Is global warming to blame for giant sinkholes in Siberia?

Russian scientists are in a rush to find out what’s going on in Siberia, considered one of the youngest eco-systems on Earth, awash with gas reserves. Researcher Vasily Bogoyavlensky of the Russian Academy of Sciences is calling for an urgent investigation into what is causing methane gas explosions resulting in mega-craters. The bottom line is that warming temperatures due to global warming are melting permafrost.

According to a recent report on the issue:

“Until now, only three large craters were known about in northern Russia with several scientific sources speculating last year that heating from above the surface due to unusually warm climatic conditions, and from below, due to geological fault lines, led to a huge release of gas hydrates, so causing the formation of these craters in Arctic regions.

“Two of the newly-discovered large craters – also known as funnels to scientists – have turned into lakes… Examination using satellite images has helped Russian experts understand that the craters are more widespread than was first realised, with one large hole surrounded by as many as 20 mini-craters, The Siberian Times can reveal.”

The most likely cause isn’t alien spaceships crashing into this icy dessert, rather, it’s melting permafrost releasing noxious gases and forming giant craters due to global warming. The soil and rocks surrounding the craters look like there’s been a mega-explosion.

“The processes that are causing them to form likely occur over a wide area of the continuous permafrost in this part of Siberia,” Dr. Carolyn Ruppel, a research geophysicist at the Woods Hole Field Center in Massachusetts and chief of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Gas Hydrates Project said in the email to The Huffington Post. “Scientists should definitely conduct more research on these features to determine the processes that cause their formation, how they evolve with time, and whether it is possible to predict where new ones will occur.”

The newest crater is nearly 100 feet in diameter and scientists have spotted seven or so other such craters. Methane trapped beneath the surface in ice is melting and causing explosions. But scientists are concerned that the deserted land is hiding many more craters. One crater in particular has turned into a lake with 20 mini craters lining its rim. And though the crater is covered in water, it’s still leaking gas.

There are fears that as the temperatures rise the craters will continue to appear and though no one has been injured yet, the explosions are sizable.

“These objects need to be studied, but it is rather dangerous for the researchers,” Bogoyavlensky told the Siberian Times, reported in The Washington Post. “We know that there can occur a series of gas emissions over an extended period of time, but we do not know exactly when they might happen. … It is very risky, because no one can guarantee there would not be new emissions.”

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Which countries will suffer the most as a result of global climate change?

The global climate is changing and as it does, certain countries are likely to feel the brunt of it. The poorest nations, those that emit the least carbon, are the most threatened by global climate change. Though you might be surprised at where many countries fall.

Standard & Poor’s looked at the impact of global climate change on each country’s economy. The analysis was based on the percentage of countries living on the coast, the percentage of the economy based on agriculture, and the development of each nation.

According to the Standard & Poor’s report on IBT Pulse, “While most sovereigns will feel the negative effects of climate change to some degree, we expect the poorest and lowest-rated sovereigns will bear the brunt of the impact. This is in part due to their reliance on agricultural production and employment, which can be vulnerable to shifting climate patterns and extreme weather events, but also due to their weaker capacity to absorb the financial cost.”

The countries hit hardest by climate change include Cambodia, which has 10 percent of its population living on the coast, 36 percent of its economy is based on agriculture, and it ranks poorly in life supporting services like food, water, health, and infrastructure. Vietnam was also high on the list because so much of its population lives on the coast and a good portion of the economy is built on agriculture. It also ranks poorly in terms of supportive services. Other vulnerable countries include Bangladesh, Senegal, and Mozambique.

The biggest threats arising from climate change include droughts, flooding, storms, rising sea levels, and uncertainty about agriculture. This puts other countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Burundi, and Chad at risk.

Even though the Philippines is a middle income country in Southeast Asia, it’s made up of 7,000 islands that frequently face stronger and stronger storms. And then there’s the flooding. If carbon emissions continue at the level they are today the sea will rise putting 2.6 percent of the global population at risk for flooding (that’s 177 million people!) This includes a quarter of Vietnam’s population and 4 percent of China’s population (50 million people) for example.

Much of Southeast Asia will be at risk for flooding as will the Netherlands. However, the Netherlands is well prepared with the most advanced levee system in the world. And while other countries will likely follow suit, poorer nations won’t be able to afford the infrastructure. In the U.S., 3.1 million people will be impacted by flooding. That’s a small percentage when you consider that we’re the world’s largest emitter.

This is an aerial view that includes just a few of the implications of a changing global climate. And this is why it should be issue number one for lawmakers.

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The biggest complaint among those concerned about global warming is that they want to be part of something larger–a collective action that makes a difference.

