Home/News
News
Conservation, Nature, Sustainable living, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 16th, 2012,
Species: Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) Status:Critically Endangered (CR) Interesting fact: The gharial is one of the largest crocodilians and has the narrowest snout! Named after the bulbous nasal appendage of the male (which resembles an Indian pot called a ‘ghara’), the gharial is a unique species of crocodilian found in India and Nepal. A true piscivore, the extremely narrow snout of the gharial is superbly adapted to whip through the water quickly to snatch fish with its small, razor-sharp teeth. The gharial has relatively weak legs, and when fully grown is unable to raise its body off the ground. This may…
Tags: ARKive.org, conservation nature, endangered species, Gavialis gangeticus, Gharial
Climate & Change, Natural disasters, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 13th, 2012,
It must be hail season, though I’ve never before heard that a hail season exists. On Tuesday I was caught in a sudden, though fairly light, hailstorm in central Scotland. Yesterday I read a post here on Greenfudge that mentioned a recent hailstorm in Texas that caused disruptions at Dallas Fort Worth Airport. And it’s not just the Scotland and Texas that have experienced hail this week. A poor doggy was left tied out during a hailstorm in Cheltenham, England. Furthermore, California crops suffered major damage due to a hailstorm in that state. From freshplaza.com: 150 acres of his 4,000…
Tags: China, hail, hailstorm, Scotland, Texas
Natural disasters, Apr 12th, 2012,
In the space of just two days, Mexico has been hit by two separate earthquakes of 6.5 and 6.9 magnitudes, respectively, while Indonesia suffered two quakes of 8.6 and 8.2 magnitudes off its coast, resulting in 5 deaths and 7 injuries. The quakes in Mexico came just over 3 weeks after a quake of 7.4 magnitude that caused extensive damage in the southwest of the country. No major damage has been reported concerning the latest earthquakes in Mexico, but they did raise concerns about possible resulting tsunamis, due to the location and nature of the quakes. From Reuters UK: The…
Tags: earthquake, fracking, Indonesia, magnitude, Mexico, tsunami
Climate & Change, Natural disasters, Nature, Science & Technology, ,
By Andrew Freedman Severe thunderstorm season is upon us, with the array of threats it brings, from tornadoes to flash flooding. On Tuesday, tornadoes grabbed most of the headlines, as several strong tornadoes struck the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area, tossing tracker trailer trucks into the air, and damaging dozens of homes. But the large hail the same supercell thunderstorms dropped caused major impacts as well, largely because they fell on top of one of the world’s busiest airports. A passenger aboard a flight preparing to depart DFW International Airport when the storm hit described the sounds of the hail hitting…
Tags: big hail, changes due to climate change, climate change, climatecentral.org, global warming, hail, hailstone climate change, supercell thunderstorms, tornadoes
Science & Technology, sustainable living, Apr 11th, 2012,
Soon Wales will receive wind energy generated off the coast of Ireland via high voltage cables spanning the bottom of the Irish Sea. There is already a link between the UK and the Netherlands via the BritNed cable and by 2019 a 900km interconnector between Norway and the UK should be completed, supplying energy from a clever pump storage system powered by wind turbines. Another connector between the UK and France is already in existence, with two more proposed, although one involves nuclear power. The most interesting and by far longest cable proposed would link the UK power grid with…
Tags: cable, geothermal, green energy, Iceland, Norway, power, UK
Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 10th, 2012,
About a month after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, radioactive particles were detected in giant kelp samples off the California coast. The level 7 nuclear incident resulted from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region around Fukushima, Japan in March of 2011. In a recent study California State University marine biologists tested giant kelp up and down the coastline of the state, from Laguna Beach to Santa Cruz, and found radioactive iodine, suggesting that radiation that leaked from the damaged Fukushima reactors had reached California. Levels 250 times higher than previous measurements were found in…
Tags: California, Fukushima, iodine, japan, kelp, radiation, radioactive
Climate & Change, Apr 9th, 2012,
Will the youth of China and Brazil lead the way in the new environmental ‘Great Leap Forward’ while British and American young people languish in egomaniacal tweets and preposterous dreams of stardom, not giving two cares about the future of the planet? A recent survey by the Carbon Trust attempts to measure concern about CO2 and climate change in young populations around the world – and the results may surprise you. The scope of the survey focuses on the awareness and consumer values of young adults in 6 different countries on 5 continents – The US, UK, China, South Korea,…
