Not Just Skiing!! The duration of snow cover in the Alps is now 36 days shorter than the long-term average – an “unprecedented” decline over the past 600 years – according to recent research. The paper, published in Nature Climate Change, uses ring-width records from juniper shrubs to assess snow cover duration in the Alps over the past six centuries. The study is part of the established research field of “proxy” data, which uses indirect records of climate imprinted on different parts of the biosphere to determine how the climate has changed over thousands of years. The findings are significant for the millions of people who depend on meltwater from the  Alps snowpack every year for “agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes”, as well as “winter tourism and related recreation activities”, the authors write. A researcher not involved in the study tells Carbon Brief that the study is “significant”, because “we now have, basically for the first time, an annually resolved proxy with a clear response to winter conditions”. ‘Water towers of Europe’.....The Alps are Europe’s largest mountain range, stretching from France to Slovenia. They provide as much as 90% of the water to lowland Europe, earning them the moniker “the water towers of Europe”. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), mountain areas with seasonal snow cover are “essential” for animal foraging, relief from climate stress, food caching and nesting grounds. Loss of snowy habitats globally has already driven decreasing population growth for some mountain animals, including frogs, rodents and small carnivores, it adds. Snow preserves soil conditions during the cold winter months, thanks to its insulating properties. “Significant decreases in snow cover” will increase the susceptibility of agricultural crops and perennial species to the adverse effects of freezing temperatures, according to the IPCC.  Snow cover also reduces local temperatures, as its bright surface reflects light and heat from the sun – a process known as the albedo effect. Lead author Prof Marco Carrer, a professor at the department of land environment agriculture and forestry, from the University of Padova,tells Carbon Brief......“Snow cover is absolutely important for the energy balance of the atmosphere. For the biosphere, there are a lot of plant and animal species – especially in the mountain area – that really need the snow cover because they are adapted to being in the Alps.” The Alps are also one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world, attracting 120m visitors every year for activities including skiing, snowboarding, hiking and cycling. The lack of winter snow has made international news in recent years, including in 2023 when Alpine resorts were driven to bring in snow by helicopter and offer “alternative entertainment” – such as “hiking with goats” – the New York Times reported.                  https://www.carbonbrief.org/swiss-ski-resorts-could-see-70-percent-drop-in-snow-cover-as-climate-warms/

 Land-use and climate change have been linked to changes in wildlife populations, but the role of socioeconomic factors in driving declines, and promoting population recoveries, remains relatively unexplored. Here, we evaluate potential drivers of population changes observed in 50 species of some of the world’s most charismatic and functionally important fauna—large mammalian carnivores. Our results reveal that human socioeconomic development is more associated with carnivore population declines than habitat loss or climate change. Rapid increases in socioeconomic development are linked to sharp population declines, but, importantly, once development slows, carnivore populations have the potential to recover. The context- and threshold-dependent links between human development and wildlife population health are challenges to the achievement of the UN Sustainable development goals. Rapid global change is placing wildlife populations under threat To address this threat, it is important to identify drivers of population trends, revealing sources of declines and opportunities for recovery. However, understanding drivers of population trends (i.e. the direction of abundance change for a given species in a specific location) is challenging, partly because the factors that influence population trends are numerous and hard to measure2. For instance, whilst a wealth of ecological knowledge has been amassed with regards to how local-scale environmental change, like changes in land-us and climate influences species population trends. Comparably, we know little about the role of socioeconomic factors and their ability to mitigate or magnify local-scale impacts on wildlife populations. This is problematic as the scarce studies that have focussed on socioeconomics have found large and important effects, where wildlife populations are more likely to increase in areas with strong governance and areas with a high standard of livingTo effectively detect the signal of environmental change and socioeconomic impacts, it is important to consider the multidimensional context and diversity of potential factors that influence population dynamics. Here, we utilise this multidimensional approach to examine correlative patterns of how land-use change, climate change, governance (of which socioeconomics are a component) and species traits impact population trends of some of the world’s most ecologically and culturally important fauna on the planet—large terrestrial carnivores (e.g. lions, tigers, and wolves).     https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35665-9?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-01-27&utm_campaign=Cropped+Carbon+offsets+controversy+Trade+wars+Methane+round-up#Abs        

The Plastic You Breathe.....Conducted by researchers in New Zealand, a recently published study on airborne microplastic pollution "brings heightened alarm." As if the climate crisis were not enough, scientists have identified another atmospheric threat of our own making: air pollution from microplastics, small particles derived primarily from waste plastic.Researchers at the University of Auckland recently published a study revealing that 74 metric tons of microplastics fall out of the sky above the coastal New Zealand city every year. This quantity translates to more than three million plastic bottles’ worth of polymers, with eight common plastic types, including polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polycarbonate (PC), identified among the samples. The daily average number of individual microplastics—defined as 5 mm or smaller in length—amounts to 4,885 per square meter of air. Although the team theorizes that Auckland receives many of its particles due to wave action breaking down marine plastics, the presumption is that this is a ubiquitous problem. This jarring news brings heightened alarm about the challenges associated with microplastic waste. Although there has been growing awareness concerning the proliferation of microplastics in water and food, the realization that we are breathing plastic is utterly dismaying. The scientific community knows little about the effects of microplastics on humans and other species at this time, and there is renewed urgency to learn more. Influences include injuring cells and triggering inflammatory reactions, and there could be many other detrimental outcomes.                  https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/the-plastic-you-breathe_o?utm_source=newsletter&utm_content=Article&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=AN_011723   

.Experts Warn 'Doomsday Scenario' for Colorado River Basin Possible in 2023"The problem with massive projects like Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam," said one climate journalist, "is they were engineered for a climate that no longer exists." The catastrophic chain ofevents that water and power authorities are working to prepare for amid the desertification of the Colorado River basin would amount to a "complete doomsday scenario," harming water and electricity supplies for millions, according to new reporting from The Washington Post. While the Biden administration earlier this year ordered water use cuts in Arizona, Nevada, and parts of Mexico that use water from the rapidly shrinking Colorado River, officials in the region are examining how they can keep Lake Powell and Lake Mead—the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S.—from reaching dangerous "dead pool" status, in which water levels would drop so low that water no longer flows downstream. Jeff Goodell, author of the book The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, suggested that the aridification of the West—made 40% worse by planetary heating and the continued extraction of fossil fuels, according to one recent study—has left the Colorado River unable to provide water and power to the millions of people who have come to rely on it.                https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/01/experts-warn-doomsday-scenario-colorado-river-basin-possible-2023?utm_source=daily_newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_text