Open access notables
In connection with how do we feed ourselves without disrupting the climate, Research needs for a food system transition by Sunala Shukli McDermid and coauthors and published in Climatic Change first reviews what we ve learned of impacts from our agriculture and in particular animal husbandry on Earth systems, including climate. The review s conclusion remains familiar: there s an urgent need to make some major changes. That s going to need a lot of attention to a lot of detail, and how to work at that level is the main thrust of the article s purpose. The authors go on to argue we need to practice concerted, systematic research in key areas of agriculture and agricultural policy so as to inform our steering of transitions, identify pitfalls, and make translating scientific findings into policy more efficient. They break this big overall challenge into more digestible conceptual chunks, with suggestions on how to get started.
Open access notables Despite the potential for positive methane–climate feedbacks from global wetlands, most Earth System Models (ESMs) and Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) that informed the last Assessment Report of the IPCC do not directly incorporate this process. Publishing in Nature Climate Change, Zheng et al. unpack the implications of this oversight in Recent intensification of wetland methane feedback. The authors find that compared to climate models CH4 emissions are rising notably faster than projected, on the order of perhaps 25%. This of course is not good news. The article is consistent with a steady drumbeat of large and small ugly surprises appearing in the GHG sources & sinks, flux.. section here each week.