#GlobalEnvironmentalChange; #mediacoverage

Ottawa, Aug 25 (Canadian-Media): The global issue of climate change is being covered intensely by media organizations worldwide, yet how the news media frame it varies from area to area, according to new research published in Global Environmental Change.

This study investigated the news coverage of climate change of 45 different countries and territories based on all relevant characteristics, represented by 84 different media outlets using the news framing approach.

Severn key frames, most often found in media representations of climate change across the globe, were outlined to determine how climate issues are presented and interpreted and and how these further influences discussions, policy, and action in determining what issues get more attention and what receive less.

The study also pointed out that apart from culture or geography, economics and politics also contribute to climate change and clarifies how the variation of news coverage is related to each country’s economic development, climate severity, and governance.

Over 23 million words within articles for keywords and phrases attributed to a particular frame were scanned by a tailored computer algorithm with more than 37,000 pieces published between 2011 and 2015 included in the analysis. 

With an aim capture local contexts, the researchers studied articles published in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

This is the largest study to date and also the first study looking at a diversity of factors including vulnerability, emission levels, government action, and press freedom in media analysis of climate coverage.

The most common frame among countries covered by the study was international relations focussing on global action to address climate change and how nations interact in trying to address issues like responsibility, justice, and commonly agreed targets.

Economic impacts of climate change was another widely shared frame used by the researchers suggesting GDP per capita as the strongest predictor of how climate action is portrayed within a country.

It was also revealed that richer countries emphasized climate science and regulations, poorer and vulnerable countries focus on damage and loss attributed to climate change, while countries with high carbon footprints are also often focused on their energy use. 

The least popular frame was found to be the social progress in addressing climate change, insufficient action on climate, apocalyptic narratives and other negative associations with the issue.

With an intention to attend the U.N. climate summits next month in New York and in Santiago, Chile, in December, she took an year off from school for travel.

Keeping in mind the priority of cutting carbon emissions, Thunberg announced last month that instead of flying to environmental conferences, she decided to sail on a yacht which does not hurt the planet. 

Weighing carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide—the dominant greenhouse gas warming the earth—is food for trees and plants. Combined with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, it helps trees grow and thrive. But as carbon dioxide concentrations rise, trees will need extra nitrogen and phosphorus to balance their diet. The question of how much extra carbon dioxide trees can take up, given limitations of these other nutrients, is a critical uncertainty in predicting global warming.

Planting or restoring trees is like putting money in the bank," said co-author Rob Jackson, the Michelle and Kevin Douglas Provostial Professor in Earth System Science at Stanford. "Extra growth from carbon dioxide is the interest we gain on our balance. We need to know how high the interest rate will be on our carbon investment."
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Several individual experiments, such as fumigating forests with elevated levels of carbon dioxide and growing plants in gas-filled chambers, have provided critical data but no definitive answer globally. To more accurately predict the capacity of trees and plants to sequester carbon dioxide in the future, the researchers synthesized data from all elevated carbon dioxide experiments conducted so far—in grassland, shrubland, cropland and forest systems—including ones the researchers directed.

Using statistical methods, machine-learning, models and satellite data, they quantified how much soil nutrients and climate factors limit the ability of plants and trees to absorb extra carbon dioxide. Based on global datasets of soil nutrients, they also mapped the potential of carbon dioxide to increase the amount and size of plants in the future, when atmospheric concentrations of the gas could double.

Their results show that carbon dioxide levels expected by the end of the century should increase plant biomass by 12 percent, enabling plants and trees to store more carbon dioxide—an amount equivalent to six years of current fossil fuel emissions. The study highlights important partnerships trees forge with soil microbes and fungi to help them take up the extra nitrogen and phosphorus they need to balance their additional carbon dioxide intake. It also emphasizes the critical role of tropical forests, such as those in the Amazon, Congo and Indonesia, as regions with the greatest potential to store additional carbon.
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"We have already witnessed indiscriminate logging in pristine tropical forests, which are the largest reservoirs of biomass in the planet," said Terrer, who also has a secondary affiliation with the Institut de Ciencia i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. "We stand to lose a tremendously important tool to limit global warming."

The possible connection between Arctic sea-ice loss and extreme cold weather—such as the deep freezes that can grip the USA in the winter months—has long been studied by scientists.

Observations show that when the regional sea-ice cover is reduced, swathes of Asia and North America often experience unusually cold and hazardous winter conditions.

However, previous climate modelling studies have suggested that reduced sea ice cannot fully explain the cold winters.

Now, a new study by experts from the University of Exeter, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and the Energy and Sustainability Research Institute in Groningen, has shed new light on the link between sea-ice loss and cold winters.

For the research, the international team combined observations over the past 40 years with results from sophisticated climate modelling experiments. They found that the observations and models agreed that reduced regional sea ice and cold winters often coincide which each other.

