As a conservationist who has been ringing the alarm bells on climate change threats to biodiversity for more than 25 years, I hardly know where to start in responding to the findings of the newest, and most alarming, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on the impacts of a 1.5°Celsius global warming. I’m not surprised that the IPPC delivers more bad news after reviewing more than 6,000 recent scientific reports, but I am surprised by just how bad the news is.
Adam's Latest Posts
Climate Change is the Fastest Growing Threat to World Heritage
July 3, 2018 12:34 PM EDT
Nineteen extraordinary places were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list this week, including Buddhist temples in South Korea, the forests and wetlands that form the ancestral home of the Anishinaabeg people in Canada, and the ancient port city of Qalhat in Oman. But amongst all the congratulations and good feeling that comes with adding sites to list of the world’s most important places, there was little or no serious talk about the implications of climate change. Read more >

Rapid Warming is Creating a Crisis for Arctic Archaeology
June 29, 2018 10:47 AM EDT
There are at least 180,000 archaeological sites in the Arctic. Many are already being lost to climate change – virtually all of them are vulnerable. Read more >

If You Can’t Censor It, Bury It: DOI Tries to Make a Stark New Study on Rising Seas Invisible
May 21, 2018 3:22 PM EDT
A new National Park Service (NPS) report is unequivocal that human-caused climate change has significantly increased the rate of sea level rise that is putting coastal sites at risk. But the study is difficult to find on the web and the report’s lead author, Maria Caffrey of the University of Colorado, says she had to fight to keep many scientific statements about climate change in the final version. Read more >

US Withdrawal from UNESCO Will Undermine Collaboration on Science and Culture
October 13, 2017 3:24 PM EDT
The Trump Administration’s war on science has intensified with the announcement that the US is withdrawing from UNESCO, the international organization that works to promote peace & security through international cooperation on education, science and cultural programs. Read more >