Latest news with #SimonLewis
Irish Examiner
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Lions Tour Podcast: Special occasion but Pumas deliver long list of learnings
Brendan O'Brien and Simon Lewis review Argentina's defeat of the Lions in their Aviva Stadium pre-tour clash. Just how bad was it for the Lions? The Irish Examiner Rugby Podcast Lions Tour Special is brought to you in partnership with Dove Men+Care – the official Personal Care Product of Choice for the British and Irish Lions. Video available later today
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New start date for the Anthropocene proposed – when humans first changed global methane levels
Humans have been reshaping the environment for at least 10,000 years. But the Anthropocene is the name given to the specific period of Earth history during which humans have had a global effect on the planet's climate and ecosystems. Despite formal rejection as a geological epoch, it's widely understood within academic research as useful shorthand for the age of human interference in the Earth system. Various dates have been proposed for when the anthropocene effectively began, from the early 17th century to the mid-20th century, when the first atomic weapons were detonated. My new research into atmospheric methane concentration supports the idea of an early date, when European arrival in the Americas first had a notable impact on the atmosphere, but slightly before previous estimates. Ice cores – cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers and ice sheets – provide important evidence of historical changes in the global atmospheric composition. It is from these records that a date for the Anthropocene's pre-industrial beginnings was first proposed in 2015 by two Earth systems scientists at the University College London, Simon Lewis and Mark Maslin. They suggested that an unprecedented drop in the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere that was recorded in ice cores – known as the 'Orbis spike' – dates back to 1610. This unusually low level reflects additional atmospheric CO₂ absorption into trees from forest regrowth in the Americas following European arrival in the late 1400s. Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK's latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences. From European arrival in 1492 and colonisation in the 1500s, the introduction of disease, mostly smallpox, resulted in demographic collapse of around 50 million people across the Americas. Lewis and Maslin proposed that, as millions of hectares of farmland went untended, forests could regrow and this increased CO₂ removal from the atmosphere. This happened in sufficient quantities to be recorded in glacial ice. And that change became a global marker for the start of the so-called Anthropocene. Read more: My own research into changing methane concentrations indicates that the Anthropocene began slightly earlier than that, in 1592. Ice core records show a minimum atmospheric methane concentration exactly 100 years after explorer Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas. This, I believe, strengthens support for the hypothesis put forward by Lewis and Maslin a decade ago. In a paper published in Nature Reviews, Earth and Environment, I consider the effects of global fluctuations in how trees and forests exchange methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is around 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Crucially, methane has a short lifetime of just under ten years, so any ice core record will be far more responsive to changes to the methane cycle than that of longer-lived CO₂. Read more: So what's the link to trees? Trees and their woody bark surfaces, despite their biologically inert appearance when compared to leaves, are important interfaces of methane exchange. In swamps and forested floodplains like the Amazon, they are exit points of methane to the atmosphere from the saturated soils where the methane is formed by anaerobic soil microbes. However, last year, my team uncovered how the more extensive areas of forest growing on free-draining soils interact with atmospheric methane. The trees host microbes that directly remove methane from the atmosphere. This is one of two mechanisms that, together, might explain an unprecedented drop in atmospheric methane concentrations recorded in Antarctic ice cores in the first century following European arrival in the Americas. This would support Lewis and Maslin's idea that regrowing forests in that period had global effects. With more trees growing on abandoned farmland, there was more woody tree surface area in contact with the atmosphere. This meant more methane being taken up by the microbes they host. The second mechanism relates to how trees intercept incoming rainfall. Some rainfall is re-evaporated before reaching the soil. Any rain reaching the soil may then be taken up by tree roots and released back to the atmosphere. The rest moves into the soil or washes off into rivers and wetlands. It is possible that the spike in forest regrowth led to more evaporation and transpiration. So more water was released by the trees back to the atmosphere and less washed off over the soil surface. This limited water flowing into wetlands. Those wetlands are a major methane source. So a small shrinkage in wetland area, combined with more trees absorbing atmospheric methane, could have reduced the atmospheric methane concentration and explain the minimum methane levels observed in 1592. When exactly the Anthropocene began may be an argument that has been overtaken by the decision to not label it a new epoch. Indeed, it's possible that forest clearance for early agriculture by humans around 5,000-8,000 years ago in the mid-Holocene, (a period of relative climate stability in the Neolithic period) contributed to the atmospheric methane increase observed in Antarctic ice from that time. As well as an ancient trace of human influence over our forests, the ice core methane records provide a chance to evaluate newly discovered processes operating in the world's forests. This is something I'm now investigating with my colleague Peter Hopcroft, a palaeoclimate modeller at the University of Birmingham. Whether through forest clearances for early agriculture or through the effects on forests of massive depopulation of Indigenous peoples following European contact, these traces of our past influence point to something significant: that there has always been an intimate and evolving connection between humanity and the natural world. A connection so fundamental that, for the vast span of our existence as a species, we have been inseparable from nature itself. Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead. Every Wednesday, The Conversation's environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. Join the 45,000+ readers who've subscribed so far. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Vincent Gauci receives funding from or has received funding from the Natural Environment Research Council, The Royal Society, Spark Climate Solutions, AXA Research Fund, Defra and the JABBS Foundation.
Daily Maverick
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
US to impose sanctions on Sudan after finding government used chemical weapons
By Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis Measures against Sudan will include limits on U.S. exports and U.S. government lines of credit and will take effect around June 6, after Congress was notified on Thursday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. 'The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations under the CWC,' Bruce said, referring to the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty banning the use of such weapons. In a statement, Sudan rejected the move, and described the allegations as false. 'This interference, which lacks any moral or legal basis, deprives Washington of what is left of its credibility and closes the door to any influence in Sudan,' government spokesperson Khalid al-Eisir said on Friday. The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the army and the RSF, unleashing waves of ethnic violence, creating the world's worst humanitarian crisis and plunging several areas into famine. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and about 13 million displaced. Washington in January imposed sanctions on army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict. The U.S. has also determined members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide and imposed sanctions on some of the group's leadership, including RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. The New York Times reported in January, citing four senior U.S. officials, that the Sudanese army had used chemical weapons at least twice during the conflict, deploying the weapons in remote areas of the country. Two officials briefed on the matter said the chemical weapons appeared to use chlorine gas, which can cause lasting damage to human tissue, the New York Times reported at the time. Bruce's statement said the U.S. had formally determined on April 24 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 that the government of Sudan used chemical weapons last year, but did not specify what weapons were used, precisely when or where. 'The United States remains fully committed to hold to account those responsible for contributing to chemical weapons proliferation,' Bruce said. 'The intention here is to distract from the recent campaign in Congress against the UAE,' a Sudanese diplomatic source said. The source said the U.S. could have gone to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate the claims and neglected to do so. Sudan's government is aligned with the army. It cut diplomatic relations with the UAE this month, saying the Gulf power was aiding the RSF with supplies of advanced weaponry in the devastating conflict that broke out following disagreements over the integration of the two forces. The UAE has denied the allegations and says it supports humanitarian and peace efforts. U.S. congressional Democrats sought last Thursday to block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates over its alleged involvement in the war. Sudan said this week that the United Arab Emirates was responsible for an attack on Port Sudan this month, accusing the Gulf state for the first time of direct military intervention in the war. The UAE denied the allegations in a statement and said it condemned the attack.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US to impose sanctions on Sudan after finding government used chemical weapons
By Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will impose sanctions on Sudan after determining its government used chemical weapons in 2024 during the army's conflict with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the State Department said on Thursday. Measures against Sudan will include limits on U.S. exports and U.S. government lines of credit and will take effect around June 6, after Congress was notified on Thursday, Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement. "The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations under the CWC," Bruce said, referring to the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty banning the use of such weapons. Sudan's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023 from a power struggle between the army and the RSF, triggering mass displacement, famine and ethnically-driven killings. Washington in January imposed sanctions on army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, accusing him of choosing war over negotiations to bring an end to the conflict. The U.S. has also determined members of the RSF and allied militias committed genocide and imposed sanctions on some of the group's leadership. The New York Times reported in January, citing four senior U.S. officials, that the Sudanese army had used chemical weapons at least twice during the conflict. Bruce's statement said the U.S. had formally determined on April 24 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 that the government of Sudan used chemical weapons last year.
