Blogging the End of the World™
Groundwater-quality data from a sampling of 1,329 wells in 19 states were analyzed. Chloride concentrations were greater than the secondary maximum contaminant level established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of 250 milligrams per liter in 2.5 percent of samples from 797 shallow monitoring wells and in 1.7 percent of samples from 532 drinking-water supply […]
By MARIAN WILKINSON ENVIRONMENT EDITOR ENVIRONMENT groups are calling for a permanent ban on ”deadly” artificial fishing devices used to attract huge tuna catches in the Pacific after scientific reports found that stocks of bigeye tuna are collapsing. Greenpeace activists aboard the Esperanza confiscated several of the devices known as FADs (fish aggregation devices) in […]
By MALCOLM BROWN, September 18, 2009 FREDDI MARTIN, who has often been a lone voice warning about fire catastrophe, looks out from her balcony across the East Killara bushland and despairs of the prospects of the Ku-ring-gai area getting through the next long, hot summer. For years Ms Martin has sat as the community representative […]
By Jeremy Hance Kenya was once considered one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s success stories: the country possessed a relatively stable government, a good economy, a thriving tourist industry due to a beautiful landscape and abundant wildlife. But violent protests following a disputed election in 2007 hurt the country’s reputation, and then—even worse—drought and famine struck the […]
LONDON (Reuters) – Food aid is at a 20-year low despite the number of critically hungry people soaring this year to its highest level ever, the United Nations relief agency said Wednesday. The number of hungry people will pass 1 billion this year for the first time, the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) said, adding […]
By Jeremy Hance A new report shows that the Corrientes region of the Peruvian Amazon, which suffered decades of toxic contamination by Occidental Petroleum (OXY), is far from being cleaned-up. The survey, conducted by US non-profit E-Tech International, found that heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and hydrocarbons still exist at levels above the safety limits […]
Complex responses to Arctic climate change that may have broader community and ecosystem consequences. A developing trophic mismatch between the timing of caribou calving (blue), which has not changed, and the timing of plant growth (red), which is advancing with warming in Greenland [updated from E. Post, M. C. Forchhammer, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B […]
By DAVID LEIGH, September 18, 2009 LEAKED internal emails have revealed a massive cover-up by the British oil trader Trafigura, in one of the worst pollution disasters in recent history. The emails obtained by The Guardian prove that Trafigura, which abruptly announced an offer to pay compensation to 31,000 West African victims, was fully aware […]
Levels of chloride, a component of salt, are elevated in many urban streams and groundwater across the northern U.S., according to a new government study. Chloride levels above the recommended federal criteria set to protect aquatic life were found in more than 40 percent of urban streams tested. The study was released today by […]
By Shanta Barley You can almost hear Sarah Palin cocking her rifle. As climate change causes sea ice to shrink, the number of “problem” polar bears appears to be increasing. “Hungry bears don’t just lie down – they go looking for an alternate food source,” says zoologist Ian Stirling at the University of Alberta in […]
