By Bob Berwyn, Summit Voice22 May 2012 SUMMIT COUNTY – Widespread mercury pollution from wind-carried smokestack emissions has widely been recognized as a huge environmental problem, with concentrations of the toxic heavy metal building up in the food chain around the world. The pollutant has been especially prevalent in the Arctic, and now researchers think […]
[But see What makes sea-level rise?] By Damian Carrington, www.guardian.co.uk 20 May 2012 Humanity’s unquenchable thirst for fresh water is driving up sea levels even faster than melting glaciers, according to new research. The massive impact of the global population’s growing need for water on rising sea levels is revealed in a comprehensive assessment of […]
By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News20 May 2012 Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere. The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the […]
[The Forecast the Facts petition against Heartland is here: Heartland’s 2012 Funding: Fading Quickly.] By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk 20 May 2012 The first Heartland Institute conference on climate change in 2008 had all the trappings of a major scientific conclave – minus large numbers of real scientists. Hundreds of climate change contrarians, […]
[More evidence that the U.S. has passed Peak Education.] By Tamara Keith21 May 2012 Members of Congress are often criticized for what they do — or rather, what they don’t do. But what about what they say and, more specifically, how they say it? It turns out that the sophistication of congressional speech-making is on […]
By AARON NELSEN15 May 2012 BOCA SANIBENI, Peru – Along the murky waters of the Ene River, in a remote jungle valley on the verdant eastern slopes of the Andes, the rhythmic humming of an outboard motor draws the stares of curious Ashaninka children. With encroachment from settlers and speculators, and after a devastating war […]
By Alyssa Battistoni18 May 2012 Coal is without question our dirtiest fuel source: When burned, it dumps toxins like mercury and nitrogen oxides into the air and packs an outsize punch when it comes to carbon emissions. Since America has a lot of it, though, we’ve tended to use a lot: Historically, around half our […]
By arevamirpal::laprimavera 18 May 2012 Getting surreal by the day. The stick-like product is called “Air Counter“, and it is a simplified radiation survey meter made by S.T. Corporation. You can buy it at drug stores and convenience stores nationwide for 7,900 yen (suggested retail price). In this ad, the “Air Counter” is being sold […]
Mean-sea-level trends at A, Hilo, 1927–2010; B, Kahului 1947–2010; C, Honolulu 1905–2010; and D, Nawiliwili, 1955–2010, Hawaii. Data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2011 Sea level has risen around Hawaii approximately 1.5 mm/yr over the past century. Although this rate may seem small, long-term sea-level rise can lead to chronic coastal erosion, coastal flooding, […]
By Arno Kopecky 19 May 2012 One grey Thursday at the end of April, a plane touched down in Fort McMurray, Alta., carrying four Achuar Indians from the Peruvian Amazon. They had flown 8,000 kilometres from the rain forest to beseech Talisman Energy Inc., the Calgary-based oil and gas conglomerate, to stop drilling in their […]
