By Victoria Gill, Science reporter, BBC News Polar bears have shrunk over the last century, according to research. Scientists compared bear skulls from the early 20th Century with those from the latter half of the century. Their study, in the Journal of Zoology, describes changes in size and shape that could be linked an increase […]
As another water war rages, the west side of California’s storied San Joaquin Valley waits for relief that may not come. By Katie Paul | Newsweek Web Exclusive …After three years of drought, California’s legendary water wars are flaring once again, and towns like Mendota, San Joaquin, and Firebaugh are getting a first glimpse of […]
Farmer Mazzareno Bisogni fights back tears as he stands among the remains of trees he planted 35 years ago, victims of a drought hitting “Australia’s Mississippi”. Bisogni’s orchard lies in the heart of the once-mighty Murray-Darling river system which irrigates Australia’s food bowl, the vast southeastern corner responsible for 40 percent of agricultural output. The […]
ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2009) — The world’s last remaining “pristine” forest — the boreal forest across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries — is under increasing threat, a team of international researchers has found. The researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia, Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and the National […]
The worst drought to hit parts of north China in six decades has left nearly five million people short of water, while officials warn of another dry spell further south, state media reported Sunday. A total of 4.6 million people and 4.1 million head of livestock face difficulty accessing drinking water in the north, the […]
By BOB WEBER, The Canadian Press Climate change is already having a dramatic effect on plants in the High Arctic, turning the once rocky tundra a deep shade of green and creating what could be another mechanism speeding up global warming. In a new study to be published in the November issue of the journal […]
KODIAK ISLAND, Alaska, August 24, 2009 (ENS) – Billions of tons of carbon are buried in the frozen Arctic tundra, now heating up because of human-caused climate change. To measure which greenhouse gases are being released and in what quantities, government scientists are flying instrument-laden planes over the tundra from now through November. They say […]
Billions of beetles, wildfire spread imperil the northern forests of a warmer world By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special CorrespondentHAINES JUNCTION, Yukon Territory A veil of smoke settled over the forest in the shadow of the St. Elias Mountains, in a wilderness whose spruce trees stood tall and gray, a deathly gray even in the […]
By Barney Jopson in Nairobi The number of Kenyans in urgent need of food aid has jumped by more than 50 per cent to nearly 4m, according to official figures, as the country is hit by mass hunger as well as shortages of power and water. The immediate cause of the three-fold crisis is a […]
The Nile Delta is under threat from rising sea levels. Without the food it produces, Egypt faces catastrophe By Jack Shenker …Today, however, Nile water barely reaches this corner of the Delta. Population growth has sapped its energy upstream, and what “freshwater” does make it downriver is increasingly awash with toxins and other impurities. Farmers […]
