Tag: Climate change

Extreme and unusual weather: United States Midwest — impacts, consequences

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Immediate impacts: Immediate and longer-term consequences for people, agriculture, wildlife, etc.: Extreme weather and climate change: the connections and impacts Where are all the birds? What is a flash drought? An earth scientist explains Climate change and agriculture: damage to crops Increasing frequency of drought and decreasing yields for soybeans Higher temperatures will lead to additional crop damage from insects Climate change is intensifying the water…

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Do you care? We need education, resolve, and action

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WMO report documents spiralling weather and climate impacts (March 2025). Land and water degradation, food and water supply shortages, drug-resistant infections from overuse of antibiotics, overuse of pesticides and disease, sea level rise affecting coastal areas, microplastics/single-use plastic pollution on land and in the oceans, rapidly melting ice at the Poles, heatwaves, droughts, extreme rainfall, powerful hurricanes, and more … leading to people and animals…

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Why some storms brew up to extreme dimensions in the middle of America – and why it’s happening more often

Understanding Science

Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton (from The Conversation) A powerful storm system that stalled over states from Texas to Ohio for several days in early April 2025 wreaked havoc across the region, with deadly tornadoes, mudslides and flooding as rivers rose. More than a foot of rain fell in several areas. As a climate scientist who studies the water cycle, I often get questions about…

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Extinction and climate change

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Earth’s climate is changing rapidly. No, it is not a hoax, not a projection for the future, not a scare tactic from whatever political or advocacy group that you or your favorite politician may not like. In our lifetimes, it has changed–generally growing warmer and often dryer, with daily weather more prone to extremes–winds, rain, snow, cold, heat, more destructive storms leading to more extensive…

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How the oil industry and growing political divides turned climate change into a partisan issue

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Joe Árvai, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences (from The Conversation) After four years of U.S. progress on efforts to deal with climate change under Joe Biden, Donald Trump’s return to the White House is swiftly swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction. On his first day back, Trump declared a national energy emergency, directing agencies to use any emergency powers available to…

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Wildfires: Increasing frequency and intensity

Featured Article

Wildfires are in the news literally every day. Fire seasons are starting earlier and ending later. In recent times, Canada, Greece, Brazil, Hawaii, Chile, Oregon, and California–among many other places–have faced record-breaking and devastating fires. Featured article: *Cunningham, C. X., Williamson, G. J., & Bowman, D. M. J. S. (2024). Increasing frequency and intensity of the most extreme wildfires on Earth. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 8(8), 1420-1425….

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Professor’s choices: Environmental Sciences (2023-2024)

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Selected articles and books chosen by U.S. college/university professors for use in class and research during the 2023-2024 academic year: *Huang, Y., Stein, G., Kolle, O., Kübler, K., Schulze, E., Dong, H., Eichenberg, D., Gleixner, G., Hildebrandt, A., Lange, M., Roscher, C., Schielzeth, H., Schmid, B., Weigelt, A., Weisser, W. W., Shadaydeh, M., Denzler, J., Ebeling, A., & Eisenhauer, N. (2024). Enhanced stability of grassland…

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What is an atmospheric river?

What is an atmospheric river? A hydrologist explains the good and bad of these flood-prone storms and how they’re changing

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Qian Cao, University of California, San Diego (from The Conversation) A series of atmospheric rivers is bringing the threat of heavy downpours, flooding, mudslides and avalanches to the Pacific Northwest and California this week [early 2024]. While these storms are dreaded for the damage they can cause, they are also essential to the region’s water supply, particularly in California, as Qian Cao, a hydrologist at…

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Extreme winter weather and a changing climate

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The United States was virtually snow-free during the Christmas season 2023 matching a year which was one of the hottest globally since weather records have been kept. Yet, by early to mid January 2024, large sections of the United States were facing snow storms, blizzards, and extreme cold temperatures. How does that sudden change of weather–from warmer than usual to extreme cold and snow–fit the…

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Transport of invasive species

The high costs of invasive species

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“Species introduced to new regions through human activities are termed alien species. Invasive alien species represent a subset of alien species – animals, plants, and other organisms – known to have established and spread with negative impacts on biodiversity, local ecosystems and species. Some of the most problematic invasive alien species arrive through multiple introduction pathways and repeated introduction. Invasive alien species are recognized as…

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