Planting billions of trees is best way to save planet

Planting billions of trees could be by far the greatest and cheapest way to tackle the climate crisis according to Swiss researchers as trees are able to absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon in their trunks. Their analysis indicates that there are 1.7 bn hectares of land without any trees upon which 1.2tn native tree saplings would grow naturally at an estimated cost of $300bn.

Guardian newspaper 05/07/2019  https://www.theguardian.com/uk/environment

Climatic extremes will require resilience planning

Climatic extremes are increasing and are now occurring at the rate of one per week according to the UN’s Secretary General Special Representative in disaster risk reduction Mami Mitzutori.
Catastrophes like Cyclone Idai which hit the northern coast of Mozambique in March and the on going drought in areas of India are occurring much faster than predicted.

Many of the lower impact climate disasters could be prevented if people had early warning, better infrastructure like flood defences and access to water in drought stricken areas. This will require investment now in order to build resilience to a changing climate. Nature based solutions such as mangrove swamps, forests and wetlands that could form natural barriers should be a priority.

Guardian Newspaper 08/07/2019

Climate change has made heatwaves more likely

The month of June was the hottest since 1880 world wide. Such heatwaves are about 30C hotter than the June average in Europe a century ago and are occurring more frequently. In France the highest temperature was recorded near Nimes in the south of the country at 45.90C. Both observations and models show a strong trend towards stronger heat waves; however the observed trend is stronger model predict.

Guardian newspaper 03/07/2019

Antarctic sea ice is now rapidly receding

The vast expense of sea ice around Antarctica has undergone a significant decrease since 2014 and has fallen at a faster rate than seen in the Arctic reversing a 40 year trend. The cause of the sharp fall is not as yet known and only time will tell whether the ice continues to decline or recover.
Sea ice spreads over millions of square kilometres and has major impacts on the global climate system with losses in the Artic strongly linked to extreme weather conditions at lower latitudes such as heatwaves in Europe.

Guardian newspaper 02/07/2019