Plants take carbon from the atmosphere as they grow, but it goes straight back when they die or are harvested. There is an important difference between carbon fluxes and actual carbon sequestration.
The disasters have come one after another. While they may not be entirely preventable, we can take many practical steps tailored to local needs and conditions to reduce the impacts on our cities.
Unstable funding, social distancing and the likelihood that other countries won’t be able to help — these all raise the potential of a nightmarish scenario.
Climate change is making extreme weather events, both hot and cold, more frequent across the Great Lakes region. Weatherizing low-income residents’ homes is an important way to prepare.
Nicolas Dubos, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)
Climate change is affecting our planet’s biodiversity, yet some species can find ways to adapt. Using citizen-science data, a French research team is studying how birds adjust to local heat levels.
Over the next 50 years, the arid zone – containing the areas of true desert – is projected to expand well into the Murray-Darling Basin and almost entirely envelope the Lake Eyre Basin.
During the transitional period between the Pleistocene and Holocene epoch, the Earth’s temperature underwent massive change, forcing prehistoric humans in Indonesia to change their diet.
Daniel Connell, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
There’s little transparency or clarity about how much water states are allocated. This failure in communication and leadership across such a vital system must change.
The sight of empty shelves has led some Australians to look for alternative ways to feed themselves and their families. This is what history can teach us.
Plants have evolved techniques for protecting themselves from heat and insect attacks – but when both these stresses happen at once, one defense may neutralize the other.