Wexit and climate pollution: a tale of two Canadas

National Observer

This PinP photo was taken along a highway construction project in SK.

There are already two Canadas when it comes to climate pollution, and they've been heading in opposite directions for years. A successful "Wexit" would split them into two separate countries: One would become the world's most climate polluting country per person, with an economy twice as dirty as China's. Story here.

Earth set to warm 3.2 C by 2100 unless efforts to cut emissions are tripled, new UN report finds

CBC News

Syrian & Iraqi refugees. Photo by Ggia.

One expert calls findings of 3.2 C warming 'terrifying.’ Story here.

Greenhouse gas levels at an all-time high - again. A WMO video.

Greenhouse gas concentrations in atmosphere reach yet another high

WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION

Sunset over Manitoba. A PinP photo.

Levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have reached another new record high, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Story here.

The loss of ‘eternal ice’ threatens Mongolian reindeer herders’ way of life

ScienceNews

Map: Distribution of Rangifer tarandus (Caribou/Reindeer)

TBjornstad

Newly-recorded oral histories of the Tsaatan people help researchers document climate change.

 Story here. 

Nearly all (North) America's endangered species will struggle to adapt to climate crisis

The Guardian

An emaciated moose in Riding Mtn. National Park, Canada.
A PinP photo.
All but one of 459 species have traits making them vulnerable to rising temperatures, study finds.
Story here.

To quote from the initial study in Nature, Climate Change: 

"Climate change is a threat to ecosystems and biodiversity globally and has emerged as a driver of observed and potential species decline and extinction. Government laws and policies should play a vital role in supporting climate change adaptation for imperilled species, yet imperilled species protections have been critiqued as insufficient in Australia, Canada and Europe." 
PinP

-->

Australian blazes will ‘reframe our understanding of bushfire’

Science Magazine

Fire on Cape Barren Is. Australia, 2016. Photo by Planet Labs, Inc.

Summary

Australia is on fire like never before—and this year's "bushfire" season, which typically peaks in January or February, has barely begun. Driven in part by a severe drought, fires have burned 1.65 million hectares in the state of New South Wales, more than the state's total in the previous 3 years combined. Six people have died and more than 500 homes have been destroyed. As Science went to press, some 70 uncontrolled fires were burning in adjacent Queensland, and South Australia was bracing for potentially "catastrophic" burns. David Bowman, a fire geographer and director of the Fire Centre Research Hub at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, spoke with Science about the unprecedented crisis. The flames have charred even wet ecosystems once thought safe, he says. And the fires have become "white-hot politically," with Prime Minister Scott Morrison's Liberal government drawing criticism for refusing to acknowledge any link to climate change.