44% Of Crocodilians Are Threatened According To The IUCN. The Chinese Alligator, Orinoco Crocodile, Phillippines

Direct and indirect employment, as of 2013-2014, in the global renewable energy industry.

NASA map shows temperature anomalies from March 13-19, 2012 as compared to the same eight day period during the past 12 years. Red = warmer than normal. Blue = cooler than normal. Based on data captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite.

In a report Tuesday, Environment and Climate Change Canada said the 51 separate herds [of boreal caribou] across the country remain under pressure from human and natural disturbances to their habitat more than five years after the federal and provincial governments concluded a protection agreement.

The range of the boreal caribou extends across the country from Yukon to Labrador, but its forest habitat has been increasingly disturbed by industrial activity such as forestry, mining and oil and gas development, as well as by forest fires, the spread of pests and other impacts of climate change.

Carbon dioxide emissions in the UK are falling. CO2 emission fell 5.8% in 2016 from the previous year. Current emissions represent a 36% reduction from 1990 levels, and are at their lowest level since 1894 (outside the 1920s general strikes).

Why? The decline of coal. Coal use in the UK has declined steadily from its peak in 1956, and has experienced a dramatic decline since 2012. Coal use in 2016 dropped 52% from 2015.

The reduction in coal use is a result of multiple factors. The biggest is the expanded use of natural gas and renewables displacing coal. Other factors include an overall reduction in energy demand, the closing of Redcar Steelworks in 2015, and the UK’s carbon tax.

Source

Glass recycling rates in Europe

Protecting Global Biodiversity Hotspots

Map 1: Biodiversity hotspot regions. Biodiversity hotspots are defined as areas "[h]aving at least 1500 endemic plant species and having lost at least 70 per cent of their original habitat extent".

Map 2: Conservation targets. The Convention on Biological Diversity is a multilateral treaty seeking to safeguard global biodiversity. One target calls for protected areas, formal designations of land protected for conservation, so cover 17% of earth’s land area. This Map highlights biodiversity hotspot regions where at least 17% of land area is formally protected (blue-green), and biodiversity hotspot regions where less than 17% is formally protected (red-orange).

Map 3: Protected areas. Formal protected areas are shaded green. Dark green areas are protected areas that allow for use of natural resources (i.e. protected forests where sustainable logging is permitted, or protected grasslands where livestock grazing is permitted). Light green are strict protected areas (i.e. nature reserves, national parks and monuments, wilderness areas). Areas shaded red are biodiversity hotspot regions.

Source: ATLAS for the END of the WORLD

Sea Level Rise

For thousands of years, sea level has remained relatively stable. But now, Earth’s seas are rising. Since the beginning of the 20th century, they have risen about eight inches, and more than two inches in the last 20 years alone!

As water warms, it expands and takes up more space. That means that when oceans warm, the sea level rises. This summer, we’ve been researching exactly how global warming has impacted Greenland’s ice sheet. Our ICESat-2 mission will use a laser to measure the height of the planet’s surface. Over time, we will be able to provide a record of elevation change, and estimate how much water has melted into the ocean from land ice change.

So how much ice are we actually losing? Great question, but the answer might shock you. In Greenland alone, 303 gigatons of ice was lost in 2014!

Since we know that ice is melting, we’re working to gain a better understanding of how much and how fast. We’re using everything from planes, probes and boats, to satellites and lasers to determine the impact of global warming on the Earth’s ice.

Follow along for updates and information: http://climate.nasa.gov/

California's climate change law (AB 32), which puts a price on carbon emissions and creates a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, is yielding substantial reductions in emissions from oil refineries. These refineries are a major source of carbon emissions, along with a host of other toxic chemicals like ammonia, lead, benzene, mercury and acid gases.

Data from the California Air Resources Board shows that 11 refineries substantially reduced emissions between 2010 and 2011, in addition to cuts in the release of other toxic pollutants. Evidence shows that these reductions not a result of cuts in production, but to refineries investing in and upgrading equipment in response to AB 32. An example is Valero’s refinery in Benicia, CA, which decreased covered emissions by over 95,000 metric tons, while also cutting ammonia emissions by 98%, sulfuric acid by 84%, and benzene by 49%, through the installation of a new flue gas scrubber.

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This is cool.