The wildfire climate feedback, tundra´s case: megatonnes of extra CO2

Tundra wildfires pose climate feedbackGlobally 2007 was one of the hottest years on record. In the Arctic it led to the thus far smallest sea ice extent.

But that’s not the only thing unprecedented that happened in the far north. For the first time in 10,000 years fire raged on a massive scale, burning 50 years of accumulated carbon and leaving a soot-blackened soil as prey for albedo feedbacks, further damaging the permafrost.

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Melting Arctic ice releases persistent organic pollutants

Global temperatures are rising and as a result icecaps are melting. But as a study in Nature Climate Change shows icecaps don’t just discharge water when they melt. They also release a gift from generations past in the form of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

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The forest fire feedback, Yellowstone’s case: ecosystem shift by 2050

Climate change increases forest fires YellowstoneClimate change could cause the forests of the world’s oldest national park, Yellowstone, in the Eastern Rocky Mountains, to shift to a gras and shrub ecosystem, US scientists warn. It could happen in four decades, and will likely not be a gradual process.

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Plant protein spares kidneys

If you want to take a single green step, go from beef to chicken. If you want to take things a good step further and are really committed to tackling climate change, stopping deforestation and averting the protein crisis… go tell the good news to your kidneys!

Plant protein are better for your kidneys!
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Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction caused by >16,000 Gt methane – from clathrates

Methane clathrates caused Triassic mass extinctionScientists of Utrecht University have investigated fossil leaves found in terrestrial late Triassic sediments and discovered a large carbon-13 depletion.

That means 200,000,000 years ago The Methane Bomb went off.

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In case of CCD the pest could be worse than the pesticide: P450 enzymes help bees survive chemicals that kill parasite

CCD: pest or pesticide?Usually when we want to get rid of an insect or other arthropod we spray it with something nasty. And that is indeed what beekeepers do to kill varroa destructor, a mite that infects beehives and contributes to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a sudden bee die-off.

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Is smaller and tighter the future for wind farm design?

For the past 30 years we have had the same strategy for building wind farms, making windmills as large as possible and spacing them far apart to avoid them interfering with one another aerodynamically. So it might come as a bit of a surprise to hear that researchers from the California Institute of Technology have come up with all but the opposite of the current approach to wind farm design.

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