Blogging the End of the World™
By Paul Peachey 18 February 2011 After a series of natural calamities and poor harvests, the price of spices from ginger to nutmeg have rocketed in one of the hidden stories of global food inflation. Traders and brokers reported prices of some spice staples have increased more than tenfold over the past five years and […]
Contact: Brian Lin, UBC Public Affairs, brian.lin@ubc.caFeb. 18, 2011 Predatory fish such as cod, tuna, and groupers have declined by two-thirds over the past 100 years, while small forage fish such as sardine, anchovy and capelin have more than doubled over the same period, according to University of British Columbia researchers. Led by Prof. Villy […]
By Brian ReedFebruary 16, 2011 From the sky, the country of Kiribati looks like strands of yarn floating on the sea: 33 tiny islands, scattered across an area of the Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Alaska. Nearly half the population, more than 40,000 people, is crowded into just one of those strands […]
Trees in Britain are struggling to come to life this winter following outbreak of disease, gritting of roads and over-zealous health and safety. Climate change and the increasing movement of horticultural plants around the country has increased the risk of disease. Chestnuts are suffering from bleeding canker and a leaf miner moth and many have […]
By Staff WritersFeb 17, 2011 United Nations (AFP) – Somalia, home to one of the world’s largest population of displaced people, is teetering on a crisis with drought now threatening some 2.4 million people, a UN official said Thursday. “Somalia … is on the brink of a much larger disaster due to the threat of […]
By Luzi Ann Javier and Susan Li, with assistance from Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London and Anand Menon in Singapore. Editors: Matthew Oakley, Jarrett BanksFebruary 15, 2011, 6:00 AM EST Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Global food supplies will face “massive disruptions” from climate change, Olam International Ltd. predicted, as Agrocorp International Pte. said corn will gain […]
KINGSFOLD, West Sussex, England, February 15, 2011 (ENS) – Rising demand for powdered rhino horn in Vietnam and China has driven the price as high as US$50,000 per kilogram, roughly equal to the street price for cocaine in the UK, says a international wildlife conservation organization headquartered in the hamlet of Kingsfold, West Sussex. Mark […]
By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Tue Feb 15, 3:14 am ET HOUSTON – A former official with BP’s drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico resigned just months before last year’s oil spill because of disagreements with the oil giant over its commitment to safety, according to a class-action federal lawsuit related to the […]
Lake size is sensitive to both climate change and human activities, and therefore serves as an excellent indicator to assess environmental changes. Using a large volume of various datasets, we provide a first complete picture of changes in China’s lakes between 1960s–1980s and 2005–2006. Dramatic changes are found in both lake number and lake size; […]
5 February 2011 (Agrimoney.com) – World grain stocks, already squeezed, are in danger of tightening further in 2011-12, Yara International has warned, highlighting the poor condition of winter crops and an incomplete rebound in fertilizer sales. The nitrogen giant said that a rise of some 5%, to nearly 2.3bn tonnes, in world grain production was […]
