Climate Change

The United Nations 2024 global climate conference, COP 29, kicked off in Baku, Azerbaijan on Monday, Nov. 11 and runs until Friday, Nov. 22. It's a chance for leaders and delegates from nearly 200 countries to talk about, and make plans for action around, the global climate crisis. Timed to coincide with COP 29, Florida Gulf Coast University and The Water School have kicked off “Two Weeks of Climate Change.” It's a series of events that explore local and global challenges, and solutions for our changing climate. We get preview of it, and a chance to better understand what happens at these global COP conferences.

The Department of Agriculture guidelines to help farmers and gardeners determine if they are growing in the right location as the planet warms and a new version shows Southwest Florida's zones are moving north

The heat index, also known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. There is direct relationship between the air temperature and relative humidity and the heat index, meaning as the air temperature and relative humidity increase (decrease), the heat index increases (decreases).

Florida professional meteorologists gather to prepare virtual attendees for this season's most active weeks ahead. Classes are offered each day, 4 times a day at different times.

When it comes to the ways global climate change impacts the world’s oceans things like melting ice caps and glaciers, and what’s called thermal expansion — that’s when water takes up more volume as its temperature goes up — are probably what first come to mind. Or how increased water temperatures impact sea life, like recent, widespread coral bleaching events off Florida’s coast and around the world. Or even how changes in temperature and salinity can alter ocean currents, which are crucial for regulating global climate and weather patterns. But, an overlooked aspect of this story is how increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases the acidity — or the pH level — of the world’s oceans.

The heat index, also known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. There is direct relationship between the air temperature and relative humidity and the heat index, meaning as the air temperature and relative humidity increase (decrease), the heat index increases (decreases).

Two encore Water Quality Report columns by Tom Bayles can help put global warming into perspective and some hints from the NYT can provide pointers on slowing climate change

Feeling helpless in the face of global warming is so prevalent it is now an identified condition called “climate change doomism.” Therapists are now working with clients on the issues it creates.

Yale Climate Connections is dealing with climate change doom and gloom. Some may they think it’s too late to fix the problem (it’s not), or that not enough people care.

An study undertaken by the University of Florida Center for Landscape Conservation Planning explores possible impacts of development and sea level rise on Florida’s agricultural lands and their conservation values.