And while individual actions certainly have an impact, it’s more difficult to get people to alter their ways independently. That’s the thinking behind the newly approved global warming warning labels to be placed at gas pumps in Berkeley, Calif.

Late Tuesday, by a 7-2 vote, Berkeley’s city council approved a recommendation requiring that the city manager draft an ordinance requiring climate change labels at gas pumps. Berkeley is the first city in the nation to take such action, though San Francisco may be next to approve the move.

The labels will appear in early 2015 as part of the “Beyond the Pump” campaign that reminds drivers to take steps to drive less. Because us drivers can sometimes forget that burning gasoline has a direct impact on global warming. Burning less fuel both individually and as a community can have a real impact, so keep your tires properly inflated, drive slower, commute using carpool, bus transit, walking, or biking.

This is all part of Berkeley’s plan to cut emissions 33 percent by 2020. Although Big Oil is not exactly thrilled with the move.

According to CBS San Francisco:

In a letter to city officials, The Western States Petroleum Association, an oil-industry lobbying group, said the proposal directly violates the First Amendment “by forcing businesses to advance the State of California’s policy position that global warming caused by greenhouse gases poses a serious threat to the economic well-being, public health, natural resources, and the environment of California.”

If you saw warning labels at the pump would it make you drive less?

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Scientists are striving to figure out the side effects of global climate change before they hit us like a ton of bricks. You’re likely familiar with some of them including more drastic weather phenomenons, rising tides, and animal dead-offs. But an increase in girl babies? That’s a new one.

New research has shown that global climate change could mean more girl births. Researchers in Japan observed birth ratios and aligned them with temperatures from 1968 to 2012 and found that boy births are declining compared to girl births because it appears that boy fetuses are more vulnerable to fluctuating weather. This means that male fetuses saw an increase in miscarriages as a result of the hot summer in 2010 and the cold winter in 2011, while female fetuses saw no change.

“Male conception seems to be especially vulnerable to external stress factors, including climate changes,” reported the study on TreeHugger.

There’s evidence that the sex ratio is sensitive to other factors as well like pollution in Scotland which seemed to increase girl births again. Additionally, tropical countries tend to produce more girls. But the science is far from clear on the subject.

“The main thing to remember is that [the study in Japan] shows a correlation, which is not the same as causation,” said Timothy Mitchell, from Iowa State University, who studies how temperature affects sex determination in reptiles.

Reptiles are even more sensitive to global climate change than humans. For example, Loggerhead sea turtles lay more female eggs during the warmer months. However, global sex ratios are still higher for boys: 101 boys to 100 girls. Though we’re not completely sure why, some countries including China and India still selectively abort girl babies.

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Kate Good from One Green Planet put it best when she wrote that humankind, more than any other species has the ability to mold and shape the world. And while that has resulted in many accomplishments, the downside is becoming evermore apparent. It’s a mass extinction alert. 

Scientists have reported that plant and animal species are going extinct at a rate that’s nearly 1,000 times faster than normal. And as a result, scientists and conservationists are declaring that the 6th mass extinction is upon us. But the difference between this mass extinction and those of the past, is that humans are to blame.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, planet Earth has lost 50 percent of its wild animal populations in the past 40 years. Whether on land in rivers or the ocean, humans are diminishing and extinguishing their existence.

“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science said to The Guardian. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.”

The data was collected by calculating 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species total in a “Living Planet Index” that reflects 45,000 known vertebras. In all, 37 percent of loss is due to animal exploitation, 31 percent habitat degradation, 13 percent to habitat loss, 11 percent to other, and 7 percent to global climate change.

“We have lost one half of the animal population and knowing this is driven by human consumption, this is clearly a call to arms and we must act now,” Mike Barratt, director of science and policy at WWF said to The Guardian.

Whether it’s forest elephants in central Africa, where poaching rates now exceed birth rates, turtles drowning in fish nets as a result of unsustainable fishing practices, or the now 35,000 walruses that have come ashore in Alaska because the ice they once found refuge on has melted–these massive declines are due to humans consuming FAR more than is sustainable. In fact, we would need 1.5 planet Earths to consume at the current rate.

But there are steps that you personally can take to make a huge difference in stopping this mass extinction including cutting out meat considering that 22 percent of global carbon emissions come from meat production. Stop deforestation by cutting out palm oil, which is found in many places that might surprise you including organic and vegan products. Stop eating seafood because overfishing is killing our oceans. And finally, spread the word. Read more here.

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Whitebark pine trees are typically found in cold , windy, high elevations. They’re a stress tolerant tree that survives where other pines cannot.

Distributed among coastal mountain ranges from central California to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia and in the Rocky Mountains from Idaho to Montana, Wyoming, and Alberta, this hearty tree is under threat as a result of a lethal fungus and the gluttonous mountain pine beetle.

