The total annual area occupied by overwintering monarch butterflies from 1994 through 2011 has declined significantly, with the all-time smallest area reported during the 2009–10 overwintering season. The dashed line shows the 17-year average (7.24 ha). Both linear (upper) and exponential (lower) regression lines are included. Abstract: During the 2009–2010 overwintering season and following a 15-year […]
29 March 2012 (AFP) – Leading scientists on Thursday called on the upcoming Rio Summit to grapple with environmental ills that they said pointed to “a humanitarian emergency on a global scale.” In a “State of the Planet” declaration issued after a four-day conference, the scientists said Earth was now facing unprecedented challenges, from water […]
By Cory Nealon, cnealon@dailypress.com 24 March 2012 AURORA, N.C. – The sun was about to set when Robert L. Shirley drove his beige pickup onto the Pamlico River ferry. He was joined by fellow Potash Corp. employees who had just finished the day shift mining what scientists say could be the “gravest natural resource shortage […]
By STEVEN LEE MYERS22 March 2012 WASHINGTON – The American intelligence community warned in a report released Thursday that problems with water could destabilize countries in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia over the next decade. Increasing demand and competition caused by the world’s rising population and scarcities created by climate change and […]
By Moleen Nand23 March 2012 AS the world braces for tougher climate conditions in the coming decades, it has become more and more clear that climate change is having a direct impact on our food system. The issue of food security has become of extreme importance especially for Pacific island people today. The world’s most […]
By Angela Herring22 March 2012 Auroop Ganguly — an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering who heads Northeastern’s Sustainability and Data Sciences Lab — explains how global climate change and extreme weather, such as hurricanes and heat waves, could affect water sustainability, critical infrastructures and human health. What is the difference between global “weirding” […]
By JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY, Star Tribune 16 March 2012 Genetically engineered corn and soybeans make it easy for farmers to eradicate weeds, including the long-lived and unruly milkweed. But they might be putting the monarch butterfly in peril. The rapid spread of herbicide-resistant crops has coincided with — and may explain — the dramatic decline in […]
By Darren Osborne, ABC16 March 2012 The increasing amount of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere over the last 65 years is due to nitrogen-based fertilisers, according to a new study. An international team of scientists, led by University of California-Berkeley researcher Dr Sunyoung Park, made the finding after studying air collected at the Cape Grim […]
By Tara Patel13 March 2012 Water pollution from agriculture is costing billions of dollars a year in developed countries and is expected to increase in China and India as farmers race to increase food production, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said. “Pollution from farm pesticides and fertilizers is often diffuse, making it hard […]
By Samuel Nota, alertnet 14 March 2012 After 20 years dominated by inaction on climate change, the world is entering a “third era” when the impacts of climate change are unavoidable, says a London climate expert. Even if countries instantly reduced carbon emissions to zero, the impacts of emissions already in the atmosphere are “inevitable […]
