1581

Well the problem is those tiny pieces are a lot worse than big ones since they get into the food chain and everything else.

That said, I think there are probably bigger issues like oil spills and other chemicals and whatnot when it comes to damaging the oceans and the food chain.

1582

Yes, i suspect heavy metals are a bigger issue.

1583

…Ocean acidification.

1584

Indeed all issues about longterm health and food security. In terms of the plastics (and general man-made pollutants) it is less the figures compared to the total volume of sea, in part because most of the fish (i.e food we ingest) live in a relatively small part of that volume, which is where the plastics are concentrated, and in part because the man-made pollution is already in the food chain (and getting worse). No animal (including man) is born without traces of this pollution in our organism, your baby, that baby Polar bear, all now contain man made pollution from birth. It is probably a high reason for the growth of cancer rates these last decades. For me that is the issue, the damage is already done, and the decision is to keep doing more or maybe try to reduce it? I prefer the reduction method, not being a fan of cancer and babies born with pollution inside them etc.

In other news the latest Climate Treaty talks are failing:

‘Lima climate talks agree on just one paragraph of deal with 24 hours left’:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/11/lima-climate-talks-fail-agreement-single-paragraph-deal

Negotiators working on a deal to fight climate change have agreed on just a single paragraph of text, casting a shadow over the prospects for a strong outcome in Lima.

The talks – scheduled to end at noon local time on Friday after 10 full days – are intended to provide a clear blueprint for a global agreement to find climate change by the end of next year.

But while negotiators descended on Lima in a positive mood, buoyed by recent commitments from the US and China, the talks have fallen into a rut.

“We are going backwards,” said Alden Meyer, who monitors the climate negotiations for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Those at the talks still have every expectation that Lima will produce some kind of agreement by Friday evening, or more likely early Saturday morning – but the paralysis is in stark contrast to the upbeat backdrop to the summit’s opening.

“I am not really sure that we will see a clear outcome coming here in Lima,” said the former Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, who addressed the meeting.

By Thursday morning the text, which had started at a reasonable 6 pages, had ballooned to about 50, with negotiators throwing in their objections to almost every single clause. Just one section, paragraph 34, on countries intensifying engagement in the years up to 2020, has been agreed by negotiators.

1585

Well, consider though that the number provided by that study isn’t actually a concrete measurement of that amount, but rather an extrapolation of smaller samples considered against the larger volume of the ocean.

1586

It’s data. Moreover, it’s the best data we have right now. Until you come up with a way to better characterize the levels, you must make your decisions on the best data you have. The alternative is to say, well, we don’t have accurate figures, so we can’t take action… and for stuff like this, you probably don’t want to do that (see: leaded gas).

1587

I’m sorry, I think I may have been unclear in my intention there.

I was not questioning the data based upon the fact that it was extrapolated.

I was pointing out that an inherent aspect of the data was that it was extrapolating a sample set to a larger volume, so you have to take into account the actual volume that it was extrapolated to (the 1.5 quintillion tons of water in the ocean, in this case).

1588

…just keep enjoying your mercury laden tuna steak feast, or antibiotic soaked meat, or carcinogenic ready meals, or over sugared/hydrogenated fat inserted snacks. It’s our choice (obviously as the obesity and health issues epidemics sweep through our countries), or is it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food%2C_Inc.

etc.

1589

‘UN members agree deal at Lima climate talks’:

United Nations members have reached an agreement on how countries should tackle climate change. Delegates have approved a framework for setting national pledges to be submitted to a summit next year.

Differences over the draft text caused the talks in Lima, Peru, to overrun by two days.

Environmental groups have criticised the deal as a weak and ineffectual compromise, saying it weakens international climate rules.

The talks proved difficult because of divisions between rich and poor countries over how to spread the burden of pledges to cut carbon emissions.

1590

Arctic sea ice volume ‘stable’:

While global warming seems to have set the polar north on a path to floe-free summers, the latest data from Europe’s Cryosat mission suggests it may take a while yet to reach those conditions.

