Resistance Radio – Deborah Tabart – 08.28.16

Deborah Tabart OAM, CEO of the Australian Koala Foundation, is fondly known as the Koala Woman. She has been at her post since February 1988. At that time she was told to raise $5m and “save the Koala.” Since then, Deborah has focussed her attention on mapping Koala habitat.  If you cannot save a habitat, you will never save any …

What’s Driving Deforestation?

What if you found out that just four commodities—commodities so pervasive in modern life that we encounter them daily—are responsible for more than half of the world’s tropical deforestation? What if you learned that many of the other commonly cited causes of deforestation, such as cocoa, sugar, and coffee, are now only marginal parts of the global problem? Surprisingly, all …

Can urban gardeners benefit ecosystems while keeping food traditions alive?

When conjuring up an image of a healthy ecosystem, few of us would think of a modern city. But scientists are increasingly recognizing that the majority of ecosystems are now influenced by humans, and even home gardens in urban landscapes can contribute important ecosystem services. “Ecosystem services are the benefits that ecosystems provide to humans. In a natural ecosystem, these …

Nadia Prupis – Cutting Tropical Deforestation is Key to Curbing Climate Change, And It’s Cheap

Without drastic efforts to reduce deforestation, rising greenhouse gases, and unsustainable global agriculture, the planet is on track to lose a massive quantity of its tropical forests—a crucial element in the fight against irreversible climate change—in just 35 years. Absent aggressive conservation policies, the world will lose 2.9 million square kilometers of its tropical forests by 2050, according to a …

What Is Your Vision of a Just and Climate-Stable 2050? – Lindsey Allen

Last week, thousands of people came to Seattle — on foot and by kayak — and put their bodies on the line to say “Shell No” to arctic drilling. Like many climate activists who couldn’t be there in person, I watched the events unfold on Twitter on the edge of my seat. Seeing hundreds of people stand up to a …

Warming Climate May Release Vast Amounts Of Carbon From Long-Frozen Arctic Soils

More carbon is released into the atmosphere would amplify climate warming, and that, in turn, would cause more permafrost to thaw and release more carbon, causing the cycle to continue. Recent research by scientists has confirmed the suspicion scientists were making regarding the Arctic permafrost. Scientists estimate there is more than 10 times the amount of carbon in the Arctic …

Deforestation is messing with our weather and our food

New research published in Nature Communications provides insight into how large-scale deforestation could impact global food production by triggering changes in local climate. In the study, researchers from the United States and China zero in on albedo (the amount of the sun’s radiation reflected from Earth’s surface) and evapotranspiration (the transport of water into the atmosphere from soil, vegetation, and …