Climate Change & Conservation eNews
Communications
Home > Climate News >
All Articles
Agriculture
Communications
Community
Economy
Natural Areas
Renewables
Take Action
Wildlife
Do you have questions about divestment and socially responsible investment?
The Land Trust Alliance provides some thoughtful information on their climate change website about divestment and socially responsible investment. You may find it helpful when discussing whether this is a path your land trust wants to take as a moral, ethical, and financial statement.
As the financial world looks at the risks associated with fossil fuels, others are considering different investment strategies, as noted in this article earlier this year from Forbes.
The great climate silence: we are on the edge of the abyss but we ignore it
After 200,000 years of modern humans on a 4.5 billion-year-old Earth, we have arrived at new point in history: the Anthropocene. The change has come upon us with disorienting speed. It is the kind of shift that typically takes two or three or four generations to sink in.
Our best scientists tell us insistently that a calamity is unfolding, that the life-support systems of the Earth are being damaged in ways that threaten our survival. Yet in the face of these facts we carry on as usual.
Planet has only until 2030 to stem catastrophic climate change, experts warn
“Governments around the world must take “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” to avoid disastrous levels of global warming, says a stark new report from the global scientific authority on climate change.
The report issued Monday by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), says the planet will reach the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels by as early as 2030, precipitating the risk of extreme drought, wildfires, floods and food shortages for hundreds of millions of people…”
Carbon farming works. What is it? Can your land trust promote it?
Farming and ranching can help slow down climate change – but it will take significant changes for many to make that happen.
The first step is to understand what carbon farming is. The second step is to make it happen…
Study shows crops, forage may benefit from solar panel shade
An accidental discovery at Oregon State University may reveal how solar panels can help grow healthier crops on dryland farms.
Not only can solar power lower energy bills and increase efficiency, but the shade afforded by photovoltaic panels might also boost agricultural production on non-irrigated farmland, retaining more moisture for crops and livestock forage…
How will climate change impact coastal communities? Native plants out of control
‘”This shrub has always been here, it’s a native species. But it has just taken over,” said Julie Zinnert, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Humanities and Sciences, on a recent visit to Hog Island. “If you look over this way, that’s all shrub. It’s a wall of shrub, just ginormous thickets. And that’s because of climate change…”‘
No, wind farms are not causing global warming
If you hear pushback about wind energy, whether it’s because of the impact on birds and bats, land fragmentation, or light and sound, it’s helpful to frame your response based upon facts and in the context of what havoc climate change will wreak if we don’t slow it down.
Research is documenting we are headed towards massive species die-off, including birds and bats, if we continue on our current track to an increase of three degrees Celsius.
One of the strategic actions your land trust can take is to help your community understand the need for renewables and how they are a necessary part of the conservation solution. A good place to start? Dispel this misconception…
Climate scientists to the world: We only have 20 years before there is no turning back
Yes, land conservation can help. No, it won’t be nearly enough to save the species, communities, water quality, and heritage that land trusts have pledged to preserve…forever. Interestingly, land trusts will put everything on the line to protect a conservation project that is at risk from a serious violation that could destroy the conservation elements they have pledged to conserve.
This makes me wonder about how are we thinking about climate change and its impacts on critical conservation attributes.
Recognizing that climate change will destroy much of what has been protected by land trusts is a paradigm shift that could mean treating it like a violation: we need to do our best to make sure it’s limited in scope and has a net conservation gain.
If that is the case, we will need to consider how land trusts can either partner, or shift some of our time, to help our regions make the shift to energy conservation strategies and renewables, as well as conserving important lands. Here’s a summary of why…
Where Americans (mostly) agree on climate change policies
“Americans are politically divided over climate change, but there’s broader consensus around some of the solutions.
New data from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication — in partnership with Utah State University and the University of California, Santa Barbara — show how Americans across the country view climate and energy policies.
There is widespread support for renewable energy…”
Concerning 2018 Global Warming Special Report
A new report by the International Governmental Panel on Climate Change reveals that if global temperature rise by 1.5°C, humans will face unprecedented climate-related risks and weather events.We are on track for a 3-4°C temperature rise.
It’s the final call; the most extensive warning thus far on the risks of rising global temperatures. If conservationists and land trusts are serious about conserving the living things in their communities they will need to rethink their relationship with renewables in a big way…