Disease Proof

• Climate change is causing glaciers in Yosemite National Park to disappear, which is bad enough, but now experts claim the park’s giant trees are also in trouble, saying the number of trees has dropped by 24% during the past 60 years, putting the forest’s future in doubt; via TreeHugger.

• Speaking of forests, Greenpeace is demanding retailers not to buy products from companies involved in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Major supermarkets in the U.K. buy meat from slaughterhouses and ranches carrying out illegal land-clearing; Food Navigator reports.

• By 2100, rising sea levels due to climate change may threaten major U.S. cities, like New York City, scientists believe fresh water from melting ice sheets will interfere with circulation patterns in the Atlantic, swelling ocean levels by 4 to 12 inches; National Geographic News explains.

• And some areas of the world are already in trouble. Citizens of the Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea have started to flee their homes as encroaching saltwater makes farming impossible. Experts are calling them the first official refugees of climate change; from TreeHugger.

• Oceans may drown us out, but they’re in danger too. The United Nations has specified any discussions on reversing climate change must include reducing ocean acidification. Carbon emissions pollute the ocean, choking water with CO2 and reducing biodiversity; the AFP investigates.

• Cattails, those weeds we used to play with as kids, could be used to combat water pollution. Cattails soak up all sorts of harmful stuff, like arsenic and pharmaceuticals. Planting cattails around marshlands helps prevent excess carbon emissions from wetlands; via CleanTechnia.

Image credit: Grant MacDonald