Avoiding climate breakdown depends on protecting Earth’s biodiversity – can the COP15 summit deliver?
Photo by Tomas Sobek, Unsplash Nathan Cooper Thousands of delegates have gathered in Montreal, Canada, for a once-in-a-decade chance to address the accelerating pace of species loss and the dangers of ecosystem breakdown. COP15 brings together parties to the UN...
The cow in the room… A problem of production or consumption?
Photo by Gulfside Mike on Unsplash One of the biggest challenges facing Aotearoa New Zealand’s environmental response are its farms. Addressing agriculture is central to reducing New Zealand’s unique emissions profile and combatting the impacts of climate change. New...
Will Antarctica’s under-ice rivers contribute to sea level rise?
By Huw Joseph Horgan & Craig Stevens Exploring Antarctica’s hidden under-ice rivers and their role in future sea-level rise. Underneath Antarctica’s vast ice sheets there’s a network of rivers and lakes. This is possible because of the insulating blanket of ice...
What are the risks we face from volcanoes? ▶
In her inaugural lecture held at the University of Auckland, Professor Jan Lindsay gives an insight into her research into volcanoes all over the world. A consistent focus of her research has been on improving societal resilience to volcanic hazards – in the early...
Can Aotearoa get climate change under control by 2050?
By Finlay MacDonald Few countries were ready for the pandemic that’s hit the world. So has the Covid-19 crisis taught us anything about ameliorating the threats of climate change? The world is heading to be 1 degree warmer in 2040, leading to fires, floods, heatwaves...
Climate change: How damaging is methane?
By Zebedee Nicholls & Tim Baxter Methane is a shorter-lived greenhouse gas – why do we average it out over 100 years? By doing so, do we risk emitting so much in the upcoming decades that we reach climate tipping points? The climate conversation is often...
How can water help us adapt to survive as the climate changes? ▶
The natural sciences that allow us to understand the environment are at the heart of developing strategies to adapt to, survive, and thrive as climate changes. Water is at the heart of many of the most complex problems in climate sciences: understanding the behavior...
Are we doomed if we don’t manage to curb emissions by 2030?
By Robert McLachlan Humanity is not doomed, not now or even in a worst-case scenario in 2030. But avoiding doom — either the end or widespread collapse of civilisation — is setting a pretty low bar. We can aim much higher than that without shying away from reality....
What was the world like the last time carbon levels were this high?
By James Shulmeister What was the climate and sea level like at times in Earth’s history when carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was at 400ppm? The last time global carbon dioxide levels were consistently at or above 400 parts per million (ppm) was around four million...Subscribe by Email
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