They found that the correlation between reduced sea ice and extreme winters across the mid-latitude occurs because both are simultaneously driven by the same, large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns.

Crucially, it shows that reduced sea ice only has a minimal influence on whether a harsh and severe winter will occur.

The study is published in leading science journal, Nature Climate Change.

Dr. Russell Blackport, a Mathematics Research Fellow at the University of Exeter and lead author of the paper said: "The correlation between reduced sea ice and cold winters does not mean one is causing the other. We show that the real cause is changes in atmospheric circulation which moves warm air into the Arctic and cold air into the mid-latitudes."

Over recent decades, the Arctic region has experienced warming temperatures through climate change, which has led to a large decline in sea-ice cover.

This reduction in sea-ice cover means that areas of open water increase, which in turn allows the ocean to lose more heat to the atmosphere in winter—this can potentially alter the weather and climate, even well outside the Arctic.

Recent studies have suggested that the reduced sea ice or Arctic warming has contributed to recent cold winters experienced in the mid-latitude region—and that as the sea-ice reduces further through climate change, cold winters will become more frequent and severe.

Now, this new study suggests that reduced sea ice is not the main cause of the cold winters. Instead, the cold winters are likely caused by random fluctuations in the atmospheric circulation.

Professor James Screen, an Associate Professor in Climate Science at the University of Exeter said: "The are many reasons to be concerned about the dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice, but an increased risk of severe winters in North America and Asia is not one of them."

In an interview published by the Italian daily La Stampa Friday, Pope Francis said that the upcoming Vatican synod of bishops on the Amazon region will focus heavily on environmental issues.

The pontiff went on to enumerate some of the information he has received regarding environmental devastation.

“Ours will be an urgent Synod,” the pope continued. “But be aware that a synod is not a meeting of scientists or politicians. It is not a parliament: it is something else. It was convened by the Church and will have an evangelizing mission and dimension. It will be a work of communion guided by the Holy Spirit.”

The Amazon, he said, is a “representative and decisive place,” which explains why it was chosen for this year’s synod.

“Together with the oceans it contributes decisively to the survival of the planet,” Francis said. “Much of the oxygen we breathe comes from there. That is why deforestation means killing humanity.

Asked what he fears the most for the planet, Francis answered: “The disappearance of biodiversity. New lethal diseases. A course and devastation of nature that can lead to the death of humanity.”

The month of July saw a number of thunderstorms and above average rainfall in Grande Prairie, which received 88.4 mm of rain. 

Albertans had been warned by Environment Canada to prepare and protect themselves from lightning.​

​Rhodopsins were discovered 20 years ago, and scientists at USC and elsewhere have been studying their prevalence and metabolism since. These microbes have light-sensitive protein systems in their cell membranes that trap sunlight, an adaptation analogous to how rods and cones in the human eye gather light.

In this study, researchers trolled a 3,000-mile-long swath of the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea in 2014. They sampled microorganisms in the water column down to 200 meters in an attempt to find how widespread rhodopsins are and in what conditions they are favored.

They found that rhodopsin photosystems were much more abundant than previously realized and concentrated in nutrient-poor waters. In such oligotrophic zones, they outperform algae at capturing light. While algae use sunlight and CO2 to produce organic material and oxygen, rhodopsin pigments use light to make adenosine triphosphate, the basic energy currency that drives many cellular processes.

"Rhodopsins appear to be more abundant in a nutrient-poor ocean, and in the future, the ocean will be more nutrient poor as temperatures change," Gómez-Consarnau explained. "So, with fewer nutrients near the surface, algae will have limited photosynthesis, and the rhodopsin process will be more abundant. We may have a shift in the future, which means the ocean won't be able to absorb as much carbon as it does today. So more CO2 gas may remain in the atmosphere, and the planet may warm faster."

So far, computer simulations of what global warming could be like in the future do not yet account for this microbial shift.

The study underscores how scientists are learning new pathways by which organisms gain energy to live. For example, they've long known that plants and algae use chlorophyll to convert sunshine and nutrients into sugars; indeed, about half of all photosynthesis on Earth is performed by algae at the ocean surface. And they've discovered bottom-dwelling life supported by chemical energy from minerals and chemical compounds released from deep-ocean volcanic vents. In this research, they've learned that bacteria, long considered mainly decomposers in an ecosystem, can actually function as a main producer of energy at the ocean surface.
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"We estimate that, given the concentrations found in seawater, rhodopsins could capture more light energy than chlorophyll in the ocean," Gómez-Consarnau said.
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"These findings change the fundamental assumption that the marine biosphere is only powered by sunlight captured by chlorophylls during algal photosynthesis."

It also means that, years in the future, microbial communities will likely shift, resulting in less carbon fixation in the ocean. To fully evaluate how the findings affect the ocean's capacity to absorb greenhouse gases, Gómez-Consarnau said CO2 fluxes in marine systems will need to be reevaluated and future climate models will have to include this bacterial metabolism.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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