Tags: Brazil, Carbon Trust, China, climate change, Korea, survey, UK, USA, young, youth
Climate & Change, Nature, Sustainable living, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 7th, 2012,
Species: Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) Status: Critically Endangered (CR) Interesting Fact: The Philippine eagle is the world’s largest species of eagle. With a wingspan of up to two metres and sharp talons, the Philippine eagle is a formidable predator. Swooping from branch to branch in the canopy of its forest habitat, it uses its excellent eyesight to spot its prey of flying lemurs, palm civets and monkeys. This habit of hunting monkeys has earned the Philippine eagle the alternative common name of ‘monkey-eating eagle’. Philippine eagles are also known to hunt in pairs with one individual acting as a decoy…
Tags: ARKive.org, endangered birds, endangered species of the week, Philippine eagle, Pithecophaga jefferyi, wildlife
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 6th, 2012,
In some coastal areas climate change means a rise in sea levels, leading to an increase in water salinity, which in turn means a high salt content in soil. Increasing salinity in fresh water and soil poses problems for agriculture and fish farming. This is a particularly tricky aspect of climate change adaptation, but coastal communities as well as scientists are finding ways to cope. Hardy varieties of rice, wheat and vegetables are one way, as is shifting from freshwater fish farming to raising saltwater species such as crabs. In Sri Lanka, rice farmers, together with the United Nations Development…
Tags: australia, Bangladesh, farming, fish, India, rice, salinity, salty soil, water, wheat
green living, Sustainable living, sustainable living, ,
Pets provide so much in our daily lives, from companionship and unconditional love, to entertainment while you’re playing with them and their favourite toys. However cats and dogs can carry a pretty large carbon footprint, comparable to owning an SUV (for dogs) or a small town car (for cats). The toys you buy for your pets can add to that carbon footprint as a lot of these playthings are mass produced and aren’t bio-degradable. For sensitive pets these toys can also be the cause of many of the symptoms your pet suffers from. Pet owners are rapidly switching from mass-produced…
Tags: carbon footprint, eco-friendly pets, ethicalcommunity, green living
Health, Pollution, Apr 5th, 2012,
As people start to get hip as to what a scam bottled water is, the bottled water industry is getting worried. Bottled water wastes energy, pollutes and rips you off. What’s more, it is often less healthy than tap water. Microbiologist Dr Sonish Azam of Ccrest Laboratories is quoted in an article in the Telegraph from May of 2010: Heterotrophic bacteria counts in some of the bottles were found to be in revolting figures of one hundred times more than the permitted limit. Bottled water is not expected to be free from microorganisms but the [level] observed in this…
Tags: bottled water
Climate & Change, climate change, Conservation, Nature, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, ,
One of the most striking changes that has taken place in the Arctic since the start of satellite monitoring in 1979 is the rapid decline of the perennial sea ice cover. This ice is the sea ice that survives the summer melt season, and is typically the thickest part of the sea ice cover, sometimes spanning several years. Sea ice extent has declined as the globe has warmed, but the ice cover has thinned as well. Thinner sea ice melts more easily, and as multiyear sea ice is lost, Arctic sea ice has declined more rapidly. This NASA visualization shows…
Tags: arctic ice, climate change, climatecentral.org, melting arctic ice, melting ice caps, NASA
Conservation, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 4th, 2012,
The MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra), translated as the Landless Workers Movement, is one of the world’s largest social movements. It operates on the principles of social justice, equality, democracy and the right to live on and work the land, a right MST believes is guaranteed by the constitution of Brazil. Brazil’s economy is booming. In 2014 the Latin American giant will host the World Cup and in 2016 the Summer Olympic Games will take place in the iconic city of Rio de Janeiro. Yet despite strong economic growth, Brazil is still home to a shocking inequality, where the…
Tags: Brazil, illegal loggers, Landless Workers Movement, MST
Green Cars, green living, Politics, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, sustainable living, ,
