After the biggest mass extinction in Earth’s history – 250 million years ago – algae and bacteria in the ocean rebounded so fast that they consumed virtually all the oxygen in the sea, slowing the recovery of the rest of marine animals for several million years. BY LOUIS BERGERONMarch 24, 2011 A mass extinction is […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comMarch 17, 2011 Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of Indonesian NGOs, released maps showing that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Asia Pacific Resources International Limited (APRIL) control blocks of land representing 31 percent of the remaining forest in the province of Riau, one of Sumatra’s most forested provinces. Much […]
By Timothy B. Hurst August 26, 2010 We hear all kinds of stats thrown around about how much coal-fired electricity generation China has added during its recent period of explosive economic development. The most commonly repeated – and my personal “favorite” – is that China is completing the construction of new coal-fired power plants at […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.comMarch 17, 2011 Indonesian environmental groups launched a urgent plea urging the country’s two largest pulp and paper companies not to clear 800,000 hectares of forest and peatland in their concessions in Sumatra. Eyes on the Forest, a coalition of Indonesian NGOs, released maps showing that Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) […]
By Leo Hickman, www.guardian.co.uk8 March 201 All eyes are on the oil industry as prices continue to rise. But some argue that the biggest energy story in coming years will not be our travails with oil, but the increasing importance of coal, particularly if the much-discussed ‘carbon capture and storage‘ (CCS) hurdles can be cleared. […]
With promises to curb CO2 emissions by 2020, China will need more than blackouts to get there By David BielloMarch 11, 2011 China has won international plaudits for its commitment to green goals. It has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by at least 40 percent per economic unit by 2020 and is also adding alternative […]
Study suggests black carbon pollution has greater effect than carbon dioxide on region’s ice By Janet RaloffMarch 8th, 2011 In high-elevation snowy regions, the warming effects of greenhouse gases pale in comparison to those triggered by soot, new computer calculations show. The finding could help explain the accelerating pace of melting on the Tibetan Plateau, […]
GEORGETOWN, Guyana, March 7, 2011 (ENS) – Deforestation rates in the South American country of Guyana have increased during the last year, despite a 2009 agreement with the Norwegian government aimed at supporting forest protection to avert climate change, the nonprofit watchdog organization Global Witness said today. Signed in November 2009 and worth up to […]
It’s a new name for a new geologic epoch—one defined by our own massive impact on the planet. That mark will endure in the geologic record long after our cities have crumbled. By Elizabeth KolbertPhotograph by Jens Neumann/Edgar RodtmannMarch 2011 The path leads up a hill, across a fast-moving stream, back across the stream, and […]
By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com March 07, 2011 Expansion of industrial oil palm plantations across Malaysia and Indonesia have laid waste to vast areas of forest and peatlands, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and putting biodiversity at risk, reports a new satellite-based analysis that maps mature oil palm estates across Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra. The […]
