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Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Aug 25th, 2010,
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza is currently protesting deep sea oil drilling in the Arctic by UK firm Cairn Energy, the first company granted permission to drill in Greenland’s icy and environmentally sensitive waters. Cairn Energy is also one of the targets of the recent Climate Camp protests in Edinburgh, where the company is based. Greenpeace campaigner Leila Deen is quoted in an article in the Independent: To see a huge drilling rig in this beautiful and fragile environment is deeply shocking. The tragic oil disasters in the Gulf and in China this year clearly illustrate the need to go beyond…
Tags: arctic, Cairn, Danish, deep sea, denmark, drilling, energy, Esperanza, Greenpeace, Navy, oil, ship, vessel
Green living, ,
I’d choose paper bags for my groceries, but since plastic bags are offered for free in shops and said to be not that bad for the environment, it’s hard to resist them. What is more eco-friendly: plastic or paper shopping bags? A: Neither. We have been conditioned to believe that paper bags are eco-friendly. Paper is made from trees, which are logged by clear-cutting methods. When the collected trees are dry, they are cooked into a pulp for many hours in a chemical mixture. The pulp is then washed and bleached; both stages require thousands of gallons of clean water….
Tags: biodegradable, bioplastics, chemicals, clear-cutting, eco-friendly, fertilizers, fossil fuel, GMO, paper bags, pesticides, petroleum, plastic bags, Pollution, re-usable, Recycling, shopping bags, TOXIC, transport
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, ,
The British animal welfare charity, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), has published a highly critical report on the treatment of elephants in UK animal parks. The RSPCA report – written by scientists at Bristol University in England – found that elephants at British zoos suffer from a host of health and psychological problems including obesity, obsessive behavior and an infant mortality higher than in the wild. From an article in the Telegraph: Putting them in a zoo makes them obese because they do not eat the right food – they are used to coarse,…
Tags: ban, British, elephants, import, report, RSPCA, UK, welfare, zoos
Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 24th, 2010,
A recent study attempting to measure the amount of plastic debris in the Atlantic has shed more light on the scale of this type marine pollution and its effects on ocean ecosystems. The findings, which analyze data collected from 22 years of oceanic surveys, list several impacts of plastic on marine life, including animals becoming entangled in plastic debris, animals eating plastic and debris facilitating the redistribution of certain species outside their normal habitat. From an article in Wired: The data were gathered by thousands of undergraduates aboard the Sea Education Association (SEA) sailing semester, who hand-picked, counted and measured…
Tags: Atlantic, debris, garbage, marine, ocean, Patch, plastic, sea, study
Pollution, Science & Technology, ,
Space is not the sterile expanse of nothingness we might picture it to be. In fact, the space around Earth, much like the Earth itself, is littered with our junk. NASA estimates that there are some 18,000 pieces of space trash, each 10cm wide or larger, orbiting the Earth. Honestly, to me that doesn’t sound like that much, but there are a lot more smaller bits of space debris and the amount is ever-increasing. Ad that to the face that its all orbiting at a speed of 18,000 mph (coincidence??) or 21,000 km per hr, which poses a significant danger…
Tags: agency, debris, Earth, ESA, European, junk, Military, orbit, orbiting, satellites, space
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, ,
After the mass stranding in New Zealand, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 60 whales on a beach on the country’s North Island, the annual mass slaughter of pilot whales is taking place in the autonomous province of the Faroe Islands, part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It seems that pilot whales – which like killer whales are actually part of the dolphin family, despite their closer resemblance to whales – just cannot get a break. Thankfully, they have the former blonde bombshell and French film star Brigitte Bardot to plead their case. The Independent reports: Brigitte Bardot, the…
