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Published on 2 May 2014 Global
Researchers studied the behavior of coral reef fish at naturally occurring CO2 vents in Milne Bay, in eastern Papua New Guinea. They found that fish living near the vents, where bubbles of CO2 seeped into the water, “were attracted to predator odor, did not distinguish between odors of different habitats, and exhibited bolder behavior than fish from control reefs.” The gung-ho nature of CO2-affected fish…
Published on 2 May 2014 Philippines
The report focused on what humans can still do to reduce the greenhouse gases emitted in the atmosphere and causing the Earth to warm up. The Philippines has 17 coal plants all over the country, combusting coal to produce energy. Every year, they spew 32.1 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the greenhouse gas with the highest concentrations in the atmosphere, according to the Philippine…
Published on 2 May 2014 Philippines
Coloma said that Resolution 6 by the Climate Change Commission (CCC) authorizes the dialogue with Worldwatch Institute for the design of “Sustainable Power System: A Roadmap for the Philippines.” Through the resolution, the CCC officially invites Alexander Ochs, director of the Climate and Energy Worldwatch Institute, to discuss his offer to help the country design a sustainable power system. Meanwhile, Resolution 7, endorses the Black…
Published on 2 May 2014 Vietnam
Vietnam is one of the countries most severely affected by climate change, and its government, ministries and local authorities have been exerting great efforts to mitigate its impact. For a long time, the preferred solution has been to engage in infrastructural engineering and construction and other "hard" options – such as sea walls and dikes – rather than "soft" options such as conserving, restoring and…
Published on 2 May 2014 Indonesia
The exhibition, part of activities to commemorate of World Environment Day on June 5, will be held from May 29 until June 1 in Jakarta. Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said the ministry wanted to promote the protection of the coastal ecosystem to sound the alarm over the dangers of climate change. “The rising of earth’s temperature impacts sea levels. This will affect our coasts and…
Published on 2 May 2014 Philippines
Tesda will fund the production costs and provide the training for assembling the lights while the MMDA will supply the manpower and identify the beneficiaries. The first of the four-watt solar street lights were put together Tuesday at the Tesda Women’s Center in Taguig City and installed on a footbridge on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. The streetlights cost P2,500 each and utilize the “Liter…
Published on 2 May 2014 Philippines
“To stop the depletion of our forests, President Aquino has imposed a logging ban nationwide – the first in our history,” said DENR Undersecretary for Field Operations Demetrio Ignacio Jr., who delivered the “State of the Environment Report” on behalf of Environment Secretary Ramon Paje. Paje is in The Hague, Netherlands attending the “Global Ocean Action Summit for Food Security.” The government has initiated the…
Published on 2 May 2014 Philippines
This was according to the assessment conducted by the Protected Areas, Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services-7 of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7. The 17 towns in Cebu are Tabogon, Borbon, Sogod, San Francisco, Catmon, Carmen, Compostela, Cordova, San Francisco, Minglanilla, Sibonga, Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Oslob, Boljoon and Santander. The three cities prone to climate change impacts are Lapu-Lapu, Naga and Carcar. Bohol…
Published on 2 May 2014 Global
Strapped school budgets, concerns about overburdening teachers and political opposition to what in some places is a contentious subject have complicated the spread of lessons on climate change. Nonetheless, many nations are adding or expanding such offerings, convinced that young people must learn about a phenomenon likely to have a big impact on their lives. Schools, advocates say, can play an important role in fighting…
Published on 2 May 2014 Global
When phytoplankton use carbon dioxide to make new cells, a substantial portion of that cellular material is released into the sea as a buffet of edible molecules collectively called "dissolved organic carbon." The majority of these molecules are eventually eaten by microscopic marine bacteria, used for energy, and recycled back into carbon dioxide as the bacteria exhale. The amount of carbon that remains as cell…
Published on 2 May 2014 Feature
Through an innovative experiment, Stanford researchers led by biology Professor Steve Palumbi have shown that some corals can -- on the fly -- adjust their internal functions to tolerate hot water 50 times faster than they would adapt through evolutionary change alone. The findings, published April 24 in Science, open a new realm of possibility for understanding and conserving corals. "The temperature of coral reefs…
Published on 2 May 2014 Global
While biofuels are better in the long run, the study says they won't meet a standard set in a 2007 energy law to qualify as renewable fuel. The conclusions deal a blow to proponents of cellulosic biofuels, which have received more than a billion dollars in federal support but have struggled to meet volume targets mandated by law. About half of the initial market in…
Published on 22 April 2014 Feature
A growing number of funders, experts, and adaptation practitioners question whether addressing climate change requires fundamental changes in how our society functions, including “paradigm shifts” in our values and decision-making. Lisa Schipper, an expert at the Stockholm Environment Institute, notes that “Adaptation was always meant to be transformational, but it somehow lost its edge; it lost its spunk and it became just another term for…
Published on 22 April 2014 Feature
How much would society save if it didn’t emit that tonne of CO2? One recent US estimate is $37. Such a measure helps civil servants, businessmen and ministers to calculate the impact of steps that might be taken. On the other hand, say Richard Revesz of New York University School of Law and US and Swedish colleagues, assumptions of cost per tonne – and these…
Published on 22 April 2014 Global
World’s longest-running rice experiment Since 1962, the LTCCE has been working to determine the impact of continuously growing irrigated rice on overall crop productivity and soil health. This year marks the 150th harvest taken from the same soil from the same field in all those 52 years: each year, the field is harvested three times instead of the usual two. In a typical year, this…
Published on 22 April 2014 Myanmar
“Getting food is a headache for us every day,” said 30-year-old Kyi Htay as she prepared a meal of tomato curry and rice on the floor of her one-room hut in Bagan, Mandalay Region. The central regions of Mandalay, Magway and Lower Sagaing, known as the “dry zone” and covering 13 percent of the country, have some of the lowest rainfall levels; 60 percent of…
Published on 22 April 2014 Global
But the United Kingdom is still a long way behind other European countries in using solar technology. To power the whole country we'd need solar panels on every rooftop. The problem is that it is still quite expensive and over the past few years the incentives have been reduced. The "feed-in-tariff" rates - or the money paid for electricity generated - have been reduced year…
Published on 22 April 2014 Vietnam
"Children generally have low awareness and limited capacity to adapt to impacts of climate change," Nhue said at conference attended by experts from various non-governmental organisations in Hanoi this week. "They have limited access to assets, information and government resources," he said. At the conference, experts shared their experiences and measures taken to cope with climate change. Statistics released by Plan in Vietnam showed that…
Published on 22 April 2014 Philippines
Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, slammed into the central Philippines on Nov. 8 last year with record wind strength of 235 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 275 kph. It has been suggested its unusual strength and rapid intensification were fueled by warming of subsurface waters of Pacific waters east of the Philippines in recent decades. It left…
Published on 22 April 2014 Feature
That may be a futile attempt, as the ball has already been set in motion with the only choice left now is “surviving” and lessening these consequences, according to a recent U.N. report on what the devastating effects of climate change will be if actions are not taken immediately. In the paper released on March 31 by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, experts…
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