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Improving the ability of cities to mitigate and adapt to climate change has become a pressing global priority. Research now sheds light on the ways in which urban leaders are positioning themselves for the coming climate challenge.
Anthropology can offer valuable insights into the science, impacts and policy of climate change thanks to its fieldwork methodology, holistic view of society and engagement in society–environment interactions. Yet the discipline's voice in climate change debates remains marginal. This Perspective sheds light on how anthropological research can contribute to the understanding of climate change.
Two important aims of mitigation policy are to maintain land carbon stocks and reduce terrestrial ecosystem-based emissions. This Perspective discusses the scientific issues involved, argues that current negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change are not solidly grounded in science, and proposes some ways forward.
The Earth is getting hotter as carbon dioxide, predominantly from the burning of fossil fuels, continues to accumulate in the atmosphere. It is widely recognized that increasing temperatures pose a threat to coral reefs, but just how large a risk are these reefs facing?
Climate change is amplified in polar regions compared with the rest of the globe. A study now describes how dust particles and other aerosols may contribute to this phenomenon.
Reliable measurements of changes in wetland surface elevation are necessary to understand and predict the probable impact of sea-level rise on vulnerable coastal ecosystems and for science-informed management, adaptation and mitigation. A simple, inexpensive and low-technology device called the 'rod surface elevation table' could be used to monitor threatened coastal wetlands around the world.
The first public engagement study on the acceptability of stratospheric aerosol technology and a proposed field trial of an aerosol deployment mechanism shows that almost all participants were willing to allow the trial to proceed. However, very few were comfortable with using stratospheric aerosols.
Or do we see something, because we believe it? Evidence suggests that personal experience is more likely to influence Americans with no strong beliefs about climate change than those with firm beliefs.
Climate change studies rarely yield consensus on the probability distribution of exposure, vulnerability, or possible outcomes, and therefore the evaluation of alternative policy strategies is difficult. This Perspective highlights the importance of decision-making tools designed for situations where generally agreed-upon probability distributions are not available and stakeholders show different degrees of risk tolerance.
Increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere support greater plant biomass in grasslands, but this response is constrained in the long term by soil nitrogen availability.
Phytoplankton support most marine food webs, but little is known about their intraspecific diversity. Research shows the strains that are most responsive to changes in CO2 concentration may outcompete less flexible types in an acidifying ocean.
At Rio+20, the United Nations established global targets for energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency in the context of sustainable development and eradication of poverty, as well as climate risk mitigation. This Perspective discusses the consistency of these targets with the overarching goal of limiting global temperature increase to below 2 °C.
An increasingly ice-free Arctic Ocean could have significant implications for greenhouse-gas sources and sinks in the Northern high latitudes. In this Review, the impact of diminishing sea-ice extent on greenhouse-gas exchange in both marine and terrestrial Arctic environments is synthesised and discussed.
Earthworms play an essential part in determining the greenhouse-gas balance of soils worldwide but whether their activity moves soils towards being a net source or sink remains controversial. This Review of the overall effect of earthworms on the greenhouse-gas balance of soils suggests that although beneficial to fertility, earthworms tend to increase the net soil emissions of such gases.
By exerting a drag on the atmosphere, wind turbines convert a fraction of the atmosphere's kinetic energy to electrical energy. To find the point of diminishing returns, a new study adds so much drag to a simulated atmosphere that the winds slow to a crawl.
Economic arguments, such as saving money, are often used to promote pro-environmental actions — for example, reducing energy use. However, research shows that people's environmental motives are sometimes better drivers of behavioural change.
