Tag Archives: land use

Planet Earth’s Stability is significantly affected

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Summary:
“Almost half of the processes that are crucial to maintaining the stability of the planet have become dangerously compromised by human activity. That is the view of an international team of 18 researchers who provide new evidence of significant changes in four of the nine systems which regulate the resilience of the Earth.”

Nine planetary boundaries  (the crucial processes)

  1. Climate change
  2. Change in biosphere integrity (biodiversity loss and species extinction)
  3. Stratospheric ozone depletion
  4. Ocean acidification
  5. Biogeochemical flows (phosphorus and nitrogen cycles)
  6. Land-system change (for example deforestation)
  7. Freshwater use
  8. Atmospheric aerosol loading (microscopic particles in the atmosphere that affect climate and living organisms)
  9. Introduction of novel entities (e.g. organic pollutants, radioactive materials, nanomaterials, and micro-plastics).                                                                   Journal Reference:
    1. Will Steffen, Katherine Richardson, Johan Rockström, Sarah E. Cornell, Ingo Fetzer, Elena M. Bennett, R. Biggs, Stephen R. Carpenter, Wim de Vries, Cynthia A. de Wit, Carl Folke, Dieter Gerten, Jens Heinke, Georgina M. Mace, Linn M. Persson, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, B. Reyers, and Sverker Sörlin. Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science, 15 January 2015 DOI: 10.1126/science.1259855

Source: McGill University. “Nearly half the systems crucial to stability of planet compromised.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 January 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150115163533.htm>.

Frontiers in Earth Science & Frontiers in Environmental Science

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Switzerland Frontiers launches new open-access journals – Frontiers in Earth Science and Frontiers in Environmental Science – 06 Nov 2013

“Open-access publisher Frontiers, part of the Nature Publishing Group family, has announced the launch of two new open-access journals – Frontiers in Earth Science and Frontiers in Environmental Science.

Manuscripts submitted to specialty sections in “Frontiers in” journals are peer reviewed by specialty associate and review editors. Specialty Chief Editors oversee subject areas across the ‘Frontiers in’ journals.

The initial specialty sections open for submissions to Frontiers in Earth Science are: Atmospheric Science, Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism, Hydrosphere, Interdisciplinary Climate Studies, Paleontology, Structural Geology and Tectonics, Quaternary Science, Geomorphology and Paleoenvironment and Structural Geology and Tectonics. Further specialty sections will be added soon.

Initially, Frontiers in Environmental Science will offer specialty sections in: Agroecology and Land Use Systems, Air Pollution, Atmospheric Science, Environmental Informatics, Environmental Toxicology, Green and Environmental Chemistry, Groundwater Resources and Management, Interdisciplinary Climate Studies, Microbiotechnology, Ecotoxicology and Bioremediation, Soil Processes, and Wastewater Management.

Frontiers publishes all articles under a Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY), which allows users to share, copy and distribute a work, while at the same time crediting the authors of the article.”

Click hereSource:  Knowledgespeak Newsletter