-Down to Earth 43% of total emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide, came from human sources, the report said Human emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) — a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) — increased by 30 per cent between 1980 and 2016, according to a research paper published in Nature October 7, 2020. Nitrous oxide is a dangerous gas for...

-Livemint.com * The pandemic-induced global pause resulted in several visible environmental gains. Will they last? * A controversy is brewing over the government’s efforts to push through radical changes to the country’s environmental laws, which seek to further dilute environmental protections NAGPUR: Teeming wildlife; cities breathing fresh air; and clearer rivers. Those were all small signs of hope amid a dire, once-in-a-century pandemic. Nature was supposedly healing. At one point in April, an...

-The Hindu Leaders should act on the climate crisis with the same alacrity they have shown towards COVID-19 Two interrelated curves began their upward trend two centuries ago with the advent of the industrial age. The first curve was the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (or, more generally, all greenhouse gases, GHGs) and the second was the average global temperature curve. An upward trend Actually, the CO2 curve began its upward march about 18,000...

-Down to Earth The IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Land says land-based carbon sinks are not limitless The carbon cycle is classically described in terms of ‘sources’ and ‘sinks’ of emissions. The electricity sector, which converts fossil fuels into light and heat, is a source (as are most human activities since the dawn of the industrial age). Identifying sinks is trickier. We know that, as a general principle, more forest cover...

-The Indian Express The new report on ‘Climate Change and Land’, released on Thursday afternoon, is second in the series of special focused reports that IPCC has been preparing on the specific request of governments and other organisations. Pune: Agriculture and associated land activities related to food production could be contributing over a quarter of the global emissions of greenhouse gases, a new major report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate...