Blogging the End of the World™
By ARJUN RAMACHANDRAN, September 21, 2009 – 1:25PM Hundreds of fish have died and the lives of dozens of eels and turtles have been threatened apparently after an outbreak of algae in the duck pond at Centennial Park. Park patrons described as “tragic” the sight of hundreds of European carp lying on the surface of […]
Global warming. Dwindling water. Massive wildfires. All are implications of the invasion. By Shauna Stephenson, sstephenson@wyomingnews.com Slash piles surround the parking area on Pelton Creek Road in the Medicine Bow National Forest, southwest of Laramie near the Colorado border. Grant Frost, a terrestrial habitat biologist for Wyoming Game and Fish, inspects a tree, looking for […]
By Lewis Smith Attempts to save the bluefin tuna from extinction suffered a serious setback yesterday when the European Union dropped its demand for commercial fishing of the species to be banned. A rearguard action by Mediterranean fishing nations, including Spain, Italy and France, blocked moves to get the European Union to support a worldwide […]
Another contaminant found in Canadian groundwater samples may join the list of environmental substances that could be harmful to humans and the environment, according to recent study results published in the September 2009 issue of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The newest potential threat to human health and the environment is fluorochemicals known as perfluorinated phosphoric […]
Forest cover (green curve) versus palm oil production (white curve) in Indonesia. In 2007 Indonesia overtook Malaysia as the world’s largest producer of palm oil. Together the two countries account for more than 85 percent of global production. A study published in May showed that 55-59 percent of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and at […]
RESIDENTS should ready themselves for possibly the worst bushfire season the state has seen, the NSW Premier, Nathan Rees, says. Hazard reduction burns continued across the greater Sydney area after more than 60 bushfires that broke out on September 13 threatened homes and scorched properties. Mr Rees declared yesterday that fire authorities were ready […]
By Jeremy Hance In a decline on par with that suffered by the American bison in the Nineteenth Century, in the 1990s the saiga antelope of the Central Asian steppe plummeted from over one million individuals to 50,000, dropping a staggering 95 percent in a decade and a half. Since then new legislation and conservation […]
ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2009) — A new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder indicates most of the world’s low-lying river deltas are sinking from human activity, making them increasingly vulnerable to flooding from rivers and ocean storms and putting tens of millions of people at risk. While the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel […]
Geneva (AFP) Sept 18, 2009 – The United Nations warned Friday that Guatemala is facing its worst drought in three decades, and that at least 2.5 million people have been affected by the crisis. “The country is facing the worst drought in 30 years, which has triggered a food crisis,” said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of […]
Khuria, Bangladesh (AFP) Sept 18, 2009 – At the end of every year, after the monsoon rains, Noor Hossain dismantles his houseboat on the Bangladeshi delta and heads to the mainland. This time he will not be coming back. Hossain is one of about 800,000 river gypsies, known locally as bedey, who for generations have […]
