, as they have been doing, even a small increase can have devastating effects on coastal habitats.
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UN against gas project
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he Environmental Media Association (EMA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to harnessing the power of the entertainment industry and the media to educate the global public on environmental issues and motivate sustainable lifestyles. Every year Environmental Media Association announces top ten Ecofriendly countries. While making the list they consider the greenhouse emission, nature protection, consumption and attitude criteria. You have perfect opportunity to see and explore top ten worlds greenest countries and cities. Maybe you are living among one of them?
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ccording to Survival International, the United Nations recently demanded an immediate halt to the expansion of a major gas project in the Peruvian Amazon, over concerns that it poses a grave risk to the lives of uncontacted indigenous communities living nearby in protected primary rainforest. The UN’s Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) requested - in a letter to the Peruvian government - the ‘immediate suspension’ of plans to expand the existing Camisea gas project further into the Nahua-Nanti reserve, as it ‘threatens the physical and cultural survival of the indigenous peoples living there.’
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he new AEI study takes into account information from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and consumers related to fuel economy, air pollution and greenhouse gasses for vehicles from the 2006 model year. Fuel economy accounts for about half the score.
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India pitches for extension of Kyoto Protocol
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ew Dehli: Ahead of the UN climate meet in Cancun, India on Wednesday warned that the global negotiations may collapse if there was no extension for Kyoto Protocol which sets binding greenhouse gas emission targets on rich nations from 2013 to 2018.
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he new AEI study takes into account information from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and consumers related to fuel economy, air pollution and greenhouse gasses for vehicles from the 2006 model year. Fuel economy accounts for about half the score.
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