Blogging the End of the World™
By Aislinn Maestas12-07-2010 The polar bears of Western Hudson Bay went without eating this year for approximately 3 weeks longer than usual. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the combined early summer break-up of sea ice and delayed winter freeze-up foreshadows what is likely to be a fast-approaching and grim future for these polar bears. […]
By JULIE REED BELL and SETH BORENSTEIN, The Associated Press Dec 19, 2010 8:26 AM PT This was the year the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 — the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people […]
Warning: This video includes disturbing footage of a malnourished polar bear mother and her two cubs in western Hudson Bay, Canada. Some may choose not to watch, because it includes graphic scenes of a malnourished cub experiencing seizures. Both cubs died within two days of the November 23, 2010, filming. As difficult as the images […]
By Gary, via Dmitry OrlovDecember 18, 2010 … In the case of the US empire, it has not continued to expand by territorial acquisition. The last territory acquired was the Marshall Islands in 1947, which then became a UN Trust Territory, followed by Independence in 1986. What has continued to expand is the presence of […]
By Jason Burke in Delhi, www.guardian.co.uk Thursday 16 December 2010 21.30 GMT The Dalai Lama told US diplomats last year that the international community should focus on climate change rather than politics in Tibet because environmental problems were more urgent, secret American cables reveal. The exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader told Timothy Roemer, the US […]
By NPR StaffDecember 19, 2010 In 1968, Simon & Garfunkel released the bittersweet song “America” — a tune about a couple leaving Saginaw, Mich., to seek their fortunes elsewhere. This past week, a reporter at The Saginaw News noticed lyrics from that song spray-painted on vacant buildings all over town. Some of the paint on […]
There has been a decline in the size and condition in a number of groundfish species. There has been a reduction in the size of some groundfish species (e.g., haddock, cod, pollock, and silver hake) since the start of the time series in 1970. This decrease in size has been observed both on the Eastern […]
Matt Novak of Paleo-Future premiers his second webcast, Apocalypse. It’s an overview of the 1970s “apocsploitation film” genre and a trip down Memory Lane for Desdemona, who saw all of these as a child. The shiny happy futurism of the 1950s gave way to much darker predictions for humanity in the 1970s. With energy crises, […]
A final refuge of Arctic summer sea ice may be the last outpost for polar bears. By Jessica Marshall Thu Dec 16, 2010 04:05 PM ET As sea ice disappears, a refuge of suitable habitat for polar bears and ringed seals — key polar bear prey — may persist in northeastern Canada and northern […]
By Victoria Gill, Science and nature reporter, BBC News 17 December 2010 Vulture populations in one of Africa’s most important wildlife reserves have declined by 60%, say scientists. The researchers suggest that the decline of vultures in Kenya’s Masai Mara is being driven by poisoning. The US-based Peregrine Fund says farmers occasionally lace the bodies […]
