Next Big Idea Club’s Post

To date, nearly 25,000 crocheters (“reefers”) have created a worldwide archipelago of more than 50 reefs — both a paean to and a plea for these ecosystems, rainforests of the sea, which are threatened by climate change. The project also explores mathematical themes, since many living reef organisms biologically approximate the quirky curvature of hyperbolic geometry. In the artworks, marine morphologies are modeled — crocheted — with loopy verisimilitude. A bit like Monet’s water lilies, the crochet corals are abstract representations of nature. Christine Wertheim is the driving artistic force behind the project, which she created with Margaret Wertheim, her twin sister, a science writer who is in charge of scientific and mathematical components as well as management. The Wertheims, Australians who live together in Los Angeles, spun out the mother reef from their living room many moons ago, in 2005. https://lnkd.in/g-s3iwAs #crochetcoralreef #greatbarrierreef #climatechange #globalwarming #ecosystems #anthropocene #reefers

Interesting research and insights of how mountains can be both carbon sinks and carbon sources. This article from Earth.com Inc by Eric Ralls, discusses a study on how mountains contribute to the carbon cycle. Here are the top 3 points: Mountains as Carbon Sources and Sinks: The study, a collaboration between Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Colorado State University, and the German Research Centre for Geosciences, reveals that mountains can function as both carbon sources and sinks. This dual role depends on the erosion rate, with a crucial 'tipping point' identified. Erosion rates above approximately 0.1 millimeters per year cause mountains to emit carbon, while rates below this threshold have a minimal impact on carbon storage. The 'Goldilocks Zone' for Carbon Capture: The researchers discovered an optimal erosion rate, termed the 'Goldilocks zone,' where erosion is neither too fast nor too slow, allowing minerals sufficient time to undergo chemical reactions necessary for removing CO2 from the atmosphere. This finding challenges previous assumptions about the necessary erosion rates for effective carbon sequestration by mountains. Implications and Global Patterns: This pattern of carbon dioxide removal or emission in mountains has been observed in various mountain ranges across different climates and tectonic histories, such as the Southern Alps, the Central Mountain Range in Taiwan, and the eastern Tibetan Plateau in China. The study underscores the importance of understanding how mountains contribute to the Earth's climate system over geological timescales and suggests further research into different rock types and the role of mountain basins in the carbon cycle. #ghg #co2emissions #carbon #climatechange https://lnkd.in/gnsYwrXi

New on the ClimateCultures blog: writer and filmmaker James Murray-White is in conversation with environmental anthropologist @Veronica Strang on her fascinating new book, 'Water Beings: From Nature Worship to the Environmental Crisis', published by Reaktion Books Ltd. And James finds connections with his own work at a time when water is under threat & we need to rebalance our elemental relationship. James: "Water Beings is a very deep dive into watery worlds inhabited by a vast array of extraordinary more-than-human beings, and into our imaginative nature as an ancient species. Every society has developed complex and intricate beliefs and knowledges around water beings and their values, roles and responsibilities, including our projections on them as either benign or monstrous. Living alongside them, dreaming of them or even being devoured by them, has given humans a sense of fear, worship, adoration, and veneration. Perhaps now is the time to fully merge our substantive presence on the earth with water creatures?" Veronica: "Today, in a world urgently in need of a change in direction, the stories that water serpent beings tell, and their capacities to represent alternate visions of human-non-human relations, may be the most crucial role that they have ever had. As our water serpent beings have shown, societies that have achieved long-term sustainability have done so by maintaining steady-state or circular economies, rather than embarking upon spirals of growth and expansion."  https://wp.me/p8dsAT-50P

Last year, I had the privilege to witness the Chicago Glacial Geoengineering Workshop and also partake in the Stanford Ice Intervention Workshop. As I continue to work with Prof. Douglas MacAyeal to model oceanographic circulation near the grounding line of glaciers, I am constantly reminded of the critical importance of these collaborative efforts. The recent white paper led by my primary investigator highlights the urgent need for a major initiative to study geoengineering strategies for glaciers. These workshops serve as essential platforms for scientists, engineers, and policymakers to share insights, test innovative solutions, and address the pressing challenges posed by glacial melt and sea-level rise. Read more about this crucial initiative below. The full white paper is available online as well. #glaciology #geoengineering

Ancient pollen trapped in Greenland ice uncovers changes in Canadian forests over 800 years . The Greenland ice sheet lies thousands of miles from North America yet holds clues to the distant continent's environmental history. Nearly two miles thick in places, the ice sheet grows as snow drifts from the sky and builds up over time. But snow isn't the only thing carried in by air currents that swirl around the atmosphere, with microscopic pollen grains and pieces of ash mixing with snowfall and preserving records of the past in the ice. A new study examined these pollen grains and identified how eastern Canada's forests grew, retreated, and changed through time. #ScienceDailynews #InnovativeResearch #NextGenScience #ExploringFrontiers

