Blogging the End of the World™
By Jacob Goldstein1 March 2011 China holds about $1.2 trillion in U.S. government debt, according to the Treasury Department’s latest figures. That’s about 30 percent higher than the previous estimate. This is part of those global imbalances we keep talking about. China exports more than it imports; the U.S. imports more than it exports. So […]
4 March 2011 (BBC) — Sperm quality significantly deteriorated and testicular cancers increased over recent years, a Finnish study says. The study in the International Journal of Andrology looked at men born between 1979 and 1987. The University of Turku research suggests environmental reasons, particularly exposure to industrial chemicals, may be behind both trends. A […]
March 6, 2011, Singapore (AFP) — The unbridled manufacture and use of pesticides in Asia is raising the spectre of “pest storms” devastating the region’s rice farms and threatening food security, scientists have warned. Increased production of cheap pesticides in China and India, lax regulation and inadequate farmer education are destroying ecosystems around paddies, allowing […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com March 07, 2011 Expansion of industrial oil palm plantations across Malaysia and Indonesia have laid waste to vast areas of forest and peatlands, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and putting biodiversity at risk, reports a new satellite-based analysis that maps mature oil palm estates across Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra. The […]
Newport Beach and other communities on California’s coast are planning to build up wetlands, construct levees and seawalls or move structures inland as climate change raises sea levels. By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles TimesMarch 6, 2011 Cities along California’s coastline that for years have dismissed reports of climate change or lagged in preparing for rising […]
Nairobi — Rising inflation is threatening East Africa Community’s economic growth. From Nairobi to Dar es Salaam and Kampala, all signs point to surging inflation in the region in the coming days. An array of issues from drought to food scarcity to escalating oil prices continue to pile pressure on households’ expenditure. Political crises in […]
Millions living near the coast are likely to be hit by rising sea levels, erosion, and storm surges, warns a new study By Jamie Doward, The ObserverSunday 6 March 2011 On Benbecula, they know all too well that rising tides threaten the UK’s coastline. For the 1,200 inhabitants of the small, low-lying island in the […]
February 21, 2011 (World Meteorological Organization) — Since November, East African countries have registered serious drought conditions that are likely to worsen in coming months. According to data recently released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the La Niña weather effect is largely responsible. WMO said the phenomenon might last up to four more months […]
Results of the Wilcoxon-signed ranks test are illustrated in Fig. 2. There was a statistically significant (p = 0.02) reduction in zona binding in RF-EMF-exposed sperms compared with that in controls. Controls bound an average of 31.8 ± 12.8 sperms per hemizona compared with 22.8 ± 12.4 sperms per hemizona of RF-EMF-exposed spermatozoa. Sperm […]
Scatterplot of the greater Central Valley, California calibration data showing the relationship between air quality score and the proportion of nitrophytic lichen abundance at each plot. Abstract: Lichens are highly valued ecological indicators known for their sensitivity to a wide variety of environmental stressors like air quality and climate change. This report summarizes baseline results […]