The spacecraft observed 7,500 cu km of ice cover in October when the Arctic traditionally starts its post-summer freeze-up.

This was only slightly down on 2013 when 8,800 cu km were recorded.

Two cool summers in a row have now allowed the pack to increase and then hold on to a good deal of its volume.

And while the ice is still much reduced compared with the 20,000 cu km that used to stick around in the Octobers of the early 1980s, there is no evidence to indicate a collapse is imminent.

1591

But Greenlands Ice sheet is not:

‘Greenland ice melt underestimated, study says’

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/15/greenland-ice-melt-underestimated-study-says

Melting ice from the coast of Greenland could make a much bigger contribution to rising sea levels than has previously been thought, a new study suggests.

Scientists believe a previously overlooked side-effect of global warming could greatly increase the rate of melting of the vast Greenland ice sheet.

The ice covers 1.7m sq km (656,000 sq m), an area three times the size of Texas. If all the ice melted and flowed into the sea, oceans around the world would rise by as much as six metres (20ft), causing extensive damage to coastal communities.

While such a disaster is not expected to happen, ice losses from Greenland are predicted to contribute 22 cm (8in) to global sea levels by 2100.

But the new findings related to lakes formed from melted ice and snow indicate that this figure may be significantly too low.

The study shows that as Arctic temperatures rise, Greenland will develop a rash of these “supraglacial” lakes which are expected to spread much further inland.

By 2060, the amount of land they cover could be double what it is today.

And sad news for the awesome white rhino:

‘One of six remaining northern white rhinos dies in US’:

A northern white rhinoceros has died at the San Diego Zoo in California, leaving only five in the entire world. Angalifu, a male thought to be 44 years old, is said to have died of old age.

One of the critically endangered species remains at the California facility, while another resides in a Czech Republic zoo and three remain in a Kenyan preserve. The rhinos have been hunted by poachers to near extinction for their valuable horns, used in dagger handles.

“Angalifu’s death is a tremendous loss to all of us,” San Diego Zoo safari park curator Randy Rieches wrote in a statement. Earlier attempts to mate Angalifu with the zoo’s other northern white rhino, Nola, were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, preservationists at the Kenyan preserve have acknowledged their one male and two female rhinos will not reproduce naturally.

In vitro fertilisation efforts will now reportedly be undertaken to keep the species from extinction.

1592

‘California’s water woes quantified’:

Scientists have assessed the scale of the epic California drought and say it will require more than 40 cubic km of water to return the US state to normal.

The figure was worked out by weighing the land from space. The American West Coast has been hit by big storms in recent days, but this rainfall is only expected to make a small dent in California’s problems.

Researchers described their research at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

The US space agency (Nasa) used its Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellites in orbit to help make the calculations.

1593

Are they really talking about making California “normal”, or are they talking about making it habitable?

I think a big part of California’s problems is that you have a ton of people living in areas which really should be uninhabitable desert.

1594

True, and not just living there, but farming there. Agriculture gets almost 80% of the water used in the state.

water-fig1-lrg.jpg800×536

That’s off UCLA’s environmental website. To really make a difference in California’s water situation, there needs to be a major overhaul of agricultural practice.

1595

I remember hearing about a startup company that was using sensors (which are in use already) at the base of individual grape vines instead of whole plots to determine when to activate sprinklers based upon individual plant need (determined through some complicated method) on a trial run at some vinyard. They wound up using drastically less water than the normal sensor approach (and way more less than without sensors), and supposedly the wine was of equal quality. I wonder if we’ll see more advances like that as time goes on.

1596

A quick re-visit to the plastics in the ocean discussion:

‘Microplastic deposits found deep in world’s oceans and seas’:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/17/microplastic-deposits-found-deep-in-worlds-oceans-and-seas

And some data on record temps across europe:

This year is on track to be the warmest ever recorded in Europe, and greenhouse gas emissions played a major role, according to new research. Scientists have analysed centuries of temperature records to conclude that this year’s warmth was made at least 35 times more likely because of climate change.

