Blogging the End of the World™
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2010) — A unique ‘natural laboratory’ in the Mediterranean Sea is revealing the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels on life in the oceans. The results show a bleak future for marine life as ocean acidity rises, and suggest that similar lowering of ocean pH levels may have been responsible for massive […]
Lima (AFP) Sept 1, 2010 – The Amazon, the world’s biggest river, is at its lowest level in over 40 years near its source in northeastern Peru, causing havoc in a region where it is used as the only form of travel, authorities said. According to officials in Loreto province, the Amazon on Tuesday in […]
During the past 50 years, sea level has risen up to 8 inches or more along some coastal areas of the United States, and has fallen in other locations. The amount of relative sea-level rise experienced along different parts of the U.S. coast depends on the changes in elevation of the land that occur as […]
Failure to act on threats to global sustainability brings the world closer to disaster By Jeffrey D. SachsSeptember 2010 Scientific American Magazine With this final column I will transition Sustainable Developments from Scientific American to the home page of the Earth Institute (ww.earth.columbia.edu). Although I will continue to contribute occasional essays to the magazine, I […]
By John PlattSep 1, 2010 11:00 AM With rhinoceros poaching in Africa approaching an all-time high, one nature preserve owner has had enough. Ed Hern, owner of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa, is experimenting with injecting cyanide into his rhinos’ horns. He believes the poison will not harm the rhinos, […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comSeptember 01, 2010 Although the mining consortium, United Khmer Group, has been drawing up plans to build a massive titanium mine in a Cambodian protected forest for three years, the development did not become public knowledge until rural villagers came face-to-face with bulldozers and trucks building access roads. Reaction against the secret […]
By Mayabhushan NagvenkarSeptember 1, 2010 (AP) — An unknown ship has dumped tons of waste oil into the sea off western India, creating tar balls that were heaping on Goa’s famed beaches on Wednesday, officials said. Indian navy and coast guard vessels were trying to trace the ship that is believed to have dumped burnt […]
By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune Thursday, September 02, 2010, 10:10 AM, Updated: Thursday, September 02, 2010, 10:36 AM The Coast Guard is responding to a report of a rig on fire “and people in the water” in the Gulf of Mexico south of Vermillion Bay, authorities said. Petty Officer Casey Ranel said the rig is […]
IANS2010-09-01 16:10:00 Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday that his country has suffered losses of around $43 billion due to the floods that have displaced over 17 million people and killed over 1,600. The floods, which started with heavy monsoon rains in July, have affected 30 percent of agricultural land and […]
By Alister Doyle, ReutersWednesday, 1 September 2010 Tiny marine creatures found on the seabed on opposite sides of West Antarctic give a strong hint of the effects of sea level rise, say scientists. The discovery of very similar colonies of bryozoans, animals that anchor themselves to the seabed, in both the Ross and Weddell Seas […]