Blogging the End of the World™
POZNAN, Poland (Reuters) – Weather-related disasters and earthquakes are likely to make 2008 the second most costly year for insurers after 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the United States, a leading insurer said on Wednesday. Losses in 2008 are around $160 billion so far, Thomas Loster, chair of Munich Re Foundation, told Reuters on the […]
Despite successes in reducing dolphin bycatch fishing found to negatively affect reproduction By Mario Aguilera, Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego Despite broad “dolphin safe” practices, fishing activities have continued to restrict the growth of at least one Pacific Ocean dolphin population, a new report led by a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at […]
POZNAN, Poland (AFP) – Almost a fifth of the planet’s coral reefs have died and carbon emissions are largely to blame, according to an NGO study released Wednesday. The report, released by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, warned that on current trends, growing levels of greenhouse gases will destroy many of the remaining reefs […]
Since the wide-spread burning of fossil fuels began, our global oceans have become nearly a third more acidic and it is killing one of the most unusual ecosystems we have – deep sea coral. An international symposium is underway right now in Wellington, bringing researchers from all around the world together to discuss the problem. […]
Link to report (pdf): Effects of Pollutants on the Reproductive Health of Male Vertebrate Wildlife – Males Under Threat Evolution is being distorted by pollution, which damages genitals and the ability to father offspring, says new study. by Geoffrey Lean The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling […]
AFP – Twenty-one animal species, including the cheetah, three dolphin families and an Egyptian vulture, were added to the list of those in danger of extinction by a UN conference that ended Friday. … A spokesman for the Whale and Dolphin Society welcomed measures on increased protection for marine species, but said governments had not […]
SALT LAKE CITY – Seven Western states will face more water shortages in the years ahead as climate change exacerbates the strains drought and a growing population have put on the Colorado River, scientists say. "Clearly we’re on a collision course between supply and demand," said Brad Udall, director of the Western Water Assessment at […]
1992: 2006: Dense green vegetation gives way to pale fields in these newly released satellite images of deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. The first image, from the Landsat Thematic Mapper in 1992, shows the beginning of agricultural development in a region of the southwestern state of Mato Grosso. It dissolves into a recently released image […]
Watch the countdown to the End of the World™ on your desktop. Don’t forget about your imminent doom for even a second! Keep track of the latest climate change data on your desktop. Available for Mac OS X Dashboard, Yahoo! Widgets and Windows Vista. Vital Signs Widget Technorati Tags: vital signs,global warming,ozone,sea level,Arctic
By James Morgan, Science reporter, BBC News Harbour seals, or common seals, are familiar faces along coastlines across the northern hemisphere. But they are now vanishing in the UK at an alarming rate, warn scientists from St Andrews University. Numbers have halved in the hardest hit area, the Orkney Islands, since 2001 – falling almost […]
