By Eric Sorensen28 September 2016 VANCOUVER, Washington (WSU News) – Washington State University researchers say the world’s reservoirs are an underappreciated source of greenhouse gases, producing the equivalent of roughly 1 gigaton of carbon dioxide a year, or 1.3 percent of all greenhouse gases produced by humans. That’s more greenhouse gas production than all of […]
Recent estimates indicate that urban outdoor air pollution has risen by 8 per cent globally between 2008 and 2013.6 Urbanization, which is often associated with rising air pollution, is increasing too – by 2050, up to two thirds of the global population is expected to live in urban areas. Unless action is taken to control […]
STANFORD, California, 5 September 2016 (Carnegie Science) – One of the world’s longest-running, most comprehensive climate change experiments produced some surprising results. The extensive experiment subjected grassland ecosystems to sixteen possible future climates and measured many aspects of ecosystem performance and sustainability. This study, appearing in the September 5, 2016, Early Online Edition of the […]
By Karl Mathieson 16 October 2016 (Mercury) – It was one of the world’s great marine ecosystems. Stretching hundreds of kilometres along the eastern coastline of Australia, it provided shelter to a multitude of fish, algae and crustaceans and for many divers was considered a must-see spectacular. But this year a massive underwater heatwave smashed […]
By Gail Zawacki25 September 2016 (Wit’s End) – My last post here at Wit’s End received some thoughtful queries which deserved an answer in kind, a response I have assiduously procrastinated making – an avoidance which was made easier by a ten day trip with minimal access to the internet. Most of the photos in […]
GENEVA , 27 September 2016 (WHO) – A new WHO air quality model confirms that 92% of the world’s population lives in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits*. Information is presented via interactive maps, highlighting areas within countries that exceed WHO limits. “The new WHO model shows countries where the air pollution danger […]
By Ivan Nagelkerken, Sean Connell, and Tullio Rossi19 September 2016 (Australian Geographic) – Despite appearances, the oceans are far from silent places. If you dunk your head underwater you’ll hear a cacophony of sounds from wildlife great and small, crashing waves, and even rain. And it’s louder still for creatures attuned to these sounds. However, […]
8 August 2016 (NASA) – Coastal waters and near-shore groundwater supplies along more than a fifth of coastlines in the contiguous United States are vulnerable to contamination from previously hidden underground transfers of water between the oceans and land, finds a new study by researchers at The Ohio State University, Columbus, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion […]
By Craig Welch19 August 2016 (National Geographic) – When sea lions suffered seizures and birds and porpoises started dying on the California coast last year, scientists weren’t entirely surprised. Toxic algae is known to harm marine mammals. But when researchers found enormous amounts of toxin in a pelican that had been slurping anchovies, they decided […]
By Jason Hickel15 July 2016 (Guardian) – Earlier this year, media outlets around the world announced that February had broken global temperature records by a shocking amount. March broke all the records too. In June, our screens were covered with surreal images of flooding in Paris, the Seine bursting its banks and flowing into the […]