In the UK, this year’s weather included an unusually warm beginning to autumn, with hot sunny days continuing into late October. A team of researchers at Oxford found that the odds of such a warm year in this country had increased by a factor of 10.

Scientists from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the University of Melbourne and the Australian National University found that the likelihood of such warm temperatures across Europe was 35 to 80 times greater because of climate change.

1597

‘Carbon dioxide satellite mission returns first global maps’:

Nasa’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) has returned its first global maps of the greenhouse gas CO2.

The satellite was sent up in July to help pinpoint the key locations on the Earth’s surface where carbon dioxide is being emitted and absorbed.

This should help scientists better understand how human activities are influencing the climate.

The new maps contain only a few weeks of data in October and November, but demonstrate the promise of the mission.

Clearly evident within the charts is the banding effect that describes how emitted gases are mixed by winds along latitudes rather than across them.

Also apparent are the higher concentrations over South America and southern Africa. These are likely the result of biomass burning in these regions.

It is possible to see spikes, too, on the eastern seaboard of the US and over China. These probably include the additional emissions of CO2 that come from industrialisation.

“We’re very early into the mission and collecting data, yet as we show, we can take five weeks of that information and give you a quick picture of global carbon dioxide,” said deputy project scientist Annmarie Eldering.

“It really suggests to us that OCO-2 will be very useful for finding out about where carbon dioxide is coming from and being taken back up around the globe,” she told BBC News.

The US space agency researcher presented the maps here at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

1598

‘Major coral bleaching in Pacific may become worst die-off in 20 years, say experts’:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/19/major-coral-bleaching-pacific-may-worst-20-years

Scientists warn extreme sea temperatures could cause a “historic” coral reef die-off around the world over the coming months, following a massive coral bleaching already underway in the North Pacific. Experts said the coral die-off could be the worst in nearly two decades.

Reports of severe bleaching have been accumulating in the inbox of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch programme since July.

A huge swathe of the Pacific has already been affected, including the Northern Marianas Islands, Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Hawaii, Kiribati and Florida. Some areas have recorded serious bleaching for the first time.

“On a global scale it’s a major bleaching event. What it may be is the beginning of a historic event,” said Coral Reef Watch coordinator Dr Mark Eakin.

In the Marshall Islands, bleaching of unprecedented severity is suspected to have hit most of the country’s 34 atolls and islands. The Guardian witnessed devastated expanses of coral that look like forests covered with snow.

1599

‘Almost 7,000 UK properties to be sacrificed to rising seas’:

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/28/7000-uk-properties-sacrificed-rising-seas-coastal-erosion

Almost 7,000 homes and buildings will be sacrificed to the rising seas around England and Wales over the next century, according to an unpublished Environment Agency (EA) analysis seen by the Guardian. Over 800 of the properties will be lost to coastal erosion within the next 20 years.

The properties, worth well over £1bn, will be allowed to fall into the sea because the cost of protecting them would be far greater. But there is no compensation scheme for homeowners to enable them to move to a safer location.

Obviously this is a uk-centric piece, but for sure it has global significance. So be careful where you buy your house/choose to live.

1600

‘Most fossil fuels ‘unburnable’ under 2C climate target’:

Most of the world’s fossil fuel reserves will need to stay in the ground if dangerous global warming is to be avoided, modelling work suggests.

Over 80% of coal, 50% of gas and 30% of oil reserves are “unburnable” under the goal to limit global warming to no more than 2C, say scientists.

University College London research, published in Nature journal, rules out drilling in the Arctic.

And it points to heavy restrictions on coal to limit temperature rises.

“We’ve now got tangible figures of the quantities and locations of fossil fuels that should remain unused in trying to keep within the 2C temperature limit,” said lead researcher Dr Christophe McGlade, of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources.

“Policy makers must realise that their instincts to completely use the fossil fuels within their countries are wholly incompatible with their commitments to the 2C goal.”