Blogging the End of the World™
A fifth of reptiles and almost a quarter of amphibians in Europe are threatened with extinction on the continent, according to the European Commission. By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent The first European Red Lists of threatened species for the two groups of species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shows 23 per […]
BY ALAN CLENDENNING SAO PAULO — Across the Amazon basin, river dwellers are adding new floors to their stilt houses, trying to stay above rising floodwaters that have killed 44 people and left 376,000 homeless. Flooding is common in the world’s largest remaining tropical wilderness, but this year the waters rose higher and stayed longer […]
People have been listening to skylarks singing in Britain for 10,000 years. But now they, and many other much-loved species, are vanishing fast. By David Adam, environment correspondent …the star attraction of the neighbouring fields has flown. Until a year ago, a clutch of woodlark nested there, one of Britain’s rarest birds with just 1,000 […]
By Tan Ee Lyn HONG KONG (Reuters) – A paint chemical that is widely used in China is leaking into the Yangtze river and may be responsible for deformities and decreasing numbers of rare wild Chinese sturgeon, a study has found. In an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers […]
From Calculated Risk: This graph shows broker’s commissions as a percent of GDP. Not surprisingly – giving the housing bubble – broker’s commissions soared in recent years, rising from $56 billion in 2000, to $109 billion in 2005. Commissions have declined to an annual rate of $57 billion in Q1 2009 – the lowest since […]
By Shar Adams Australia is exhibiting climate change weather patterns that were not predicted to manifest till 2020, says one of the country’s most prominent climate change scientists. Professor Ian Lowe, AO, an award-winning scientist and author of a number of books on climate change, said that when he wrote his first book, Living […]
By PETER S. GOODMAN and JACK HEALY As job losses rise, growing numbers of American homeowners with once solid credit are falling behind on their mortgages, amplifying a wave of foreclosures. In the latest phase of the nation’s real estate disaster, the locus of trouble has shifted from subprime loans — those extended to home […]
An unusually high number of the storms has left a film of dust on the Rocky Mountain snowpack, causing it to melt earlier and forcing farmers to adjust. This could be the new normal, scientists say. By Nicholas Riccardi Reporting from Denver — A series of unusual spring dust storms has left the snowcapped mountains […]
For Risti Ariyani, the dream of working abroad and helping her family is over. Her contract with a computer components factory in Malaysia was abruptly canceled because of the global financial crisis, leaving her no choice but to return home to Central Java. “My family was counting on me,” the 20-year-old said. “Everyone, including my […]
Falling water levels trouble residents, raise pollution By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel Scientists and property owners say they are worried about the long-term effects of a prolonged drought on fishing and water quality in northern Wisconsin as they’ve watched some lakes drop to their lowest point in 70 years. As people flock to […]