Tags: Bardot, Brigitte, Danish, denmark, dolphin, Faroe Islands, killing, pilot, slaughter, whales
Climate Change, Politics, Aug 23rd, 2010,
Climate change activists stepped up their game and held a rash of demonstrations in Edinburgh, Scotland today. Members of the activist group Climate Camp have been set up outside the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) global headquarters in Edinburgh since last week in order to protest the bank’s financing of the fossil fuel industry. But today has seen a sudden increase in protest activity, with separate actions also taking place at Forth Energy in Leith, Edinburgh and at Cairn Energy in the city’s financial district as well as at other RBS locations. From a report in The Herald Scotland: A…
Tags: activists, bank, Cairn, camp, change, climate, Edinburgh, energy, Forth, molasses, protest, RBS, Scotland, superglue
Climate Change, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, ,
The South Asian country of Bangladesh is one of the places in the world considered most vulnerable to climate change. It is also one of the poorest nations on Earth. In Bangladesh, reducing CO2 emissions and implementing cap and trade schemes are not the issue. Already used to catastrophic flooding compounded by intense poverty, Bangladeshis are in the business of climate change adaptation. This is climate change ground zero. As Himalayan glaciers melt and heavy rains perennially flood Bangladesh – a hot country of flood planes located on the Ganges River Delta – its people have no choice but to…
Tags: adaptation, Bangladesh, Climate change, floating, flood, flooding, schools
Climate Change, Nature, ,
Moscow and other parts of Russia recently experienced welcome relief in the form of cool rains after a summer dominated by deadly record temperatures and wildfires. Turkey and Greece, however, are in the midst of their own heat wave, which is resulting in forest fires causing evacuations in both countries. Strong winds are now buffeting Turkey and Greece after a two week heatwave during which temperatures topped 39 Celsius. –Euronews For more on the story, including a short video report go to the following article from Euronews: Forest fires hit Turkey and Greece after heatwave Meanwhile, on the other side…
Tags: Bolivia, fires, forest, Greece, heat, turkey, wave, wildfires, winds
Conservation, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 22nd, 2010,
According to a report in the Independent, at least 11 of the 58 whales that beached themselves on Karikari Beach in Northern New Zealand on Thursday night have been successfully refloated. The reports differ about the number of saved pilot whales – the Associated Press reports that only 9 survived and 4 were euthanized: The survivors had headed out to sea Saturday afternoon and were monitored to ensure they did not return to the beach, Conservation Department spokeswoman Carolyn Smith said. But within an hour four of them became stranded again, Smith said. Furthermore, the estimated total number of deaths…
Tags: beach, beaching, Karikari, New Zealand, pilot, refloated, rescue, video, whales
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, ,
Though around half of the oil spilt into the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April remains unaccounted for, scientists have mapped out a 22-mile (35 km) underwater plume of petrochemicals. The fact that so much oil has remained underwater instead of floating to the surface is surprising to scientists and also problematic because it makes the oil more difficult to locate. This means that they don’t know what damage may still be occurring in the Gulf and where. Other unknowns include why the oil didn’t disperse as expected and the unpredictable – and undependable – nature…
Tags: BP, debate, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf, Mexico, oil, plume, spill, unknown
Wildlife & Flora, ,
These peregrine falcons were spared from Dubai’s rare breeds smuggling ring, but can it happen again? Unfortunately, for every “good guy” who works tirelessly to support wildlife conservation, who crawls through brambles and thickets to discover a missing frog for example, there is at least one “bad guy” who undermines those efforts. The battle between the light and the dark forces of conservation continues apace, as one Irish Zimbabwean tried to smuggle 14 peregrine falcon eggs out of the United Kingdom into Dubai.
