UPDATE: Air pollution in the Chinese capital reached new, choking heights on Thursday. Those who still felt the urge to catch a glimpse of sunlight were able to gather around the city’s gigantic LED screens, where this glorious sunrise was broadcast as part of a tourism ad. Correction: The original post did not mention that the large screens in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square broadcast panoramic scenes on a daily basis, regardless of atmospheric conditions, nor did it state that the sunrise was part of a tourism commercial. - Beijing's Big Screen Sunrise | TIME.com

CLICK LINK ON HOW CHINA VIEW THEIR SUNRISE>>> Beijing's Big Screen Sunrise | TIME.com:



'via Blog this'

UPDATE: MINDANAO, PH: Flood victims are pulled on inflatable tire tubes as they are evacuated from heavy flooding brought by tropical depression "Agaton", in Butuan, in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao January 20, 2014. Floods and landslides caused by tropical depression "Agaton" have killed 40 people and more than 500,000 people are displaced in Mindanao, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported on Sunday. REUTERS/Erik De Castro (PHILIPPINES - Tags: DISASTER ENVIRONMENT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

CLICK LINK FOR FULL COVERAGE: Flood victims are pulled on inflatable tire tubes as they are evacuated from heavy flooding brought by tropical depression "Agaton", in Butuan | 'Agaton' brings floods in Mindanao - Yahoo News Philippines:



'via Blog this'

UPDATE: New global warming data shows which countries are most responsible - The figures show that the UK comes top of the list, responsible for an increase of 0.54 degrees celsius per billion people, narrowly ahead of the USA (0.51 degrees). Next in line were Canada, Russia, Germany and the Netherlands, with with Australia, Brazil, France and Venezuela rounding out the top ten. The research states that 'Global temperatures have increased by almost a degree since pre-industrial times, and it is clear that human greenhouse gas emissions have been the primary driving force behind this temperature increase.' - Yahoo News Philippines

 "However, the sources of these emissions have and continue to vary dramatically between regions and individual countries, with countries in the developed world responsible for the vast majority of historical emissions.' Different countries are responsible for different kinds of emissions, a fact reflected in the team's breakdown of emissions by source." CLICK LINK TO READ > New global warming data shows which countries are most responsible - Yahoo News Philippines:

'via Blog this'

UPDATE: Polar Vortex News, Photos and Videos - ABC News

CLICK LINK TO SEE FULL NEWS COVERAGE - Polar Vortex News, Photos and Videos - ABC News:

'via Blog this'

UPDATE: Philippines: “The low pressure area was in the vicinity of Surigao del Sur. Because of this weather system, Mindanao, Eastern and Central Visayas will continue to experience cloudy skies with moderate to heavy rains and thunderstorms which may trigger flashfloods and landslides,” PAGASA forecaster Aldczar Aurelio said in a phone interview with ANC. State weather bureau said the LPA seemed to be moving upwards. The Bicol area, Mimaropa, and the rest of Visayas will be under cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms. The north monsoon is also affecting the Northern and Central Luzon. Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon will be cloudy with isolated light rains. Metro Manila's temperature will range anywhere from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius.- Butuan City | View photo - Yahoo Philippines News

CLINK LINK TO READ ARTICLE: Butuan City | View photo - Yahoo Philippines News:

'via Blog this'

UPDATE: Partially frozen Niagara Falls- The polar vortex that has gripped the U.S. and Canada this week has led to some spectacular icy images. The latest come from Niagara Falls, which partially froze on Tuesday, when the high temperature was a record low of minus 2 degrees. The ice formed on the U.S. side of the falls, which straddle the border between the United States and Canada.| Partially frozen Niagara Falls - Yahoo News Philippines

CLICK LINK TO SEE PICTURES: Partially frozen Niagara Falls | Partially frozen Niagara Falls - Yahoo News Philippines:

'via Blog this'

UPDATE: UK Floods Turn Town Into an Island | Watch the video - : "The village of Muchelney in South West England remains cut-off completely by water eight days after the storm that hit parts of the UK. There is a possibility of water levels rising further over the weekend. (Jan. 11)" - Yahoo News Philippines

CLICK LINK TO WATCH VIDEO: UK Floods Turn Town Into an Island | Watch the video - Yahoo News Philippines

'via Blog this'

