acidic oceans: Dissolved CO2 makes water more acidic. UK researchers saw a fall in the species numbers and snails with their shells disintegrating in vents in the Mediterranean sea. They say impacts such as changing of marine food web and decrease in biodiversity might become common with the increase of CO2 levels. Some of the extra CO2 emitted enters the oceans, acidifying waters globally.

GDP does not calculate the wealth of ecosystems and biodiversity Human well-being is completely dependent on the smooth flow of ecosystem services, such as food, fibres, clean water, healthy soil and carbon capture. They are public goods, but with no market and no prices, and hence are rarely detected by the economic compass of our times, gdp The world has achieved economic

Recently in Dhaka, Dutch ambassador Bea Ten Tusscher suggested that Bangladesh, decidedly to be worst-hit by global-warming-induced sea level rise, could outpace this disaster by trapping the silt three great rivers carry through it to the sea. It is a fascinating idea from the ambassador of a nation actively associated with the development of Bangladesh

TOYAKO, Japan (AFP) - Leaders of the world's eight top industrial powers wrapped up a summit Wednesday with pledges to act on soaring oil and food prices, but failed to bridge deep differences with poor nations on how to fight climate change. US President George W. Bush hailed his last G8 summit, at which rich nations agreed to at least halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as "very productive" before he left the resort venue in the mountains of northern Japan. "I'm pleased to report that we've had significant success," Bush said.

Mumbai, July 04 WET WEEKEND AHEAD Met office forecasts thundershowers or spells of rain with gusty winds; 4.84-metre high tide likely today With the second highest high tide of this monsoon season forecast on Saturday afternoon at 4.84 metres and the Indian Meteorological Department also predicting spells of rain or thundershowers with gusty winds, Mumbaiites are gearing up for a possibly wet weekend. Over the past years, the city has seen severe waterlogging when high tide is over 4.5 metres during heavy rain.

DOWN TO EARTH Sunita Narain / New Delhi July 04, 2008, 0:00 IST We need a way ahead

Continuous Global Positioning System observations reveal rapid and large ice velocity fluctuations in the western ablation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Within days, ice velocity reacts to increased meltwater production and increases by a factor of 4. Such a response is much stronger and much faster than previously reported. Over a longer period of 17 years, annual ice velocities have decreased slightly, which suggests that the englacial hydraulic system adjusts constantly to the variable meltwater input, which results in a more or less constant ice flux over the years.

Much of the scientific and public focus on anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions have been on climate impacts. Emission targets have been suggested based primarily on arguments for preventing climate from shifting significantly from its preindustrial state. However, recent studies underline a second major impact of carbon emissions: ocean acidification. Over the past 200 years, the oceans have take up `40% of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This uptake shows the rise in atmospheric CO2 considerably, thus alleviating climate change caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Here the authors show the effects of acidification on benthic ecosystems at shallow coastal sites where volcanic CO2 vents lower the pH of the water column. Along gradients of normal pH (8.1

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide lead to acidification of the oceans. A site in the Mediterranean, naturally carbonated by under-sea volcanoes, provides clues to the possible effects on marine ecosystems.

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