CLIMATE CHANGE – ROLES OF ANCIENT TREES , ROCKS , LAND CLEARING , IMAGES Articles: https://lnkd.in/g4QGEt25 Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC's) Radio National 's "Future Tense" on Sunday, 26 November, 2023 , 12.30 pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Time, AEDT) . How ancient trees could help in the fight against climate change Unlike animals, trees don't have a biological clock, under ideal conditions they can live for thousands of years. How to propigate them? Original broadcast Aug 21, 2022. Guests Dr Chuck Cannon – Director of the Center for Tree Science, The Morton Arboretum. David Milarch – founder, Archangel Ancient Tree Archive Assistant Prof Anna Trugman – Dept of geography, Uni of California, Santa Barbara Prof David Lindenmayer – Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Dr Nathan Stephenson – Scientist Emeritus, Western Ecological Research Center, US Geological Survey AND these segments from the ABC Radio National “The Science Show” on Saturdays, 18 and , 25 Nov, 2023 at 12.05 pm. https://lnkd.in/gtDpp6xb   The role of rocks in the carbon cycle (  Sat 18 Nov 2023) Fragmented rocks can absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Great! Could this save us? Penny King at the ANU says the potential of using rocks as sponges is a complex problem with significant challenges. Guest Penny King Prof of Geology Research School of Earth Sciences ANU Canberra Presenter Robyn Williams Producer David Fisher AND https://lnkd.in/gSaFDY4V How land clearing has affected climate  ( Sat 18 Nov, 2023 ) Could the way we have changed the landscape for farming be the unrecognised extra factor in climate change? In their book Ground Breaking Freya and Philip Mulvey argue it could be a huge contributor. Evidence is drawn from the Rabbit-Proof Fence which runs for 800Km and divides Western Australia into two halves. Freya and Philip Mulvey argue that managing land use to reduce bare ground, restore the water cycle and sequester carbon in the soil will be major contributors if we are to turn around climate change and return global conditions to those which saw civilisation develop. Ground Breaking  published by Kerr Publishing Guests Philip Mulvey CEO of EESI Group and Ryzo Freya Mulvey Regulatory Lawyer AND https://lnkd.in/gvBM6nbG The power of climate change images ( 25 Nov, 2023) Most people in most countries accept the science of climate change. .. Images are important in carrying messages about people fears and hopes. Study of climate change communication. Guest Saffron O’Neill Prof. of Climate and Society Uni of Exeter Exeter UK Presenter, Robyn Williams and Producer, David Fisher

🚨Do you know? 👉 Our scientists discover gigantic ocean 700 km beneath the Earth’s surface...! As per a latest development, a reservoir of water deep below Earth's surface that is three times the size of Earth’s oceans has been discovered by scientists. If reports are to go by, it was discovered from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and that this subterranean water cache lies approximately 700 km beneath us. In their quest to uncover the source of Earth’s water, researchers made a groundbreaking discovery—a massive ocean concealed deep within the Earth’s mantle, far below the surface. Locked within ringwoodite, a blue-coloured rock, this hidden ocean defies our understanding of where Earth's water originates. The magnitude of this hidden sea prompts a re-evaluation of Earth’s water cycle, suggesting a potential departure from theories positing comet impacts as the primary source. Instead, the notion that Earth’s oceans might have gradually seeped from its core gains prominence.

I wanna to share my last publication, "Climate of the Cordillera Blanca" in the book: https://lnkd.in/ey_a-uEQ

What's in a cave? Bats, bears, bones ... and climate records! Learn how stalagmites can be analyzed like tree rings. This science is just so cool. This is my SECOND piece in my career about science conducted in a "show cave" (one open to the public for tours) - the first was many years ago in Oregon Coast magazine about sea lion research in Sea Lion Caves on the Oregon coast. https://lnkd.in/gxJ7xWrk #caves #climatescience #OregonCaves

It has been over 12 years, since I completed my research on glacier melt in the Columbia Mountains (southwestern Canada). It is with a heavy heart that glacier losses are not only continuing at an alarming rate, but are accelerating. My research (and so many others) had the same advice as this article, but sadly policy makers and their constituents have not moved the needle enough. Monitoring is not enough, turning evidence based science into action is paramount. "Most of our southern glaciers will be lost by the end of this century, which will fundamentally change the character of our mountains and how we travel through them. This deglaciation will also have widespread impacts on downstream communities, fish and wildlife, hydroelectric power, freshwater availability, and more. Policies are required to dramatically reduce our impact on climate to ensure that at least the larger glaciers can survive." https://lnkd.in/dzNbVyFY