Field of reference: Biology, Ecology
Description: Data about extinction of species
>"We are experiencing the greatest wave of extinctions since the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Extinction rates are rising by a factor of up to 1,000 above natural rates. Every hour, three species disappear. Every day, up to 150 species are lost. Every year, between 18,000 and 55,000 species become extinct. The cause: human activities."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. לראשונה גלובלי | להשאיר תגובה | |
Field of reference: Ecology
Description: Research on growth in Co2.
>"CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel burning and industrial processes have been accelerating at a global scale, with their growth rate increasing from 1.1% y−1 for 1990–1999 to >3% y−1 for 2000–2004. The emissions growth rate since 2000 was greater than for the most fossil-fuel intensive of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emissions scenarios developed in the late 1990s. Global emissions growth since 2000 was driven by a cessation or reversal of earlier declining trends in the energy intensity of gross domestic product (GDP) (energy/GDP) and the carbon intensity of energy (emissions/energy), coupled with continuing increases in population and per-capita GDP. Nearly constant or slightly increasing trends in the carbon intensity of energy have been recently observed in both developed and developing regions. No region is decarbonizing its energy supply. The growth rate in emissions is strongest in rapidly developing economies, particularly China. Together, the developing and least-developed economies (forming 80% of the world's population) accounted for 73% of global emissions growth in 2004 but only 41% of global emissions and only 23% of global cumulative emissions since the mid-18th century. The results have implications for global equity."
>style="text-decoration: underline">Link to the academic paper
שייך לקטגוריות 2. לראשונה גלובלי | להשאיר תגובה | |
Field of reference: Ecology
Description: Studies about warming as presented to the US congress. Results: Earth is warming. Humans have impact on it.
>"The Earth is warming. Weather station records and ship-based observations indicate that global mean surface air temperature increased about 0.7 degrees F (0.4 degrees C) since the early 1970’s. Although the magnitude of warming varies locally, the warming trend is spatially widespread and is consistent with an array of other evidence (melting glaciers, sea level rise, extended growing seasons, and changes in the geographical distributions of plant and animal species). The IPCC has estimated that, by 2100, global surface temperatures will be from 2.5 to 10.4 degrees F (1.4 to 5.8 degrees C) above 1990 levels." he ocean, which represents the largest reservoir of heat in the climate system, has warmed by about 0.12 degrees F (0.06 degrees C) averaged over the layer extending from the surface down to 750 feet, since 1993. Recent studies have shown that the observed heat storage in the oceans is consistent with expected impacts of a human-enhanced greenhouse effect. Increased ocean heat content accounts for most of the planetary energy imbalance (i.e., when the Earth absorbs more energy from the Sun than it emits back to space) simulated by climate models with mid-range climate sensitivity."
>"Laboratory measurements of gases trapped in dated ice cores have shown that for hundreds of thousands of years, changes in temperature have closely tracked atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Burning fossil fuel for energy, industrial processes, and transportation releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at its highest level in 400,000 years and continues to rise." "It is important to recognize, that while future climate change and its impacts are inherently uncertain, they are far from unknown. The combined effects of ice melting and sea water expansion from ocean warming will likely cause the global average sea-level to rise by between 0.1 and 0.9 meters between 1990 and 2100. In the Arctic regions, where temperatures have risen more than the global average, the landscape and ecosystems are being altered rapidly."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. לראשונה גלובלי | להשאיר תגובה | |
Field of reference: Biology, Ecology
Description: Rivers are drying out- freshwater crisis.
>"Rivers on every continent are drying out, threatening severe water shortages, according to the WWF report, World's Top Rivers at Risk (March, 2007).
>Five of the ten rivers listed in the report are in Asia. They are the Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Ganges and Indus. Europe’s Danube, the Americas’ La Plata and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, Africa’s Nile-Lake Victoria and Australia’s Murray-Darling also make the list.
>“All the rivers in the report symbolize the current freshwater crisis, which we have been signaling for years," says WWF Global Freshwater Programme Director Jamie Pittock."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. לראשונה גלובלי | להשאיר תגובה | |
Field of reference: Biology
Description: Data about over-fishing influencing the ecosystem. Published in Nature journal.
>"Industrialized fisheries typically reduced community biomass by 80% within 15 years of exploitation. Compensatory increases in fast-growing species were observed, but often reversed within a decade. Using a meta-analytic approach, we estimate that large predatory fish biomass today is only about 10% of pre-industrial levels. We conclude that declines of large predators in coastal regions5 have extended throughout the global ocean, with potentially serious consequences for ecosystems."
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שייך לקטגוריות 2. לראשונה גלובלי | להשאיר תגובה | |