Blogging the End of the World™
If current melting trends continue, the Arctic Ocean is likely to be free of summer sea ice by 2015, according to research presented at a conference organized by the National Space Institute at Technical University of Denmark, the Danish Meteorological Institute and the Greenland Climate Center. The estimates, which are consistent with some models presented […]
By Dan Box We are entering hurricane season again. As I write, the first of this year’s crop are working out their fury over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans while, in New Orleans, anniversary ceremonies are being held to mark the harvest claimed by Hurricane Katrina four years ago. … Catastrophe bonds are, depending on […]
By James Chapman Britain faces the first widespread power blackouts since the 1970s because of looming energy shortages, Government documents reveal. For the first time, ministers are expecting that the supply of electricity will fail to meet demand at peak times. The Government is forecasting that by 2017 there will be power cuts of around […]
‘We all live on the Greenland ice sheet now. Its fate is our fate’ By Patrick Barkham at Sermilik fjord, Greenland It is calving season in the Arctic. A flotilla of icebergs, some as jagged as fairytale castles and others as smooth as dinosaur eggs, calve from the ice sheet that smothers Greenland and sail […]
By Stephen Adams Pollack, the fish with such a poor reputation that Sainsbury’s deemed it needed a name change, has become one of the country’s most popular seafoods. Figures released by Seafish, set up by the Government to promote the fishing industry, show it is now the eighth most popular fish to eat. British consumers […]
Contaminants from natural coal deposits in the Gulf of Alaska are not easily bioavailable, unlike the crude oil from the Exxon Valdez tanker catastrophe, according to a new study. The findings challenge the theory that natural coal deposits were the cause of observed environmental damage. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) pollutants were blamed for the continuing […]
By Matthew McDermott, New York, NY Here’s a very concrete example of how roads into rainforests can bring indigenous people into the firing line: TimesOnline reports that hundreds of men from Borneo’s Penan people are blockading roads, armed with blowpipes and dressed in traditional costumes, in protest over what palm oil companies are doing […]
A scarcity of fresh water has left the UAE relying on desalination to quench an unprecedented thirst brought on by the country’s expansion. But the effects of the policy are threatening to destroy natural supplies and create an ecological nightmare. By Jonathan Gornall “Water, water, everywhere,Nor any drop to drink.” Like the becalmed seamen of […]
By Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York Starting tomorrow, the gray wolf is about to be hunted for the first time in decades. The Obama administration removed the wolves from the endangered species list last March. And unless a federal judge decides to halt the hunt and reopen the question of whether the species is threatened, […]
By Staff Writers, New Delhi (AFP) Aug 29, 2009 India faces a “severe” drought but the country’s ample food grain stock will ensure no one goes hungry, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday. Monsoon rains, the lifeline for farms that support more that half of India’s 1.1 billion population, have been scant and about […]
