Far from the sea, urban seagulls terrorise skies

  By Michael McCarthy, Environment EditorSaturday, 28 August 2010 Britain’s population of urban seagulls, the source of increasing complaints about dirt, health threats, noise and attacks on people, is now rising so fast that it may reach one million birds by 2020 if concerted action is not taken to manage the problem. The national population […]

Forest-clearing fires double in Brazil as environmental regulations go unenforced — Twitter sensation ensues

www.mongabay.com August 27, 2010 The number of fires burning in Brazil has more than doubled compared with the same period last year. Surprisingly, the news has sparked a Twitter sensation, with more than 120,000 users “tweeting” messages with the hashtag “#chegadequeimadas” about the fires in a 48 hour window. The phenomenon emerged after analysis of […]

Fertilizer chemicals cause developmental abnormalities in aquatic animals

  ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2010) — Fertilizer chemicals may pose a bigger hazard to the environment — specifically to creatures that live in water — than originally foreseen, according to new research from North Carolina State University toxicologists. In a study published in the Aug. 27 edition of PLoS ONE, the NC State researchers show […]

Brazil green light for Amazon dam — ‘Death warrant for the Xingu river’

BBC26 August 2010 Brazil’s government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world’s third biggest hydroelectric dam. After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium. Critics say the project will […]

Jellyfish: ‘We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion’

By Bryan Nelson, Mother Nature NetworkPosted Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:57am PDT The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth. Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may […]

Serengeti highway would disrupt world’s greatest migration

  ScienceDaily (Aug. 25, 2010) — The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) are requesting that the Government of Tanzania reconsider the proposed construction of a commercial road through the world’s best known wildlife sanctuary — Serengeti National Park — and recommend that alternative routes be used that can meet […]

Previously unknown microbe ate BP oil deep-water plume

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment CorrespondentTue Aug 24, 2010 5:25pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Manhattan-sized plume of oil spewed deep into the Gulf of Mexico by BP’s broken Macondo well has been consumed by a newly discovered fast-eating species of microbes, scientists reported on Tuesday.   The micro-organisms were apparently stimulated by the massive oil spill […]

Amnesty International: Flawed data used to exonerate oil firms in Niger Delta

By Paul Ohia with agency report 24 August 2010 Human rights organisation, Amnesty International (AI) yesterday challenged the credibility of data cited by the United Nations in an ongoing investigation of oil-impacted sites in Ogoniland which will almost entirely exonerate Royal Dutch Shell for 40 years of oil pollution in the oil rich region. Amnesty […]

Mysterious biological residue washing ashore in Alabama

By Ben Raines, Press-Register Sunday, August 22, 2010, 5:30 AM     Scientists are intrigued by the heavy sheen and persistent clouds of dingy brown water washing up in pockets from Perdido Pass to Petit Bois Island since July. Waves carrying the brown water ashore leave a conspicuous amber stain on the white sand. A recent snorkeling […]

Disaster at the Top of the World

By THOMAS HOMER-DIXON, Aboard the Louis S. St-LaurentAugust 22, 2010 STANDING on the deck of this floating laboratory for Arctic science, which is part of Canada’s Coast Guard fleet and one of the world’s most powerful icebreakers, I can see vivid evidence of climate change. Channels through the Canadian Arctic archipelago that were choked with […]

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