Word: ecosystems
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Though some scientists angrily denounced the IPCC report as a hobbled compromise even then, its predictions make frightening reading. The IPCC concludes that global warming has almost certainly triggered changes in the Earth's ecosystem that have already been felt in increased drought, shrinking glaciers and changing seasons, and these effects are expected to intensify. Freshwater stored in glaciers and snow cover will be lost, while rainfall will increasingly come in destructive deluges, reducing the water supply to one-sixth of the humanity - with the teeming masses dependent on the melt water from the Himalayas particularly hard...
...Louisiana, as elsewhere, smart adaptation requires a lot more than good infrastructure and ecosystem management. Economic viability is also important, and that is not possible without insurance. In Louisiana and Florida, insurance companies responded to the burst of hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 by raising rates significantly, even canceling policies outright. How can hurricane-prone states retain coverage? "The only solution is to get the Federal Government to do what it did after September 11 and recognize that some risks are too large and costly for the private-insurance market to absorb on its own," says James Donelon, the state...
...basin collapse, the vegetation of the rainforest will react to high carbon dioxide concentration by closing their stomates, the parts of plants that act as portals for carbon intake and water release. Since the plants release less water, there would be less water in the atmosphere, perhaps leading the ecosystem to spiral into draught...
...news for China's economy, environmentalists are worried. The Tibet plateau, known as the Roof of the World, is an average of 15,000 feet above sea level and is home to rare snow leopards and Tibetan antelope. Much of it is largely untouched. "At that high altitude, the ecosystem is very fragile. Once you damage it will takes decades to recover," says Wen Bo, China program director for Pacific Environment, a San Francisco-based NGO. "Already the plateau is facing serious problems. If you're going to mine it's not going to get better. My position is they...
...support of science’s most unlikely ally: the Wilberforces of the modern world. Composed as a series of letters to a Southern Baptist pastor, Wilson’s work paints a dismal picture of the dramatic and widespread deterioration of the Earth’s various ecosystems. Wilson includes a compelling array of facts, but the true significance of these facts—and, indeed, the true worth of his book—lies in his anecdotal digressions. He recounts, with infectious enthusiasm, his decades-long investigation of the tropical fire ant, a pursuit that took him from...