Catastrophe likely if rapid extinctions continue: UN

  By TOM ARUP ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENTNovember 13, 2009 AUSTRALIA and the world must make prevention of the rapid rate of species extinction a political priority or face an environmental catastrophe, the head of an international biodiversity convention has warned. In an interview with the Herald, the executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological […]

Scientists identify 17,000 endangered species

Conservation groups warn of ‘alarming’ loss of biodiversity as thousands of animals face imminent extinction  By Andy McSmith, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 Six years ago, these tiny mustard-coloured toads could be found in their thousands, living under the spray from an African waterfall. No one even knew they existed until 1996. Yet today the Kihansi […]

350 reasons we need to get to 350: 350 species threatened by global warming

On this site, you’ll find 350 animals and plants that could vanish due to global warming. If we can sufficiently curb greenhouse gas emissions, many of them will still have a chance to survive and recover — but we have to act now. And we have to act decisively, with a firm goal of cutting […]

So the leaders of men conceived of their most desperate strategy yet

These geo-engineering “solutions” usually make my blood run cold. But the sulfate injection scheme is so badly conceived that I’m always reminded of the rather horrifying sequence in Animatrix, “The Second Renaissance Part II,” in which humanity’s plan to save the world from the robot apocalypse is to cripple the robots’ solar power by cutting […]

Arctic Ocean acid 'will dissolve shells of sea creatures within 10 years'

The Arctic Ocean is becoming acidic so quickly that it will reach corrosive levels within 10 years, a leading scientist has warned.  By Matthew MoorePublished: 4:33PM BST 04 Oct 2009 Waters around the North Pole are absorbing carbon dioxide at such a rate that they will soon start dissolving the shells of living sea creatures. […]

World Bank spends billions on coal-fired power stations despite own warnings

By Ben Webster, Environment Editor The World Bank is spending billions of pounds subsidising new coal-fired power stations in developing countries despite claiming that burning fossil fuels exposes the poor to catastrophic climate change. The bank, which has a goal of reducing poverty and is funded by Britain and other developed countries, calls on all […]

Plan urged to save national parks from global warming effects

Climate change could result in the catastrophic loss of wildlife, a report says. The National Park Service is called on to create a system to manage animals and plants. By Margot Roosevelt  The federal government must take decisive action to avoid “a potentially catastrophic loss of animal and plant life” in national parks, according to […]

Graph of the Day: N. Carolina Great Shark Abundance, 1972-2007

The eastern seaboard’s longest continuous shark-targeted survey (UNC), conducted annually since 1972 off North Carolina, demonstrates sufficiently large declines in great sharks to imply their likely functional elimination. Declines in seven species range from 87% for sandbar sharks (Carcharhinus plumbeus); 93% for blacktip sharks (C. limbatus); up to 97% for tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier); 98% […]

Australia and the Pacific 'becoming extinction hotspots'

The Earth is in the throes of its “sixth great extinction event” and Australia and the Pacific are becoming the worst regions for the destruction of animals and plants, a study has found. By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney Land clearing and overlogging of forests have been highlighted as the greatest threats to land-based flora and […]

Time Magazine: How climate change is causing a new age of extinction

From Climate Progress: While Newsweek is wandering off into pseudoscientific climate denial, Time continues to do the best science-based global warming coverage of any major national magazine. I don’t spend a lot of time on species extinction here, since so many others do such a great job on that subject.  But the cover story, “The […]

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