But the biggest killer, according to the Forest Service, is global climate change which will result in a 97 percent decimation of whitebark pine trees in the U.S. by 2100. In an effort to stave off the pine tree’s destruction conservation biologists are considering moving the trees to a place where they can survive.

According to The New York Times:

Their plan calls for rebuilding whitebark pine populations by planting seedlings and setting controlled fires. Healthy forests of whitebark pine, they argue, should be better able to withstand climate change. The trees may even spread northward as higher latitudes develop a suitable climate.

Researcher Sally N. Aitken, a geneticist at the University of British Columbia sees potential in the northwest corner of British Columbia because even with climate projections the pine could survive a century down the line. Working with graduate student Sierra McLane, they’ve hiked into the remote area and planted 18,000 trees and seven years later the trees are still growing.

But in order for the trees to survive they depend on a bird called Clark’s nutcrackers to spread seeds, so the birds will also have to be established in the area.

But critics warn that it could be an “expensive failure” and a misuse of finite conservation resources.

“In my mind, employing assisted migration is probably the worst thing we can do with any valuable restoration funds,” said Robert E. Keane, an ecologist at the Rocky Mountain Research Station.

He thinks it would make more sense to find a tree that can survive current threats. But whatever ends up happening, one thing is clear, these forests are likely to look very different in the near future.

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Bali recently hosted the first Summit on Women and Climate. It’s all about raising women’s voices and women’s leadership on global climate change. It’s an issue that will impact everyone but for indigenous women who are the primary farmers, foragers, and cooks throughout much of the world, it will have an especially harsh impact.

“For indigenous women, the relationship with the environment is very important – it has such a high impact on [their] lives,” Mariana Lopez, program coordinator for the International Indigenous Women’s Forum said to Grist. “They have a very close relationship with the cycles of nature. But with climate change altering those patterns — well, when nature is unpredictable, it’s very disruptive to their lives.”

Women like Ursula Rakova are also in control of moving their communities in places like Tulun in Papua New Guinea because the ocean has eaten up so much of the farmland that growing their staple taro is no longer possible. She’ll be moving her entire community to Bouganville, a nearby island. She’s on the front lines of action and reaction.

Global Greengrants, one of the hosts of the event, has been documenting women’s roles as the planet warms. They’ve already distributed 700 small grants in more than 80 countries this year to get people working on critical local issues. In all, 24 percent of these grants will go to women led organizations.

EcoWatch documented the work of one particular women on the front lines:

‘Mama’ Aleta Baun, an award-winning Indonesian environmental activist, was the first grassroots woman to speak at the recent Summit on Women and Climate. This diminutive yet powerful indigenous leader organized women in several communities to fight against land grabbing by mining companies in her region of West Timor. They successfully kept four mining enterprises out by blocking their access to sites, sitting each day for months and weaving the traditional cloth that her people wear as turbans and skirts.

The summit outlined other qualities that show why women may be our best hope for fighting global climate change:

• Women are most often directly responsible for feeding their families.
• Indigenous women are often closer to nature and see the impact of global climate change first because they are farming, foraging, and fishing.
• Women are on the front lines of peaceful protest against the destruction of their traditional territory.
• Women are particularly strong at working together toward a common solution which means they’re better able to network with other associations.

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The Obama Administration is working on a sweeping international global climate change agreement that would reduce emissions, according to an article in The New York Times. The agreement would be signed at a UN summit in Paris next year.

President Obama is trying circumvent a polarized Senate, which would normally require a two-thirds vote for treaty ratification. It’s using a “politically binding” deal that would shame countries into reducing their emissions as part of this global climate change agreement.

According to The New York Times:

American negotiators are instead homing in on a hybrid agreement — a proposal to blend legally binding conditions from an existing 1992 treaty with new voluntary pledges. The mix would create a deal that would update the treaty, and thus, negotiators say, not require a new vote of ratification.

Countries would be legally required to enact domestic climate change policies — but would voluntarily pledge to specific levels of emissions cuts and to channel money to poor countries to help them adapt to climate change. Countries might then be legally obligated to report their progress toward meeting those pledges at meetings held to identify those nations that did not meet their cuts.

Obama has already taken sweeping steps to cut emissions domestically. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed the strongest actions yet to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed regulations would cut emissions by as much as 30 percent by 2030.

But in order to cut emissions globally and reduce the impact of global climate change, huge emitters like China and India would have to get on board with the U.S.

“There’s some legal and political magic to this,” Jake Schmidt, an expert in global climate negotiations with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group said to The New York Times. “They’re trying to move this as far as possible without having to reach the 67-vote threshold” in the Senate.

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