UPDATE: Earth's New Normal: Wild Weather 2014 | as the New Year began the eastern half of that nation was blanketed by frigid Arctic temperatures more reminiscent to those of outer space as record-breaking wind chills of in excess of -60 degrees (F) were recorded. In fact, in northern Manitoba on New Year's Eve (2013) the mercury touched -62 degrees (F) the same surface temperature as Mars; and by the way, the temperature in the North Pole that afternoon was -6 degrees (F). The meandering polar jet stream is wreaking havoc on the other side of the Atlantic in the U.K. where the Brits have been lashed and pummeled, again by walls of 30-foot waves in concert with king tides (the highest of the year) and colossal hailstones leaving a horrible wake of destruction including destroyed roads, rail lines and floods that with regularity are breaching the defenses. That destruction may be tame compared to the 50-foot waves predicted for Monday (January 6, 2014).- Dr. Reese Halter

"In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia is broiling and enveloped by yet another drought fraught with bushfires. 2013 was their hottest year ever recorded. At 2 degrees (F) above the long-term average it easily surpassed 2005 as the hottest year. Every month in 2013 was 0.9 degree (F) above the normal dating back to the inception of continuous record keeping in 1910. Australia has experienced just one cooler than average year in the last decade -- 2011."
CLICK LINK TO READ FULL ARTICLE Earth's New Normal: Wild Weather 2014 | Dr. Reese Halter:
'via Blog this'

Carbon market woes blunt prospects for Cameroon CDM projects. Two projects in Cameroon are registered to sell carbon credits via the U.N.’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), but the price of CDM offsets has slumped, blunting prospects for the landfill improvement scheme, according to officials with the state-owned Hygiene and Sanitation Company Cameroon (HYSACAM). The Nkolfoulou-Yaounde and PK 10 Douala plants, built at a cost of around 10 million euros (around $13.6 million), mitigate methane emissions from waste decomposition by capturing and destroying landfill gas in enclosed flare stations. “We started these two landfill projects in 2009, with plans to use our expertise to reproduce similar projects in other countries in the Congo Basin by 2015. But the expansion has been delayed for lack of funding,” said Bikoe Betrant Noel, head of Nkolfoulou-Yaounde. According to Noel, the landfill projects are expected to generate more than 1 million CDM carbon credits by the end of 2015, but so far it has proven hard to find buyers for them. “These are the first CDM projects in the Central African region, and we had envisaged reproducing similar projects in the other countries in the region at an estimated cost of 4.8 million euros ($6.5 million) each, but we don’t have funding for this,” Noel said. Facilities to convert the trapped methane into cheap cooking gas have also had to be put on hold, HYSACAM director-general Michel Ngapanou said last year.

 "An initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites in Cameroon cannot be expanded to other Central African countries as planned due to a lack of income from the troubled carbon market, its backers say."
CLICK LINK TO READ FULL ARTICLE Carbon market woes blunt prospects for Cameroon CDM projects:
'via Blog this'

What climate action can we expect in 2014? - First, there seems to be more effective pressure from activists and fractivists to fight fossil fuel subsidies worldwide. While 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day, unnecessary, wasteful fossil fuel subsidies benefiting profitable polluters such as the oil and gas or the steel industries amount to $5 billion a day (!). Second, climate action is increasingly dependent on the private sector (which already accounts for 62% of climate finance flows according to the Climate Policy Initiative) and crystallized around carbon pricing: According to the Brookings Institute, from 2013 onward, 3 billion people in 36 countries, 11 sub-national jurisdictions in the United States and Canada, and seven cities and provinces in China (and from 2016, all of China) are covered by Emissions Trading Schemes. Other countries are considering market options or have already implemented them, for example India via the introduction of traded renewable energy certificates. The private sector likely will be implementing more climate friendly projects, incentivised by renewable energy support or its mirror image, decreasing fossil fuel subsidies.. Comment - Voices - The Independent

 "China encapsulates this fundamental shift in climate policy dynamics.  Still pounding the tables at the UN Climate Talks with 20-year old policy positions which put other delegates to sleep, its climate action at home has been nothing short of majestic:  Chinese public opinion has forced multiple steps to be adopted to combat local air pollution (including potentially sentencing very bad actors to death), economic growth is increasingly becoming secondary to its people’s health and for good measure, it is unveiling the largest carbon pricing initiatives (both carbon markets and carbon taxes) in the world." CLICK LINK TO READ FULL ARTICLE What climate action can we expect in 2014? - Comment - Voices - The Independent:

'via Blog this'

