badgley
Re:To what extent is science a strong-link problem?
on Monday November 04, 2024 @01:08PM (#42044343)
The Carnegie Institution of Washington used to use this model — each year publishing a 'year book.' From 1902 through the 1980s, Institution funded scientists contributed detail reports — including figures and even new results — to the organizations Year Book. Year Books often exceeded 700+ pages.
Today, the Year Book is little more than a glossy fundraising document.
You can view the reports over the years: https://carnegiescience.edu/about/history/publications/carne...
Re:Scientists raise alarm over ‘dangerously fast’ growth in atmospheri...
on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @01:36AM (#30255543)
I think you're spot on in your observation. Reducing methane would help and definitely has its place, but CO₂ is a totally different beast. CO₂ is best thought of as a "stock pollutant" meaning that the more you have of it, the worse the effects. This follows directly from that fact that CO₂ sticks around in the atmosphere for millennia, increasing atmospheric radiative forcing. Methane, on the other hand, is better framed as a "flow pollutant" - it's harm is ~proportional to the rate of emission. This is a direct consequence of its much shorter atmospheric lifetime.
Here's a useful twitter thread from a real expert: https://twitter.com/hausfath/status/1425572803508465664
And if you're up for a pretty technical (but still fairly approachable) read, check out R.T. Pierrehumbert ''Short-Lived Climate Pollution.'' Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 2014 42:1, 341-379 [https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-060313-054843]. Near the end of the paper, he delivers this gem: "Methane mitigation is like trying to stockpile bananas to eat during retirement. Given the short lifetime of bananas, it makes little sense to begin saving them until your retirement date is quite near."
Re:3,000 eggs abandoned after drone scares birds in California
on Saturday June 05, 2021 @03:42PM (#27407942)
https://slco.org/parks/millcreek-canyon/
there's a great hike just outside Salt Lake City that solves this problem by allowing bikes on even numbered days and off-leash dogs on odd numbered days
Re:Nasa Happily Reports the Earth Is Greener
on Wednesday February 27, 2019 @03:26AM (#19261823)
it's a bit of a double edged sword. warmer springs are definitely a good thing for plants in terms of growth. but in the united states, at least, there is evidence that the positive effect of warmer springs will be offset by drier, hotter summers that are not ideal for growth.
here is a discussion of a neat study in 2016 that showed this effect: https://www.pnas.org/content/113/21/5768
the already warm tropics are expected to get even warmer, which likely isn't great for the forests there.