Study reveals scale of “nitrate timebomb”

By Roger Harrabin 10 November 2017 (BBC News) – Huge quantities of nitrate chemicals from farm fertilisers are polluting the rocks beneath our feet, a study says.Researchers at the British Geological Survey say it could have severe global-scale consequences for rivers, water supplies, human health and the economy.They say the nitrate will be released from […]

India to spray capital from on high amid deepening smog emergency – Chief Minister calls capital a “gas chamber” as conditions expected to worsen over weekend

By Rupam Jain, with additional reporting by Manoj Kumar, Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Tom Lasseter and Nick Macfie 10 November 2017 NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India plans to spray water over its capital, New Delhi, to combat toxic smog that has triggered a pollution emergency, officials said on Friday, with conditions expected to worsen over […]

Softwood trees in Canada’s Maritime provinces declining due to global warming – “By the end of the century, those species that industry relies on heavily won’t be performing as well as they are today”

By Michael Tutton 27 October 2017 HALIFAX (The Canadian Press) – A new federal study says climate change in the Maritimes may lead to a gradual reduction in the growth of softwood trees, which are crucial to the region’s pulp industry. Using computer models, the Natural Resources Canada study marks the first regionwide assessment of […]

California asks U.S. government for $7.4 billion for wildfire rebuilding

SAN FRANCISCO, 3 November 2017 (Associated Press) – California Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers asked the U.S. government Friday for $7.4 billion to help rebuild after a cluster of fires tore through the heart of wine country, killing more than 40 people and leaving thousands without housing.In a letter to the White House, Brown joined […]

At least 19 dead as Typhoon Damrey sweeps into Vietnam – Damrey is strongest typhoon to make landfall in southern Vietnam in 16 years

By Mai Nguyen 4 November 2017 HANOI (Reuters) – Typhoon Damrey killed at least 19 people in central and southern Vietnam on Saturday, the government said, after the storm swept into the country just days ahead of the APEC summit of Asia-Pacific leaders. Damrey reached land at 4 a.m. local time (2100 GMT on Friday) […]

Sumatra region heats up as rainforests are razed for palm oil plantations – “The land use change does not only impact biodiversity and stored carbon, but also has a surface warming effect, adding to climate change”

By Hans Nicholas Jong 29 October 2017(Mongabay) – The wholesale destruction of rainforests across parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra island to make way for cash-crop plantations has not just devastated animal and plant biodiversity in the region, but may also be driving an alarming rise in temperatures on the ground, a new study suggests. Average temperatures […]

“Decimated”: Germany’s birds disappear as insect abundance plummets 76 percent

By Morgan Erickson-Davis 27 October 2017 (Mongabay) – A new study in PLOS ONE reveals a 76 percent reduction in Germany’s flying insect biomass over the past 27 years while another reports the country’s bird abundance has declined 15 percent in just over a decade. While the causes behind the insect decline haven’t yet been […]

US government agency issues climate change warning as report finds natural disasters cost America $350 billion – “We simply cannot afford the billions of dollars in additional funding … if we do not take into account the consequences of climate change”

By Mythili Sampathkumar 24 October 2017 NEW YORK (The Independent) – An independent US government agency has said natural disasters have cost the country $350 billion in the last decade and that it is time for Donald Trump’s administration to address climate change before it starts costing the country more.The nonpartisan auditing agency Government Accountability […]

Should iconic Lake Powell be drained?

By Brittany Patterson 27 October 2017 GLEN CANYON NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, Utah (Scientific American) – Like many places across the West, Lake Powell seems impossibly large, mythical almost, with its rich red rock canyon walls standing in dramatic juxtaposition to the expanse of cerulean below that seems to stretch on forever.Dramatic is an apt way […]

Human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical found in weed killers, increased over 23 years – “Our exposure to these chemicals has increased significantly over the years but most people are unaware that they are consuming them through their diet”

By Yadira Galindo 24 October 2017 (UC San Diego) – Analyzing samples from a prospective study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers found that human exposure to glyphosate, a chemical widely found in weed killers, has increased approximately 500 percent since the introduction of genetically modified crops.“The data compares excretion levels of […]

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