Image of the Day: Satellite view of smoke from illegal forest-clearing fires in central Sumatra

By Holli Riebeek28 Feb 2014 (NASA) – Dense smoke cloaks central Sumatra, Indonesia, in these images taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. The smoke is coming from fires in Riau province, where palm oil and pulpwood plantations are abundant. Though illegal for all but small landowners, fire […]

Australia developer withdraws from coal port expansion that threatens Great Barrier Reef

By Elisabeth Behrmann  25 February 2014 (Bloomberg News) – Lend Lease Group, Australia’s biggest listed property developer, won’t take part in a planned coal terminal expansion close to the Great Barrier Reef after a mandate for the project lapsed. Lend Lease is no longer part of the AP-X expansion at the port of Abbot Point, […]

Graph of the Day: Arctic sea ice at record low for February

By Brian Kahn19 February 2014 (Climate Central) – Arctic sea ice growth has slowed dramatically in recent weeks, thanks in large part to abnormally warm air and water temperatures. Sea ice now sits at record low levels for mid-February. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, as of February 18, sea ice covered […]

Brazil’s epic drought a taste of the future – ‘Many of the coffee plantations in these areas will probably have to be abandoned’

25 February 2014 (mongabay.com) – With more than 140 cities implementing water rationing, analysts warning of collapsing soy and coffee exports, and reservoirs and rivers running precipitously low, talk about the World Cup in some parts of Brazil has been sidelined by concerns about an epic drought affecting the country’s agricultural heartland. With its rise […]

Another day, another river ruined by a big coal-industry spill – ‘When this much coal slurry goes into the stream, it wipes the stream out’

By John Upton13 Februry 2014 (Grist) – The coal power industry has dumped a lot of toxic crap into yet another river. This latest incident is not to be confused with the spill of toxic coal-cleaning chemicals that poisoned a West Virginia river last month and left 300,000 people without drinking water. Nor is it […]

Marine heat waves causing ‘almost unprecedented’ damage to Australia corals – ‘To see them badly damaged, or completely dead, as a result of bleachings that happened over previous years, and likely the one in 2013, was surprising’

By Katie Valentine13 February 2014 (Climate Progress) – The Earth’s oceans are warming rapidly, absorbing about 90 percent of the heat created by anthropogenic climate change. Now, new research shows that this heat has caused “almost unprecedented” damage to ancient corals of the coast of Western Australia. The research, which has yet to be published […]

There have been five mass extinctions in Earth’s history. Now we’re facing a sixth.

By Brad Plumer11 February 2014 (Washington Post) – There have been five mass extinction events in Earth’s history. In the worst one, 250 million years ago, 96 percent of marine species and 70 percent of land species died off. It took millions of years to recover. Nowadays, many scientists are predicting that we’re on pace […]

Study finds 59 percent of Marine Protected Areas are ineffective

By Loren Bell, Mongabay-Indonesia contributor 10 February 2014 (mongabay.com) – Protecting large, isolated areas of no-take zones for over 10 years with strong enforcement is the key to effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), according to a letter published this week in Nature. However, 59% of all MPAs meet less than three of the five criteria, […]

Up to 1 billion U.S. birds killed each year by window collisions

10 February 2014 (mongabay.com) – 365-988 million birds are killed in the U.S. each year in collisions with buildings, estimates a review published last month in the journal The Condor: Ornithological Applications. The research, based on some 92,869 records across 23 studies, finds that low-rise buildings (56 percent) and residences (44 percent) rather than skyscrapers […]

35 pictures of the sharkfin trade that will shock and dismay you

7 February 2014 (mongabay.com) – Last month scientists released a study warning that one quarter of all sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. The research, published in the open-access journal eLife on January 21, was the result of collaboration between 300 scientists from 64 countries. It concluded that overfishing is the biggest threat to […]

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