Amid environmental change, lakes surprisingly static. In recent decades, change has defined our environment in the United States. Agriculture intensified. Urban areas sprawled. The climate warmed. Intense rainstorms became more common. But, says a new study, while those kinds of changes usually result in poor water quality, lakes have surprisingly stayed the same. Source 2t.
This does not surprise me at all. Lakes and even the oceans are little ecology systems. They have the ability to keep their system working well as long as humans do not flood them with chemicals the disrupt that ecosystem. Water has the amazing ability to dilute a lot of impurities so that they do not effect things much.
Cities make pact to meet goals of Paris climate accord ditched by Trump. President Trump called quits on the Paris Agreement, but dozens of U.S. Mayors are set to sign their own climate accord vowing to do their part in cutting the nation's greenhouse emissions. Ref. USAToday.
Snowpack levels show dramatic decline in western states, U.S. A new study of long-term snow monitoring sites in the western United States found declines in snowpack at more than 90 percent of those sites -- and one-third of the declines were deemed significant. Source 1f.
Warming climate could speed forest regrowth in eastern US. Warming climate could speed the natural regrowth of forests on undeveloped or abandoned land in the eastern United States, according to a new study. Previous research has shown that the succession from field to forest can happen decades sooner in the southeastern US than in the Northeast. But it wasn't obvious why. A new study points to temperature as the major factor influencing the pace of reforestation. Source 6f.
Republicans more persuasive than scientists on climate change. Regardless of political affiliation, people are more likely to believe facts about climate change when they come from Republicans speaking against what has become a partisan interest in this country, according to a new study. Source 1b.