Blogging the End of the World™
By Fran LowryMarch 1, 2011 The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and subsequent spill, which gushed uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico for 3 months in 2010, has left those who live along the environmentally fragile Gulf Coast with increased rates of depression and anxiety and feelings of anger, hopelessness, and despair. The […]
By Robert Fisk, Middle East CorrespondentSaturday, 5 March 2011 Saudi Arabia was yesterday drafting up to 10,000 security personnel into its north-eastern Shia Muslim provinces, clogging the highways into Dammam and other cities with busloads of troops in fear of next week’s “day of rage” by what is now called the “Hunayn Revolution”. Saudi Arabia’s […]
By Michael RicciardiMarch 3, 2011 Over the past decade, the Arctic’s annual “bloom” of phytoplankton has been arriving earlier each year. The trend in earlier blooms of this crucial, primary producer of the Arctic’s food web is occurring largely along coastal and ice edge areas within the Arctic circle, with the exception of large patches […]
ScienceDaily (Mar. 4, 2011) — As carbon dioxide levels have risen during the last 150 years, the density of pores that allow plants to breathe has dwindled by 34 percent, restricting the amount of water vapor the plants release to the atmosphere, report scientists from Indiana University Bloomington and Utrecht University in the Netherlands in […]
By Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers28 February 2011 WASHINGTON — Global warming took a toll on coral reefs in 2010, endangering one of the world’s key ecosystems that benefit people in countless ways. Coral reefs are habitat for almost 100,000 known marine species, including about 40 percent of all fish species. They feed millions of people, […]
March 3, 2011 (University of Plymouth) — Harmful algae could be producing substances which affect reproduction in organisms with similar genetic characteristics as humans according to groundbreaking new research. A scientist from the University of Plymouth has discovered that algae release substances which interfere with the activity of reproductive hormones in some fish. Dr. Ted […]
By Jon Stibbs 2 March 2011 BOGOTA (AlertNet) – Widespread flooding in Bolivia, which prompted the government to declare a national emergency last week, shows the vulnerability of one of South America’s poorest countries to changing weather patterns linked to climate change. Landlocked Bolivia, which runs from the rugged Andes to the Amazon jungle, faces […]
By Christine Dell’Amore, National Geographic NewsPublished February 28, 2011 “Crazy green” pools teeming with life have been found among remote Antarctic sea ice, scientists say—and they may be a global warming boon. Observed in the little-studied Amundsen Sea (see map), the brilliant blooms owe their colors to chlorophyll, a pigment in various types of phytoplankton, […]
Sanur, Indonesia (AFP) March 1, 2011 – An insatiable appetite for reef fish like snapper in Hong Kong and other markets is fuelling over-fishing in the Coral Triangle, a key area for marine biodiversity, experts said Tuesday. The trade is encouraging fishermen to use cyanide and explosives that destroy reefs and fish hatcheries essential for […]
Wet Desert Expeditions7 February 2011 Every year around this time I start to hear comments along the lines of “I heard the lake is supposed to go up 20 feet this winter” or “I was at the lake this weekend and it was up 10 feet!” I call this period the Winter Bump, where for […]
