CO2 levels: Carbon dioxide hit the highest level in human history - The Washington Post

When will we ever learn...



Over the weekend, the climate system sounded simultaneous alarms. Near the entrance to the Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia, the temperature surged to 84 degrees Fahrenheit (29 Celsius). Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eclipsed 415 parts per million for the first time in human history.



CO2 levels: Carbon dioxide hit the highest level in human history - The Washington Post

Polluter-pay law introduced in Michigan legislature | Michigan Radio

Michigan lawmakers introduced new bills designed to make polluters pay. It requires that the polluter clean up the pollutant as much as technically possible. Democrats Senator Jeff Irwin and Representative Yousef Rabhi introduced identical bills in the House and Senate Thursday. Irwin says there was a polluter-pay law, but the Engler administration changed them in 1995.

Polluter-pay law introduced in Michigan legislature | Michigan Radio

Microplastics are blowing in the wind | Science News for Students

Not just in the oceans...



A new study offers the first proof that microplastics are traveling long distances by air. These tiny bits of plastic were found raining down in remote places at rates that rival what’s seen in large cities — some 365 bits of plastic trash per square meter (10.7 square feet) per day. Clearly, one author concludes, this “invisible pollution is transporting its way around the world.”



This part of the Pyrenees mountains in Europe looks remote and clean. But tiny bits of plastic fall here every day, scientists are finding.G. LE ROUX

Continue reading at: Microplastics are blowing in the wind | Science News for Students

Saving Ecosystems to Protect the Climate, and Vice Versa: a Global Deal for Nature | InsideClimate News

The Global Deal for Nature (GDN) is a time-bound, science-driven plan to save the diversity and abundance of life on Earth. Pairing the GDN and the Paris Climate Agreement would avoid catastrophic climate change, conserve species, and secure essential ecosystem services. New findings give urgency to this union: Less than half of the terrestrial realm is intact, yet conserving all native ecosystems—coupled with energy transition measures—will be required to remain below a 1.5°C rise in average global temperature.


The Arctic tundra is among several key ecosystems that store large amounts of carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere, but that are under increasing pressure as global temperatures rise. Credit: Dave Walsh/VW Pics/UIG via Getty Images

Continue reading at: Saving Ecosystems to Protect the Climate, and Vice Versa: a Global Deal for Nature | InsideClimate News

Free full-text paper in Science: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaaw2869

Here are 5 ways people are speeding up the extinction of species | Science News

Common sense but where is common sense today?

Stories about individual species on the brink of extinction may be all too familiar. But a new tally now reveals the breadth of the conservation crisis: One million of the world’s species are now poised to vanish, some as soon as within the next few decades.


GONE GOLD  The last recorded sighting of the golden toad Incilius periglenes, once abundant in the cloud forests of Central America, was on May 15, 1989.

That number, which amounts to 1 in every 8 animal or plant species on Earth, comes from a sweeping new analysis of about 15,000 studies conducted within the last 50 years on topics ranging from biodiversity to climate to the health of ecosystems. During that time, the human population has doubled, increasing from 3.7 billion in 1970 to 7.6 billion today. And people are behind the looming losses, an international group of scientists says.

Continue reading at: Here are 5 ways people are speeding up the extinction of species | Science News

Political will to fight climate change is fading, warns UN chief - BBC News

Avengers - The Endgame. Maybe it is time for humanity to focus on the real endgame and end the oblivion and distractions - or disappear from the planet...

Political will to fight climate change is fading, warns UN chief - BBC News

What Losing 1 Million Species Means for the Planet — and Humanity • The Revelator

A new UN report finds that at least 1 million species are at risk of extinction. Will this finally be enough to motivate worldwide action?
The United Nations this week released a powerful report on the state of nature around the planet. Among its disheartening conclusions, the report — by hundreds of experts from 50 countries — estimates that a staggering 1 million species are at risk of extinction in the next few decades due to human-related causes.

Continue reading at: What Losing 1 Million Species Means for the Planet — and Humanity • The Revelator