23 December 2010 – While China has made great economic and social progress in recent years, land degradation and the widening income gap between rural and urban are posing challenges to ensuring the right to food for its population, says an independent United Nations human rights expert. “Within a few decades, China has been able […]
By Tom Philpott10 Dec 2010 8:36 AM It’s not just the State and Defense departments that are reeling this month from leaked documents. The Environmental Protection Agency now has some explaining to do, too. In place of dodgy dealings with foreign leaders, this case involves the German agrichemical giant Bayer; a pesticide with an unpronounceable […]
Controversy in Kern County indicates problems for the oil industry’s future worldwide By Jeremy Miller, From the December 06, 2010 issue of High Country News KERN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA From the “Petroleum Highway” — a rutted, dusty stretch of California State Route 33 — you can see the jostling armies of two giant industries. To the […]
By Jennifer Hattam 19 December 2010 Istanbul, Turkey — About 100 years ago, my grandfather emigrated to the United States from a village near Lake Urmia, in what is now northwestern Iran. He died long before I was born, leaving me with little connection to my ancestors in the region, but a strong desire to […]
By Geoffrey YorkMao, Chad— From Saturday’s Globe and MailPublished Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 6:05PM ESTLast updated Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010 1:04AM EST Five-year-old Fatime moves in slow motion, barely able to lift her skeletal arms and legs. Flies land on her face, and she is too weak to brush them away. She struggles to drink […]
By Victoria Gill, Science and nature reporter, BBC News 17 December 2010 Vulture populations in one of Africa’s most important wildlife reserves have declined by 60%, say scientists. The researchers suggest that the decline of vultures in Kenya’s Masai Mara is being driven by poisoning. The US-based Peregrine Fund says farmers occasionally lace the bodies […]
By James Dacey, contributing editor to www.environmentalresearchweb.orgDec 15, 2010 NASA satellite images have revealed that the biosphere is being placed under increasing strain as rising population on a global scale is accompanied by increased consumption of crops and animals per capita. If population and consumption continue to grow at present rates then by 2050 more […]
By John Laumer, Philadelphia 14 December 2010 Common sense tells us that, following corn harvest, fragments of corn cobs, leaves, stalks, silk, and pollen may be blown by the wind or carried across the land surface by runoff. Corn plant residues will end up in the sediments of streams lakes and reservoirs. Scientists call the […]
By Lauren Morello and ClimatewireDecember 14, 2010 A 60-year drought that scorched the Southwest during the 12th century may be a harbinger of things to come as greenhouse gases warm the Earth, according to research published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study’s authors used tree rings to reconstruct a […]
Gothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Dec 09, 2010 – Continued eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, combined with an ever thinner ozone layer, is favouring the toxic cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. “There are several species of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, that can form surface blooms in the Baltic Sea,” explains Malin […]