CHICAGO (AP) — A whirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a "polar vortex" descended Monday into much of the U.S., pummeling parts of the country with a dangerous cold that could break decades-old records with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama. Historic freeze could break Midwest temp records For a big chunk of the Midwest, the subzero temperatures were moving in behind another winter wallop: more than a foot of snow and high winds that made traveling treacherous. Officials closed schools in cities including Chicago, St. Louis and Milwaukee and warned residents to stay indoors and avoid the frigid cold altogether. The forecast is extreme: 32 below zero in Fargo, N.D.; minus 21 in Madison, Wis.; and 15 below zero in Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills — what it feels like outside when high winds are factored into the temperature — could drop into the minus 50s and 60s. "It's just a dangerous cold," said National Weather Service meteorologist Butch Dye in Missouri. It hasn't been this cold for almost two decades in many parts of the country. Frostbite and hypothermia can set in quickly at 15 to 30 below zero.

'Polar vortex' pushes subzero temps into Midwest - Yahoo News: click link to read complete article

'via Blog this'

Is Genetics Key to Climate Change Solutions? (Op-Ed) - Yahoo News. Plants are well known to possess extensive genetic variation in drought and temperature tolerance, water-use efficiency, and other traits that can prove critical for surviving climate changes and avoiding extinction. Changing climate conditions not only affect the plants themselves, but also other organisms that influence plant communities. For example, changing climate conditions may increase pest and pathogen outbreaks or allow an invasive species to move into an area that was previously inhospitable. Importantly, plants also exhibit genetic variation in their responses to pests and invasive species that can be used to mitigate their negative effects. The use of genetics will become increasingly important in regions suffering from climate change. For example, in the western United States, drought and higher temperatures have doubled the rate of tree mortality since 1995, with mortality rates accelerating over time. Pinyon pine, an iconic and dominant species in the West, has suffered nearly 100 percent mortality at sites in Colorado and Arizona, where climate change has made trees more susceptible to bark beetle outbreaks that in turn result in increased wildfires. Fortunately, plant genomes — all of an organism's genetic information — are a vast storehouse of genetic variability that can be used to help prevent the loss of species suffering from climate change. New technology and research platforms are making it possible for researchers to identify those individuals and populations that will survive in the climates of the future and in the face of the myriad cascading effects of climate change. Genetics-based environmental research is already helping to restore damaged and degraded landscapes. For more than 30 years, a consortium of researchers has examined how genetic variation in the cottonwood tree can affect entire communities of organisms from microbes to mammals. This research has been involved with a 50-year, $626 million effort on the lower Colorado River that shows major genetics-based differences in the success of different populations that the Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies are using to restore riparian habitat. From such combined restoration-research experiments, scientists can learn which genetic lines are most likely to survive future climates. Understanding a plant's response to climate conditions requires the integration of diverse sciences to examine how changing conditions influence the plant through its life history and that of its offspring. Plant species become adapted to local conditions over thousands of years, meaning that what is locally adapted today could do poorly tomorrow as the climate changes. Thus, genetics-based research can help identify those individuals that possess superior traits that will allow them to survive in a future climate. This type of research involves interdisciplinary teams of climate-change scientists, biologists, geneticists, modelers and engineers who are using and developing new technologies and research platforms to unlock the vast stores of information within plant genomes.

Is Genetics Key to Climate Change Solutions? (Op-Ed) - Yahoo News: click link to read full article

'via Blog this'

UPDATE: Climate change may be far worse than scientists thought, causing global temperatures to rise by at least 4 degrees Celsius by 2100, or about 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a new study. The study, published in the journal Nature, takes a fresh look at clouds' effect on the planet, according to a report by The Guardian. The research found that as the planet heats, fewer sunlight-reflecting clouds form, causing temperatures to rise further in an upward spiral. That number is double what many governments agree is the threshold for dangerous warming. Aside from dramatic environmental shifts like melting sea ice, many of the ills of the modern world -- starvation, poverty, war and disease -- are likely to get worse as the planet warms. "4C would likely be catastrophic rather than simply dangerous," lead researcher Steven Sherwood told the Guardian. "For example, it would make life difficult, if not impossible, in much of the tropics, and would guarantee the eventual melting of the Greenland ice sheet and some of the Antarctic ice sheet." Another report released earlier this month said the abrupt changes caused by rapid warming should be cause for concern, as many of climate change's biggest threats are those we aren't ready for.

Climate Change Worse Than We Thought, Likely To Be 'Catastrophic Rather Than Simply Dangerous': "In September, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said it was "extremely likely" that human activity was the dominant cause of global warming, or about 95 percent certain -- often the gold standard in scientific accuracy."

'via Blog this'