Blogging the End of the World™
A new report has put a dollar value on the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef. The study, by the international consultancy Oxford Economics, predicts that coral bleaching will cost the Australian economy more than 30 billion US dollars. The study took into account not just lost tourism, commercial fishing and other […]
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The world’s population is forecast to hit 7 billion next year, the vast majority of its growth coming in developing and, in many cases, the poorest nations, a report released Wednesday said. A staggering 97 percent of global growth over the next 40 years will happen in Asia, Africa, Latin America and […]
Snipers will stand guard over Sydney’s endangered penguins until vicious attacks on them stop, wildlife experts say. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has employed marksmen to protect the colony of about 120 little penguins at Manly and North Head for “as long as necessary”. Nine of the penguins have been mauled to death on […]
ScienceDaily (Aug. 10, 2009) — Located over 12 000 kilometers from the Alps, the Kerguelen Islands are home to the largest French glacier, the Cook ice cap (which had an area of around 500 km2 in 1963). By combining historical information with recent satellite data, the glaciologists at the Laboratory for Space Studies in Geophysics […]
ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2009) — 21st century British woodlands are less distinctive than those of the early 20th century due to environmental change. Native woodland plants have re-organized over the last 70 years in response to increased soil fertility and loss of light related to increased canopy shading. The research was carried out by a […]
TUKTOYAKTUK, Northwest Territories – The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers) of ice on Sunday in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible record low polar ice cap. From the barren Arctic shore of this village in Canada’s far northwest, 1,500 […]
Damascus, Syria, 7 August 2009 (UPI) – The drought that has kept Syria dry for three years has cost more than 800,000 people their livelihoods, Red Cross and Red Crescent officials said. The International Federal of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies this week said about $300,000 had been set aside for immediate assistance for […]
by Richard Harris Scientists say the world’s coral reefs could go extinct during our children’s lifetimes. Human activities are putting this beautiful ecosystem at risk. Some risks are obvious — such as global warming, which results in overheated seas. Others are more subtle. Consider the case of the damselfish: Looking off the coast from the […]
Air quality in Malaysian Borneo is worsening as large numbers of fires rage near the Sarawak-Brunei border, reports the Star newspaper. The Air Pollutant Index (API) reached as high as 197 in parts of Sarawak on Sunday, according to Malaysia’s Environment Department. Fires are set in Sarawak to clear brush and forest in and around […]
Dhaka (AFP) July 21, 2009 – A delay to Bangladesh’s monsoon season is posing a severe risk of drought in the impoverished nation and threatening food supplies, officials warned Tuesday. Monsoon rains normally sweep Bangladesh from June to September and the South Asian country gets more than 75 percent of its annual rainfall during this […]
