Two recent articles of interest from The Guardian newspaper aka online information source.
The first is:
‘Something weird is going on’: search for answers as Antarctic sea ice stays at historic lows
"In February [2023], the floating sea ice around Antarctica hit a record low for the second year running. Since satellites started tracking the region’s ice in 1979, there had never been less ice.
As it does every year, as the temperatures around the continent plunged towards winter, the sea ice started to return.
But the moderate alarm from scientists at that record low – coming only a year after a previous record low – is now being overlaid with astonishment. Some are worried they could be witnessing the start of a slow collapse of Antarctica’s sea ice.
By now there would usually be about 16.4m square kilometres of Antarctic sea ice. But this week, there was just 14.1m sq km. An area bigger than Mexico has failed to freeze."
The second article says:
"The conference had two distinct programmes over two days: on Tuesday, presidents, prime ministers and senior ministers from Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and Ecuador met with the Brazilian delegation to discuss Amazon-specific measures.
The day concluded with the Belém Declaration, in which the politicians called on wealthy nations to help them develop a Marshall-style plan to help defend the Amazon, and pledged to work together to ensure its survival. The document calls for debt relief in exchange for climate action, agrees to strengthen regional law enforcement cooperation to crack down on human rights violations, illegal mining and pollution, and urges industrialised countries to comply with obligations to provide financial support to developing countries.
“The forest unites us. It is time to look at the heart of our continent and consolidate, once and for all, our Amazon identity,” said Lula (pictured above). “In an international system that was not built by us, we were historically relegated to a subordinate place as a supplier of raw materials. A just ecological transition will allow us to change this.”
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