Easy ...You are kind of pathological, aren't you? M'kay, gonna leave this alone for now. The crazy might start catching.
Easy ...You are kind of pathological, aren't you? M'kay, gonna leave this alone for now. The crazy might start catching.
A third of tropical African plants are on the path to extinction, according to a new assessment.
Much of western Africa, Ethiopia, and parts of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the hardest hit regions, standing to lose more than 40% of their richness of plants.
Species at risk include trees, shrubs, herbs and woody vines. Threats include deforestation, population growth and climate change, the scientists said.
"Biodiversity provides countless benefits to humans and losing diversity jeopardises our future," said lead researcher Dr Thomas Couvreur of the French National Institute for Sustainable Development.
Loss of biodiversity will be particularly problematic in tropical Africa, "a region of incredible diversity but with major social and political challenges and expected rapid population growth over the next decades", he added.
So far, almost nine in 10 mammals and two-thirds of birds have been assessed, but less than 8% of vascular plants (flowering plants and most other plants, excluding mosses and algae).
The researchers used a similar, but more speedy, method to assess the likely extinction risk of more than 20,000 plant species.
They found that 33% of the species are potentially threatened with extinction, and another third of species are likely rare, potentially becoming threatened in the near future.
This is mainly due to human activities such as deforestation, land-use changes, population growth, economic development, and climate change, they said.
Only China is bucking the global trend re coal currently.This would amount to a reduction of around 300 terawatt hours (TWh), more than the combined total output from coal in Germany, Spain and the UK last year.
The analysis is based on monthly electricity sector data from around the world for the first seven to 10 months of the year, depending on data availability in each country.
The main counteracting force is from continuing increases in coal generation in south-east Asia, but demand from these countries is still small relative to the global total.
The global decline means an economic hit for coal plants due to reduced average running hours, which are set to reach an all-time low.
The record drop also raises the prospect of slowing global CO2 emissions growth in 2019. Nevertheless, global coal use and emissions remain far higher than the level required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The picture is a little misleading in that it shows moonlight over some solar panels, which is not what the article is about (i think). I'll do more research into it as it sounds exactly like the kind of green energy innovations we need to get us through the next article!Solar farms could soon play a vital role in the energy system 24 hours a day, after a breakthrough trial proved they can even help balance the grid at night. National Grid used a solar farm in East Sussex to help smooth overnight voltage fluctuations for the first time earlier this month, proving solar farms don’t need sunshine to help keep the lights on.
Lightsource BP, the owner of the solar farm, said an inexpensive tweak to the project’s electrical equipment meant it could help balance the grid with only two seconds’ notice. Kareen Boutonnat, the company’s chief operating officer, said: “We have proven that solar plants can play a larger role across the electricity network. But this is only the beginning.”
The 'ugly' is just that we carry on allowing this to happen, even when the evidence is obvious and overwhelming in telling us we are going to (and are already) regret it in the lifetime of all our own children.Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases once again reached new highs in 2018.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the increase in CO2 was just above the average rise recorded over the last decade.
Levels of other warming gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, have also surged by above average amounts.
Since 1990 there's been an increase of 43% in the warming effect on the climate of long lived greenhouse gases.
I don't get the bad news - this is business as usual and expected to last at least until the end of next decade. Every year CO2 concentration peaks right at the beginning of the Northern Spring when foliage starts to grow and reduce CO2 levels. I guess around late Autumn (this time of the year) their effect gets evened out/cancelled and we'll see CO2 break records again until next Spring.Good news and bad news today!
The Good (and interesting in that i need to find out more sources about it!):
'Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night':
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Solar farms can keep UK’s lights on even at night
Trial shows panels can smooth voltage fluctuations in the National Gridwww.theguardian.com
The picture is a little misleading in that it shows moonlight over some solar panels, which is not what the article is about (i think). I'll do more research into it as it sounds exactly like the kind of green energy innovations we need to get us through the next article!
The Bad:
'Climate change: Greenhouse gas concentrations again break records':
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Greenhouse gas concentrations break records
The World Meteorological Organization says the levels of warming gases continue to reach new highs.www.bbc.com
The 'ugly' is just that we carry on allowing this to happen, even when the evidence is obvious and overwhelming in telling us we are going to (and are already) regret it in the lifetime of all our own children.
