'It doesn't feel justifiable': The couples not having children because of climate change: SMH

"Morgan and Adam have always wanted children but fears over climate change are making them reconsider.

The committed pair, aged 36 and 35, are part of a growing trend for young couples to abandon plans for a family because of the climate crisis.

Millions of people around the world rallied for climate action over the past two days, including 300,000 in Australia on Friday, ahead of a United Nations climate action summit on Monday."

' "I feel so sad, it's such a hard thing to let go of," says Morgan, who works in logistics. "My conscience says, 'I can't give this child what I've enjoyed, I can't give them the certainty of a future where they can be all that they can be ... or have the things they should have, like breathable air and drinkable water'."'

Read the complete SMH article 

Leaked IPCC report warns of the future of oceans in climate change: Global Landscapes Forum

"This topic will be discussed at the Global Landscapes Forum New York 2019. Learn more about how to join here.

The world’s vast oceans, glacial ice sheets and northern permafrost are poised to unleash disaster, including drought, floods, hunger and destruction, unless dramatic action is taken against human-caused carbon pollution and climate change, warns a leaked draft of a major U.N. report.

The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) sounds alarm bells over declines in fish stocks, plus “a hundred-fold or more increase in the damages caused by superstorms, and hundreds of millions of people displaced by rising seas,” according to news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), which obtained a copy of the 900-page draft report."

Read the complete article 

Related:

Great Barrier Reef outlook now 'very poor', Australian government review says: The Guardian

Great Barrier Reef outlook now 'very poor', Australian government review says: The Guardian

Five-yearly report says climate change is escalating the threat and window of opportunity for action is now.

"The outlook for the Great Barrier Reef has deteriorated from poor to very poor according to an exhaustive government report that warns the window of opportunity to improve the natural wonder’s future “is now”.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s outlook report, published every five years, finds coral reefs have declined to a very poor condition and there is widespread habitat loss and degradation affecting fish, turtles and seabirds.

It warns the plight of the reef will not improve unless there is urgent national and global action to address the climate crisis, which it described as its greatest threat."

Read the complete The Guardian story

Related: Amazon rainforest fire: Five things you need to know: ABC

Geoengineering is a last-ditch option to stall global warming

Geoengineering is a last-ditch option to stall global warming — and it’s getting a first test

Harvard researchers want to see what adding calcium carbonate could do to the stratosphere.

"And while solar geoengineering helps address the temperature issues related to global warming, that’s hardly the only concern with climate change. As Irfan notes, geoengineering could threaten crop yields by reducing crops’ access to sunlight, and it does not address ocean acidification, a significant environmental threat associated with climate change.

But if the world continues on its current emissions path, we might have to choose, in 2030 or 2040 or 2050, between the (quite bad) option of geoengineering and the (also quite bad) option of enduring and adapting to the effects of large-scale global warming. And the Harvard experiment could help us understand which of those two bad options would be worse."

Read full Vox article 

Vox: Here are 10 ways to accelerate progress against climate change and a simple guide to the climate policies that work.

UTS Science in Focus: Will coral reefs survive climate change?

University of Technology Sydney

Published on Sep 6, 2018  With Dr Emma Camp

 

The world’s coral reefs are under threat. Environmental changes such as warming waters and pollution are causing ocean acidification, coral disease and coral bleaching. 

 

Australia’s world heritage listed, the Great Barrier Reef is no exception. At UTS, our marine scientists have been studying reef forming corals and coral reef fishes to better understand how environmental stressors and climate change will affect reefs—and the marine life they support.