global Climate change

Federally-recognized tribes must adapt to many ecological challenges arising from climate change, from the effects of glacier retreat on the habitats of culturally significant species to how sea level rise forces human communities to relocate. The governmental and social institutions supporting tribes in adapting to climate change are often constrained by political obstructions, raising concerns about justice. Beyond typical uses of justice, which call attention to violations of formal rights or to considerations about the degree to which some populations may have caused anthropogenic climate change, a justice framework should guide how leaders, scientists and professionals of all heritages and who work with or for federally-recognized tribes understand what actions are morally essential for supporting tribes’ adaptation efforts. This paper motivates a shift to a forward-looking framework of justice. The framework situates justice within the systems of responsibilities that matter to tribes and many others, which range from webs of inter-species relationships to government-to-government partnerships. Justice is achieved when these systems of responsibilities operate in ways that support the continued flourishing of tribal communities.

... Urban channels, Erodibility, Allen et al. (2002). Urban channels, Spatial management in relation to hazards, Chin and Gregory (2005). Plunge pools, Act as energy dissipators to increase flow resistance and enhance channel stability, Allan and Estes (2005). Channelization. ...

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, was probably the largest event in a long series of megasummits on environmental protection and sustainable development. Roughly 44 000 participants descended on Rio de Janeiro to take part in ten days of preparatory committee meetings, informal consultations, side events, and the actual conference. Yet despite this unprecedented high attendance by participants from governments and civil society, the outcome of the conference is less than many had hoped for. In this paper I review the outcomes of the 2012 Rio conference in detail, with a special focus on its contributions towards the reform of the institutional framework for sustainable development. Following this review, I discuss the way ahead and options for structural reform to restrengthen earth system governance.

Climate models indicate that there will be an increase in both average annual temperature (+4.5 o C) and rainfall in the Midwestern U.S. by the year 2050 which may result in warmer, wetter conditions. Perhaps the most important factor will be less predictable weather patterns that will emerge, increasing the frequency of extreme weather events such as heavy downpours of precipitation, late season frosts and droughts. For example, July rainfall may increase 20% and might come in just two rainfall events. This study combines expertise from several disciplinary areas with modeling strategies to assess the impact of global climate change on midwestern agriculture. Predictions of warmer summers, wetter springs, and more extreme events indicate that the cropping system may need to be adjusted to effectively conserve soil, maintain timely planting, avoid early season frost damage, and respond to warmer growing conditions. Climate projections (HADCM2), crop growth models (DSSAT), the Water ...

Global climate change is altering the ecology of infectious agents and driving the emergence of disease in people, domestic animals, and wildlife. We present a novel, empirically based, predictive model for the impact of climate warming on development rates and availability of an important parasitic nematode of muskoxen in the Canadian Arctic, a region that is particularly vulnerable to climate

Climate change poses one of the most serious challenges for humanity due to the increasing complexity of both factual and ethical dimensions. Although the debate over climate change is usually framed as a debate about scientific facts, climate change is also fundamentally an ethical issue; the challenges that climate change poses cannot be addressed simply by accumulating more factual knowledge since it also refers to the meaning we make out of the world and the values we identify as important. Among climate ethicists, there are no doubts that even in the face of uncertainty regarding the severity, scope, and form of climate change impacts, the moral problems it poses are real. For example, future generations are subjected to severe harms and risk, and there exists a great deal of conflict in international climate negotiations. There is general agreement that actions undertaken to deal with the problem of global climate change are not sufficient. Addressing climate issues is usually conceived in terms of political decision making, with adaptation and mitigation as the primary goals. The fact of scientific uncertainty regarding the severity and scope of the problem fuels general disagreement about the appropriate actions to undertake. As a result, the persistent tendency to polarize the discourse often undermines the moral importance of human action, especially that which relates to the global commons and future generations.

This NSF-funded, Phase 1 CCLI project effectively integrates scientific ocean drilling data and research (DSDP-ODP-IODP-ANDRILL) with education. We have developed, and are currently testing, a suite of data-rich inquiry-based classroom learning materials based on sediment core archives. These materials are suitable for use in introductory geoscience courses that serve general education students, early geoscience majors, and pre-service teachers. 'Science made

Although most data suggest that the India–Eurasia continental collision began approx 45–55 Myr ago, the architecture of the Himalayan–Tibetan orogen is dominated by deformational structures developed in the Neogene period (< 23 Myr ago). The stratigraphic record and thermochronometric data indicate that erosion of the Himalaya intensified as this constructional phase began and reached a peak around 15 Myr ago. It remained high until approx 10.5 Myr ago and subsequently slowed gradually to approx 3.5 Myr ago, but then ...

Global climate change, linked to astronomical forcing factors, has been implicated in faunal evolutionary change in equatorial Africa, including
the origin and diversification of hominin lineages. Empirical terrestrial data demonstrating that orbital forcing has a significant effect,
or is detectable, at early hominin sites in equatorial continental interiors during the Pliocene, however, remain limited. Sedimentation patterns in
the Baringo Basin within the Central Kenyan Rift Valley between ca. 2.7 and 2.55 Ma, controlled by climatic factors, provide a detailed paleoenvironmental
record spanning 35 fossil vertebrate localities, including three hominin sites. The succession includes a sequence of diatomites
that record rhythmic cycling of major freshwater lake systems consistent with w23-kyr Milankovitch precessional periodicity. The temporal
framework of shifting precipitation patterns, relative to Pliocene insolation curves, implicate African monsoonal climatic control and indicate
that climatic fluctuations in Rift Valley ecosystems were paced by global climatic change documented in marine cores. These data provide direct
evidence of orbitally mediated environmental change at Pliocene Rift Valley hominin fossil localities, providing a unique opportunity to assess
the evolutionary effect of short-term climatic flux on late Pliocene East African terrestrial communities.

Abstract: Kelp forests are one of the most diverse and productive ecosystems worldwide. Global climate change and human exploitation threaten the stability of many of these ecosystems. In this study we compare differences in temperature responses during the microscopic haploid stage development between two kelp species in order to test if the annual Saccorhiza polyschides outperforms the perennial Laminaria ochroleuca at the northern limit of range distribution of L. ochroleuca, in Northern Brittany. Germination and ...

The study was done in the Southern Carpathians which are also called the Transylvanian Alps, the most representative mountain unit of the Romanian Carpathians. Southern Carpathians have a central position in Romania with a general east-west orientation and a total surface of 14 040 km 2 . Southern Carpathians have a high massivity and maximum altitudes above 2500 m. They

As contribution to the 'Second Ghana Dams Forum of the National Dialogue on Dams and Development' scientists of the GLOWA Volta Project (GVP) of the Center for Development Research (ZEF, University of Bonn) have undertaken a hydrological assessment of the likely impact of climate change on Black Volta River and the Bui Dam. Two different studies that investigate the impact

This NSF-funded, Phase 1 CCLI project effectively integrates scientific ocean drilling data and research (DSDP-ODP-IODP-ANDRILL) with education. We have developed, and are currently testing, a suite of data-rich inquiry-based classroom learning materials based on sediment core archives. These materials are suitable for use in introductory geoscience courses that serve general education students, early geoscience majors, and pre-service teachers. 'Science made accessible' is the essence of this goal. Our team consists of research and education specialists from institutions ranging from R1 research to public liberal arts to community college. We address relevant and timely 'Big Ideas' with foundational geoscience concepts and climate change case studies, as well transferable skills valued in professional settings. The exercises are divided into separate but interrelated modules including: introduction to cores, seafloor sediments, microfossils and biostratigraphy, pale...