Yes, confirmed by this source also:There also have been similar projects done in a couple of the middle-eastern countries and iirc Spain has something like it to? All useful technology to be explored for sure as we transition away from fossil fuel burning.
Speaking of such:
'Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019':
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Analysis: Global coal power set for record fall in 2019 | Carbon Brief
Global electricity production from coal is on track to fall by around 3% in 2019, the largest drop on record.www.carbonbrief.org
I don't get the bad news - this is business as usual and expected to last at least until the end of next decade.
and the bad news is a new record for CO2 (in post industrial history) was reached. It's bad because all this is directly feeding the extreme weather events all around the globe (which in turn harms the economy and our ability to deal with it). It is not 'good' news or even 'not important' news by any stretch.Since 1990 there's been an increase of 43% in the warming effect on the climate of long lived greenhouse gases.
So basically if we carry on doing not enough (to tackle our self created AGW problem) and decide at the last minute to plant lots of trees to 'save us', they will likely just die as they struggle to cope with the still rising levels of CO2. In short on our current trajectory of rising CO2 the plants will not be able to cope to help offset the problem.Forests can cope with a warming world if - and only if - temperature rises increase in line with increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Increased CO2 allows trees to develop physiological characteristics, such as greater foliage, that can cope with higher temperatures.
But researchers warn that a break in the temperature-CO2 increase ratio could trigger mortality in forests. The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
I'm not disputing the 'bad' there, just the 'news'. This isn't news. We could report the same every month till next Spring. Then start over again next Autumn - every year until at least 2030.and the bad news is a new record for CO2 (in post industrial history) was reached. It's bad because all this is directly feeding the extreme weather events all around the globe (which in turn harms the economy and our ability to deal with it). It is not 'good' news or even 'not important' news by any stretch.
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So one of the often quoted things is that in a world with lots more CO2, we don't need to worry so much as it means plants will grow quicker to absorb more. It is a basic principle that is true, BUT in relation to AGW the problem is the SPEED of change in CO2 levels, as the earths natural systems have never had to cope with such fast changes as we are driving:
'Future forests facing climate balancing act':
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Future forests facing climate balancing act
Forests can cope in a warming world only if temperatures increase in line with rises in CO2, a study finds.www.bbc.com
So basically if we carry on doing not enough (to tackle our self created AGW problem) and decide at the last minute to plant lots of trees to 'save us', they will likely just die as they struggle to cope with the still rising levels of CO2. In short on our current trajectory of rising CO2 the plants will not be able to cope to help offset the problem.
It is always good that the things do not fall into the oblivion.I'm not disputing the 'bad' there, just the 'news'. This isn't news. We could report the same every month till next Spring. Then start over again next Autumn - every year until at least 2030.
It's like as it was news that the Queen has never been so old before.
There's nothing new under the Sun, and the media will keep hyping up rubbish to get advertiser clicks.Repeat it tirelessly until people finally just get so used to hearing it regurgitated they assume it's true.
I never panic or get worked up, that's just my nature, so if that was addressed to me, you got the wrong guyUnbunch the panties and quit hyperventilating 40,000 ppm deadly toxic CO2 every other second.
I guess the UK will not have a large role in this kind of thing going forward? Which is bad for UK science imhoEurope will press ahead with a network of satellites to track carbon dioxide emissions across the globe.
They will be developed out of a new European Space Agency (Esa) budget agreed in Seville, Spain.
Research ministers on Thursday approved a package of proposals worth some €14.4bn (£12.3bn/$15.9bn) over the next five years.
As well as the new CO2 monitoring system, the funds will also pave the way for missions to the Moon and Mars.
Well that looks like an excellent idea! 15 million euros for a satellite that watches CO2 just like this one.I never panic or get worked up, that's just my nature, so if that was addressed to me, you got the wrong guy
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This sounds pretty cool as it will give us even better tools to gather data to help push the worlds understanding on AGW in the correct direction:
'Europe's new space budget to enable CO2 mapping':
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Europe's new space budget to enable CO2 mapping
A multi-billion-euro funding package for the European Space Agency is agreed by its member states.www.bbc.com
I guess the UK will not have a large role in this kind of thing going forward? Which is bad for UK science imho![]()