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US says solution for Gaza aid is 'steps away' as aid groups raise alarm
By Simon Lewis, Daphne Psaledakis and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Thursday a solution to be able to deliver food aid to Gaza was "steps away" and an announcement was coming shortly, as the aid community expressed skepticism that the plan would bring relief to the enclave's conflict-ravaged population. Anticipation has built up about a new aid plan for Gaza, laid waste by 19 months of an Israeli military campaign against Hamas that has destroyed much of its infrastructure and displaced almost all of its 2.3 million population several times. European leaders and aid groups have criticized Israeli plans to take over distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza and use private companies to get food to families after two months in which the military has prevented supplies entering the Strip. Speaking at a regular briefing, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce gave few details about the new mechanism but referred to a "charitable foundation" that she said would be carrying out the plan. "I was hoping to introduce it today, but the foundation will be announcing this shortly," Bruce said. "While we don't have anything to announce in specifics in this regard today, and I will not speak on behalf of the foundation which will be doing the work, we welcome moves to quickly get urgent food aid into Gaza in a way ... that the food aid actually gets to those to whom it's intended." Israel has accused agencies including the United Nations of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas, which it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for its own forces. Among the options being considered by the United States based on a document seen by Reuters and circulated among the aid community, a recently-established Gaza Humanitarian Foundation would stand up four "Secure Distribution Sites", each built to serve 300,000 people. Pre-packaged rations, hygiene kits and medical supplies would move through tightly-controlled corridors while being monitored in order to prevent the diversion of the assistance, according to the document. On-site and perimeter security would be provided by experienced professionals, according to the document, to "deter interference from criminal networks or other armed groups who have historically sought to control or redirect humanitarian aid." It added that the Israeli Defense Forces will not be stationed at or near the sites. The aid community, which has frequently accused Israel of deliberately disregarding the complexity of aid distribution in Gaza, was skeptical. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the Israeli-proposed authorization mechanism for the distribution of food aid "appears practically unfeasible, incompatible with humanitarian principles and will create serious insecurity risks, all while failing to meet Israel's obligations under international law," according to a document shared with U.N. member states and seen by Reuters. 'NON-STARTER' A Geneva-based aid official said they were briefed by a U.S. team on a Gaza aid plan on Thursday, adding they were "not very impressed with the proposal." Ahmed Bayram, Norwegian Refugee Council's media adviser for the Middle East, said the Israeli plan raised more questions than it gave answers and risked aid becoming militarized. "What is clear is that Israel wants to take aid over... But it also sets a dangerous precedent, because probably for the first time in conflict history, or at least in recent conflict, we would have one of the parties involved in this conflict deciding where aid should go and how it should be distributed," Bayram said. Communities would have to move around aid hubs and the model puts civilians in danger, he said, essentially turning aid into coercion. "The whole thing is a non-starter for us." A United Nations Security Council diplomat said all 15 Security Council members were present at a briefing on Wednesday by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on the plan to deliver aid to Gaza held at the U.S. mission to the United Nations. "Everybody is content that the meeting took place and that someone working on the ground has (finally) briefed the rest of Council members," the diplomat said in an email. The diplomat said expectations remain high. "Members (especially the E10 group) will now give the U.S. a little time to make some progress otherwise they will step in, exert pressure and bring in a new product," the diplomat said, referring to the 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council.
