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The Challenge

The GENI Summer Series tackles the challenges of our times. Sustainability means we plan a future that meets today's needs and the needs for generations to follow. Resiliency means we must plan to adapt and mitigate the consequences of climate change.

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How High Could the Tide Go?

Author: 

Justin Gillis
PREHISTORIC SHORELINES Researchers explored ancient rock formations on South Africa’s coast. They are looking for critical clues from records of past climate change to help predict sea level rise in a warming world.
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BREDASDORP, South Africa — A scruffy crew of scientists barreled down a dirt road, their two-car caravan kicking up dust. After searching all day for ancient beaches miles inland from the modern shoreline, they were about to give up.

Suddenly, the lead car screeched to a halt. Paul J. Hearty, a geologist from North Carolina, leapt out and seized a white object on the side of the road: a fossilized seashell. He beamed. In minutes, the team had collected dozens more.

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China burns half of coal consumption worldwide, figures show

Author: 

Adam Vaughan
China consumes nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined Photograph: US Energy Information Administration U.S. Energy Information Administration
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China now burns nearly as much coal as the rest of the world combined.

The country's appetite for the carbon-intensive fuel rose by 9% in 2011, to 3.8bn tonnes, meaning it now accounts for 47% of worldwide coal consumption.

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Counting the Vanishing Bees

Author: 

Dylan Walsh
A bumblebee gathering pollen from a sunflower. Reuters
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A new method for monitoring the decline in bee populations may prove a useful tool in much-needed conservation efforts. It requires only a few hundred pan traps: bright shallow bowls partly filled with soapy water or propylene glycol.

When United Nations experts noticed that crop production was flagging in seven countries around the world, from Brazil to Nepal, they contacted Gretchen LeBuhn, an associate professor at San Francisco State University who studies bees.

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Global food crisis will worsen as heatwaves damage crops, research finds

Author: 

Damian Carrington
Sprinklers water crops in Bakersfield, California, during a heatwave. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images David McNew/Getty
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The world's food crisis, where 1 billion people are already going hungry and a further 2 billion people will be affected by 2050, is set to worsen as increasing heatwaves reverse the rising crop yields seen over the last 50 years, according to new research.

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