Blogging the End of the World™
Arctic sea ice extent for the month of July was the third lowest for that month in the satellite record, after 2007 and 2006. The average rate of melt in July 2009 was nearly identical to that of July 2007. A strong high-pressure system, similar to the atmospheric pattern that dominated the summer of […]
By Ed Stoddard MEDICINE BOW NATIONAL FOREST, Wyoming (Reuters) – From the vantage point of an 80-foot (25 meter) tower rising above the trees, the Wyoming vista seems idyllic: snow-capped peaks in the distance give way to shimmering green spruce. But this is a forest under siege. Among the green foliage of the healthy spruce […]
What do the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone,” global climate change and acid rain have in common? They’re all a result of human impacts to Earth’s biology, chemistry and geology, and the natural cycles that involve all three. On August 4-5, 2009, scientists who study such cycles – biogeochemists — will convene at a special […]
By BRETT FRENCHThe Billings Gazette As the climate warms over the next four decades, portions of Wyoming and Montana are at ground zero for larger areas burned by wildland fires and an increase in air pollution from those fires. The forecasts come from a recently released study done for the Environmental Protection Agency by Harvard’s […]
Cover Study of Nature Provides Startling New Evidence that Only 10% of All Large Fish are Left in Global Ocean 90% of All Large Fish Including Tuna, Marlin, Swordfish, Sharks, Cod and Halibut are Gone Leading Scientists Say Need to Attempt Restoration on a Global Scale is Urgent The cover story of the May 15th, […]
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD (AP) KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority raised its estimates for cleaning up a massive coal ash spill to $1.2 billion on Friday, and partly blamed its third-quarter loss of $167 million on that cleanup. Officials also suggested a rate increase could be looming. The nation’s largest public utility said in […]
By Shaun McKinnon, The Arizona Republic Thirty years after Arizona tried to stop cities and towns from using up their groundwater, the state still can’t shake its thirst for one of its most finite resources. The steady drain on underground reserves grows out of two realities: Canals and pipelines don’t reach far enough to deliver […]
By now I’m sure you know that deforestation is a major source of carbon emissions — in fact more than all the fuel burned for transportation — which would be enough to worry about, except that when it comes to emissions from chopping down trees in the Amazon, those emissions are actually increasing as […]
By MARY PEMBERTON (AP) ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon — long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through the long Alaska winters. But they’re mostly empty. The kings failed to show up, and not just in the Yukon. One […]
A new El Niño has started, bringing a change in weather patterns and the increased threat of drought in many parts of the world. The phenomenon, which happens every two to seven years, occurs when the surface ocean waters of the Eastern Pacific are unusually warm. Officially known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, it […]
