Fingers crossed: it looks like the cap on BP’s Macondo well will hold until the relief well intercepts and permanently plugs it, and no more oil from this blowout will enter the Gulf. So here’s a map showing the cumulative oil slick footprint for the BP / Deepwater Horizon oil spill, created by overlaying all […]
By Bonny SchumakerMonday, July 26, 2010 Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s “aviation wing” has been extremely busy in the Gulf of Mexico for the past couple of months, and especially this past month. In keeping with the strong emphasis being put on collaboration, Sea Shepherd has been working with other NGOs as well as local people […]
Freshwater coastal wetlands are more vulnerable to erosion during hurricanes than habitats with higher levels of salinity, a study suggests. US researchers say freshwater marshes have shallower root systems, leaving them at risk from wave erosion during storm surges. They added that the results could have implications for wetland restoration projects in hurricane-prone areas. The […]
By JEFFREY BALL JULY 27, 2010 GRAND ISLE, La.—To keep crude oil out of Louisiana’s sensitive marshes, workers have spread barriers known as boom in unprecedented amounts. Now the marshes face a new threat—from the boom itself. Recent storms have tossed dozens of miles of oil-soaked boom into the marshes, mowing down grass and threatening […]
Ten aerial survey bands (each 30 km in width), every two degrees of latitude, crossing eastern Australia and providing estimates for up to 50 species of waterbirds in October each year (1983-2004). Letters identify seven particular wetlands: Styx River wetlands (A), Lake Hope (B), Paroo River overflow lakes (C), and Macquarie Marshes (D). Australia State […]
Reporting by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Cynthia OstermanSun Jul 25, 2010 5:45pm EDT BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian native Indians on Sunday took 100 workers hostage at the construction site of a hydroelectric plant in the southern Amazon region, local media reported. As many as 400 Indians from several different tribes occupied a power plant they […]
It may takes tens of thousands of years for oceans to recover from the acidity caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide By David Biello July 22, 2010 Single-cell life-forms thrive throughout the world’s oceans—and have for hundreds of millions of years. Tiny varieties known as calcareous nanoplankton build exuberant, microscopic shells—resembling wagon wheels, fishlike […]
By Katia Moskvitch Science reporter, BBC News The UN may remove the world’s deepest and oldest lake from the World Heritage list because of concerns over pollution by a Russian pulp and paper mill. Lake Baikal holds one fifth of the world’s fresh water and is home to many unique plants and animals. At its […]
By Maria Kolesnikova in Moscow, editors: Brad Cook, Alex Nicholson.July 20, 2010, 8:22 AM EDT July 20 (Bloomberg) — Arctic sea ice is melting faster than expected and this season’s loss may match the record reached three years ago, Russia’s environmental agency said. “Ice in the Arctic is melting very fast,” Federal Hydrometeorological and Environmental […]
By Michael McCarthy, Environment EditorWednesday, 21 July 2010 It is the emblematic bird of sexual fidelity – and just like sexual fidelity itself, it is rapidly on the wane. The turtle dove, famed in folklore and literature as the creature which is always constant to its mate, seems to be on the high road […]
