Blogging the End of the World™
Washington DC (SPX) Jul 06, 2010 As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise, so does the pressure on the plant kingdom. The hope among policymakers, scientists and concerned citizens is that plants will absorb some of the extra CO2 and mitigate the impacts of climate change. For a few decades now, researchers have hypothesized about one […]
Bodo, Nigeria (AFP) July 2, 2010 – The waters around the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo are covered in a thick film of oil that has left the once lush mangroves looking like burnt twigs covered in grease. The air reeks of crude. “I struggle everyday,” said fisherman Gaagaa Giadom, 60, paddling his blackened canoe […]
Governor Jindal’s proposal to build a wall of sand berms to keep oil out of Louisiana’s marshes and off its shores has gotten a lot of media coverage, most of it supportive. A growing number of experts have voiced serious concerns or outright opposition to the plan (1). Both they and the public have been […]
By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy NewspapersPosted on Sunday, July 4, 2010 WASHINGTON — A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a “fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation” not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major […]
By David BielloJul 1, 2010 09:21 AM The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released preliminary data Wednesday from its own toxicity testing for eight dispersants in a bid to corroborate potentially suspect industry-provided results. But questions remain about the safety of these chemicals that can be used to break up oil spills, including COREXIT 9500, […]
By Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Times-PicayunePublished: Sunday, July 04, 2010, 10:44 AM Some days, the oil sent a pungent odor over city streets, causing people headaches. Always, there was fear. Residents worried the crude would forever foul the sandy beaches dotting their shores and wipe out habitat for shrimp and fish in a place where […]
By PATRICK REIS AND ALLISON WINTER of GreenwirePublished: July 2, 2010 Scientists are working to lure migrating birds away from the oil in the Gulf of Mexico and toward safe habitat. At stake is the well-being of more than 50 million birds migrating south to or through the Gulf over the next six months, with […]
By NPR StaffJuly 3, 2010 As the oil spill coats Gulf Coast beaches, rescuers are hatching a daring plan to save as many as 70,000 sea turtle eggs from the disaster. Each year, thousands of newly hatched sea turtles scramble from their nests in the Florida Panhandle’s sandy beaches and Alabama coasts into the water. […]
By Juliet EilperinWashington Post Staff WriterFriday, July 2, 2010; 6:58 PM The Coast Guard and BP reached a settlement Friday with environmental groups over the issue of how best to guard against accidentally killing endangered sea turtles during controlled burns in the Gulf of Mexico aimed at curbing the oil spill’s spread. Four environmental groups […]
Missionary told to leave after helping Amazon tribes resist incursion of oil, gas and mining firms into the rainforest By Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk Friday 2 July 2010 19.29 BST Peru has ordered the expulsion of a British missionary who was dubbed a “Tarzan agitator” for helping Amazon tribes to resist the incursion of […]