Can higher gas prices actually effect consumer behavior? In many European countries, gas prices are double what we are paying in the U.S. These countries are the closest models we have to compare to see if gas prices were high, if we would lower gasoline consumption and alter our automotive selection for smaller more gas efficient vehicles. Due to high taxes, Europeans have been paying much more for gas for a very long time. Europeans do live differently when it comes to purchasing and owning cars. They are more likely to take public transportation and live in urban areas compared…
Tags: EarthGarage, european cities, european eco-driving, green cars
Pollution, Weird & Wonderful, Apr 3rd, 2012,
Photographer and urban historian Steve Duncan explores and documents hidden aspects of urbanization and industrialization, from disused missile silos in the United States to the archaeology of Ancient Rome. In a series for National Geographic, Duncan investigates urban underground rivers. These rivers are not natural phenomena, like some subterranean waterways that run through cave systems, but rather the result of human engineering. For purposes of urban development, for hundreds of years mankind has changed the courses of rivers and streams, covering them up and forcing them underground. Most of the rivers examined in the series are in New York and…
Tags: london, National Geographic, New York, river, subterranean, underground, waterway
Sustainable living, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Apr 2nd, 2012,
You might if you saw this one. It doesn’t smell of rotting fish or have a layer of decomposed banana peels lining the floor. Quite the contrary – it’s got hardwood floors, a granite and stainless steel kitchen, a hideaway toilet, shower and a pop-up roof with windows. It’s even got an outdoor barbeque for those sunny days when you just don’t feel like cooking inside your dumpster home. Berkley, California artist Gregory Kloehn, who is apparently descended from Abraham Lincoln, took the challenge to build a livable home out of a dumpster. And he’s done pretty well. Normally Kloehn…
Tags: dumpster, home, Kloehn
green living, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, sustainable living, Weird & Wonderful, Mar 30th, 2012,
Baking Soda Make a paste of baking soda and water, then put some directly on the pimple. Leave it on for a few hours, preferably overnight and ideally avoid walking abouts in public. The paste will dry over night, reduce inflammation, and naturally remove pus from the pimple. Ice Just like how you might use ice on a sprained or twisted ankle, bruises, and other injuiries, you can also use ice on pimples. Applying ice for about 15 minutes should help reduce inflammation. Tooth Paste Baking soda and tooth paste work the same way, and are applied on pimples the…
Tags: eco-friendly living, eco-friendly pimples remedies, EthicalCommunity.com, pimples
Conservation, Nature, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, Wildlife & Flora, ,
Tigernation.org, an innovative new website which gives everyone a chance to follow the dramas of wild tigers in their Indian forest homes and at the same time help protect India’s wild tigers, launched this week. The site gives a graphic, never before illustrated insight into India’s threatened tiger population. Take a look at the infographic and video below to understand fully what Tiger Nation is trying to achieve and how important their cause is. This is an exciting website with everyone encouraged to have fun, learn and get involved in protecting the tigers. Subscribers to the site can follow the lives…
Tags: endangered species, endangered tigers india, infographic tigers, Tigernation.org, tigers
Animal Rights, Videos & Documentaries, ,
Back in 2010 I posted about how bad economic times in Ireland were resulting in a large amount of neglected and abandoned horses in the country. Now Spain, in the throws of economic crisis, is experiencing a similar problem. In Spain, as in Ireland, when cash was plentiful many horse-mad citizens splashed out on having their very own equine companion (or trophy as the case may be). But now that times are tough it’s old Sugar Foot who gets the boot. Curiously, sometimes it’s not old mares that are being, quite literally, put out to pasture, but expensive pure-red Andalucians….
Tags: abandoned, crisis, economic, horses, Ireland, Spain
Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 29th, 2012,
The jury is in: common agricultural pesticides disrupt the navigation systems of honeybees and reduce the weight and number of queens in bumblebee hives. Two separate studies showed strong links between pesticides and the epidemic disappearance of honeybees in the US and UK, known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Experiments showed that honeybees died or failed to return to their hives in much greater numbers than expected. Bumblebees exposed to typical levels of pesticides saw their hives populations shrink by 10% versus hives not exposed. What’s worse is they almost lost their ability to produce new queens. Only queens live…
Tags: bumblebees, CCD, Colony Collapse Disorder, honeybees, pesticides, UK, US
Page 3 of 125«12345...102030...»Last »
