Scientists in Alaska have discovered that lingering oil from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill is still being ingested by some wildlife more than 20 years after the disaster. The research, published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, uses biomarkers to reveal long-term exposure to oil in harlequin ducks and demonstrates how consequences of oil spills are […]
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent, Editing by Will DunhamWASHINGTONTue Apr 13, 2010 2:11pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 10 million pieces of trash were plucked from the world’s waterways in a single day last year. But for Philippe Cousteau, the beach sandals that washed up in the Norwegian arctic symbolized the global nature of […]
By Steve Carmody (2010-04-12) ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) – New University of Michigan research finds invasive species are accelerating PCBs up the food chain. Recent dredging of the Saginaw River was intended to remove PCB contaminated soil. U of M fishery biologist David Jude says tests indicate the dredging worked. But he says walleyes […]
A coal carrier which ran aground and leaked about three tons of oil on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef completely pulverised parts of a shoal and caused damage so severe it could take marine life 20 years to recover, the reef’s chief scientist said today. Initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority […]
Caption by M. Justin Wilkinson, NASA-JSC The Escondida copper-gold-silver mine produces more copper than any other mine in the world (1.483 million tons in 2007), amounting to 9.5% of world output and making it a major part of the Chilean economy. The mine is located 170 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of Chile’s port city of […]
By Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California on 04.12.10 In Mundaka, an area west of Delhi, India, the largest plastics scrap market in Asia was set on fire. The entire area, about 4 kilometers, burned and goods worth Rs 50 crore were lost to the flames. The fire appears to have been set deliberately, potentially a […]
By KYM AGIUSApril 13, 2010 – 9:35AM Maritime authorities have pulled off an incredibly complex salvage operation without spilling any more oil into Great Barrier Reef waters. Nine days after the coal carrier Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Douglas Shoal off Rockhampton it’s been refloated, and is now anchored in safe waters. Maritime Safety […]
Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya: One of thousands of dead flamingos on the dry lake bed. The number of flamingoes living on the lake has declined dramatically, a number of factors have been blamed including the receding waters of the lake, and pollution. Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP World Water day gallery Technorati Tags: drought,freshwater depletion,agriculture,Kenya,Africa,global […]
Caption by Rebecca Lindsey Below the densely forested slopes of southern West Virginia’s Appalachian Mountains is a layer cake of thin coal seams. To uncover this coal profitably, mining companies engineer large—sometimes very large—surface mines. This pair of images shows the growth of one of the largest surface mines in West Virginia during the past […]
Human-size jumbo squid are growing thick along the U.S. west coast. Is climate change aiding their expansion? By Katherine Harmon April 8, 2010 Although many of the Pacific Ocean’s big species are floundering, one large creature of the deep seems to be flourishing. The Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas, also known as jumbo squid, owing to […]
