Is This Ubiquitous Toxic Metal Lowering Men’s Sperm Counts?

Falling sperm counts and rising infertility are phenomena that have been observed for decades in the developed world. Today, researchers estimate that up to twenty per cent of young men have a low sperm count defined as fewer than 20 million sperm per millilitre and it is the main problem for about one in five couples having trouble conceiving and a contributing …

California Is Turning Back Into A Desert And There Are No Contingency Plans

Once upon a time, much of the state of California was a barren desert.  And now, thanks to the worst drought in modern American history, much of the state is turning back into one.  Scientists tell us that the 20th century was the wettest century that the state of California had seen in 1000 years.  But now weather patterns are …

Carbon emissions could dramatically increase risk of U.S. megadroughts

Droughts in the U.S. Southwest and Central Plains during the last half of this century could be drier and longer than drought conditions seen in those regions in the last 1,000 years, according to a new NASA study. The study, published Thursday in the journal Science Advances, is based on projections from several climate models, including one sponsored by NASA. …

“Their Sky Has Changed!” Inuit elders sharing information with NASA regarding Earth’s “WOBBLE”

We are all obsessed with the weather here in the West and rightly so with the unusual weather we have had to endure recently, extreme has become the new norm but what about our brothers and sisters living on the Canadian Arctic circle? Inuit knowledge and climate change was discussed by delegates at the recent global warming summit in Copenhagen …

Cities Face Rising Flood, Drought Risk Even With No Climate Change

Published in Global Environmental Change, the study presents first-ever global forecasts of how the exposure of urban land to floods and droughts may change due to urban expansion in the near future. In 2000, about 30 percent of the global urban land (over 75,000 square miles) was located in the high-frequency flood zones; by 2030, this will reach nearly 40 percent (280,000 …

University of Oxford finds trees inhale less carbon when they are drought – impacted

For the first time, an international research team has provided direct evidence of the rate at which individual trees in the Amazonian basin ‘inhale’ carbon from the atmosphere during a severe drought. The researchers measured the growth and photosynthesis rates of trees at 13 rainforest plots across Brazil, Peru and Bolivia, comparing plots that were affected by the strong drought …

Syrian Conflict Has Underlying Links to Climate Change, Says Study

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 2 2015 (IPS) – Was the four-year-old military conflict in Syria, which has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, mostly civilians, triggered at least in part by climate change? A new study by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory says “a record drought that ravaged Syria in 2006-2010 was likely stoked by ongoing man-made climate change, and that the drought …

As Antarctica Melts Away, Seas Could Rise Ten Feet Within 100 Years

Rapid melting of Antarctic ice could push sea levels up 10 feet worldwide within two centuries, “recurving” heavily populated coastlines and essentially reshaping the world, the Associated Press reported Friday. Parts of Antarctica are thawing so quickly, the continent has become “ground zero of global climate change without a doubt,” Harvard geophysicist Jerry Mitrovica told AP. The Antarctic Peninsula, including the vulnerable West Antarctic ice sheet, …