Tags: CITES, Peregrine Falcons, smuggling, United Kingdom
Climate Change, Politics, ,
In a bit of ‘News of the Weird’ meets environmental activism, a protester glued herself to a desk in the Royal Band of Scotland’s headquarters on Friday. Hundreds of activists have been holding a Climate Camp outside of RBS headquarters, near Edinburgh Scotland in protest of the bank’s loans to fossil fuel companies, thereby facilitating climate change or ‘climate chaos’. From a Press Association report: The activist managed to enter RBS by dressing like a businessperson – as opposed to an eco warrior – and thereafter glued her hands to a desk with super-glue. She was arrested after paramedics helped…
Tags: activist, bank, camp, change, chaos, climate, glue, headquarters, protest, protester, RBS, Royal, Scotland
Conservation, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 21st, 2010,
To Canadian disappointment, a ban on the importation of seal products into the European Union was enacted yesterday. However, the European Commission stated that the ban does not apply to groups that have already filed court appeals, including 16 Inuit groups from Canada. According to a report by the Associated Press, indigenous peoples of Greenland and Canada have argued that the European Union seal import ban disproportionately affects their traditional way of life, yet the same reports cite EU data stating that only one percent of Canadian seal imports into the EU were from Inuit sources. Canadian hunters killed an…
Tags: ban, Canada, Canadian, EU, European, exceptions, harp, hunt, ice, import, indigenous, Inuit, products, seal, seals, Union
Climate Change, Nature, ,
The headline in The Ecologist, ‘Human response to climate change is making matters worse’, is a bit of a f*&#(^@ downer. Upon reading the actual article, it doesn’t get that much better. A recent study has researched the impacts of human response to climate change on biodiversity. The study, recently published in the journal Conservation Letters, attempts to assess the impact of responses such as the biofuel industry, which has contributed to the destruction of rainforests and peat bogs in South East Asia. Hydropower projects like China’s massive Three Gorges Dam have also left their marks on biological habitats. From the…
Tags: action, biodiversity, biofuel, China, Climate change, ecologist, ecosystem, human, humanity, impact, Indonesia, react, resource, response, study, Three Gorges Dam
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, ,
Here are two video reports on the dramatic effects of recent extreme weather events in China and Pakistan. From ITN News: ‘Train ripped apart on collapsed bridge in china’ Jaw dropping footage from when a passenger train split in half on a bridge which collapsed in the China floods. From Al Jazeera English: ‘Fortitude amid Pakistan disaster’ The floods that have ravaged Pakistan have forced millions of people to flee their homes and villages, but a small number stubbornly refused to leave their homes despite the risk posed by rising flood waters.
Tags: China, dramatic, extreme, floods, Pakistan, video, weather
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 20th, 2010,
Rescue volunteers in New Zealand are attempting to save 15 pilot whales that washed up on the remote Karikari Beach on the northern tip of the country’s North Island. A total of 73 whales were stranded and so far 58 of them have died. A member of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation stated that the pilot whales probably beached themselves at night, which delayed their discovery and the rescue effort. From an Associated Press report: New Zealand frequently sees several mass whale strandings around its coastline, mainly each summer as whales pass by on their migration to and from Antarctic…
Tags: beach, beached, Conservation, Department, New Zealand, pilot, stranded, stranding, volunteers, whales
Climate Change, Nature, Politics, ,
The mismanagement of irrigation, compounded by drought and a drop in commodity prices, has spelled disaster for Australia’s most important agricultural region. The waters of the Darling River and the massive Murray irrigate a region that produces almost half of Australia’s fresh produce. But the worst drought in over 100 years has plunged the Murray-Darling Basin into crisis causing economic hardship and many farmers to pack up and leave. Australian climate scientists see the country as ‘extremely vulnerable’ to climate change and the Murray-Darling Basin as a ground zero for global warming. Climate change advisors to Australia’s government have warned…
Tags: agricultural, australia, Australian, Basin, climate, Climate change, Darling, drought, Independent, Kathy Marks, Murray, Murray-Darling, region, river
Conservation, ,
Plans to reopen an abandoned goldmine and build a processing plant in Scotland’s Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park have been rejected. Opposition from conservationists, countryside groups and the park’s own director of planning has won out against Scotgold Resources argument for jobs and economic gain. The convener of Scotland’s National Park authority acknowledged that there are compelling arguments on both sides of the issue, but concluded that issues of conservation outweighed the potential economic benefits of the mine. From a BBC News report: Our main concern lay with the design, scale and visual impact of the waste management…
Tags: Cononish, gold, goldmine, Loch, Lomond, mine, national, park, plans, Scotland, Scottish
Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 19th, 2010,
Summer is coming to an end and that can only mean one thing: it’s time to go back to school. Whether it’s your first year in grade school or your last year of college, you’ll have a lot of work to look forward to. Homework, projects, reports, tests, midterms, pop quizzes, final exams—it’s enough to drive you out of your mind! Not everyone can be at the head of the class, however, so let’s see how you compare with the top 10 smartest animals in the world: 10. Pig Snuffling their way into the tenth spot on our list, pigs…
Tags: animals smarter than humans, ants, cephalopods, chimpanzees, crows, dogs, dolphins, elephants, great apes, intelligence, octopus, parrots, pigs, ravens, smartest animals in the world, squid, top 10 list, whales
