"If climate change continues apace, 96 percent of shallow coral reef ecosystems may collapse within 50 years, including in Australia’s Great Barrier reef."
"Ancient plants reveal that the vestiges of the North American ice sheet started expanding a few thousand years ago, but that climate change caused it to reverse course."
"Global warming is now projected to exceed previous estimates, with even the most optimistic scenario seeing average temperatures rise to 1.7-1.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by mid-century, a UN report showed on Wednesday."
"The remote Pacific Ocean has some of the most pristine coral reefs in the world. The corals themselves are bigger than cars, their delicate arms creating a dense underwater maze. Above them, the skies are filled with seabirds like red-footed boobies and white terns, searching for fish."
"The scientific report, identifies the United States as an outlier among the nations responsible for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions."
"Indigenous leaders from across the Amazon are taking their fight against illegal mining, drug trafficking and deforestation to a United Nations conference in Vienna starting Monday."
As a veteran of reporting on the marine environment, David Helvarg is encouraged by recent improvements in the quality of ocean journalism, but sees a pressing need for more hands on deck. Offering inspiration from his own career, he notes that the world’s rapidly changing oceans hold an abundance of stories and urges others to dive in and explore them.
When Reporter’s Toolbox scours a new dataset for your environment and energy reporting use, it asks a key question: Where does the data come from? This time, the answer serves more as a warning. The latest column looks at a previously stellar data source — the CDC — and finds it lacking. Here’s what you need to know.
