Home/Posts Tagged ‘BBC’
Posts Tagged ‘BBC’
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Nov 24th, 2011,
Nature can strike relentlessly, and so does water. The “Brinicle” ice-finger of death is one of nature’s most bizarre and dangerous phenomenons, capable of freezing everything on it’s path in only a few seconds. Yes you heard it right: in only a few seconds! And now there is video footage of this ice-finger of death, filmed for the first time by the brave journalists of the spectacular BBC series “Frozen Planet”, who where able to capture this underwater tornado near the island of Little Razorback in Antarctica. But so, how does the Brinicle ice-finger develop? The icy underwater tornado comes…
Tags: antarctiva, BBC, Brinicle ice-finger of death, Frozen Planet, oceans, tornado under water
Conservation, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 19th, 2010,
A study by the University of Worcester in England and Britain’s National Trust has found the bees that live in towns and cities eat a more varied diet than those living in rural locations. Country bees rely mostly on monocrop farms, while urban and suburban bees have a wider range of flowers to feed on. From a BBC News report: Hives from Kensington Palace in London showed evidence of eucalyptus and elderberry, while suburban sites such as those around the University of Worcester – where the researchers who carried out the study work – showed a rich mix including lily,…
Tags: BBC, bee, Bee Part of It, Britain, country, flower, National Trust, oilseed rape, rural, suburban, University, urban, Worcester
Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 15th, 2010,
A plan to kill off some 1,500 badgers in the north Pembrokeshire area of Wales via trapping and shooting has been reversed by a Welsh appeals court. Many farmers and government ministers in Wales, concerned that bovine tuberculosis (TB) is being spread to cattle via badgers, supported the cull. On Tuesday animal welfare advocates, including the RSPCA and UK charity the Badger Trust, successfully appealed an earlier decision to allow the cull. From to a BBC News report: The appeal court made its decision on Tuesday after the Badger Trust appealed against the cull, questioning its effectiveness. Queen guitarist Brian…
Tags: badger, badgers, BBC, cull, trust, UK, Wales, Welsh
Climate Change, Politics, Jun 16th, 2010,
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama addressed the American people on national television, live from the Oval Office, in an attempt to inform and assure the nation about efforts to deal with the United States’ largest environmental disaster ever. He also urged support for a move away from fossil fuels and towards a reliance on renewable energy. On the former – regarding both BP’s responsibility for and government efforts to assist in the stopping and cleaning up of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as aid those whose lives have been damaged – President Obama was…
Tags: Barack, BBC, BP, Climate change, Guardian, Gulf, Mexico, Obama, Oval Office, President, speech, spill
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, May 7th, 2010,
Scientists in Germany have observed and filmed bonobos – a close relative of the common chimpanzee – shaking their heads from side to side in what is believed to be body language for ‘saying no’. Bonobos have already been observed using head shaking to express other emotions, but same signal meaning ‘no’ for both bonobos and humans could be evidence of an ancient forerunner to our own genetically-compelled methods of communication. During the study, they witnessed four individual bonobos shaking their heads in this way on 13 different occasions. –BBC News Bonobos are great apes and humanity’s closest living species,…
Tags: BBC, bonobo, bonobos, chimpanzee, head, head shaking, human, no, shaking
Natural disasters, Apr 18th, 2010,
The cloud of ash over the UK and much of Europe is continuing to disrupt air traffic as eruptions from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano continue. When flights will resume regular service is still unknown. UK air traffic controllers have suggested that British airspace may reopen at 7am tomorrow, yet major carriers have cancelled all flights for Monday. From the Guardian: Over 20 countries have airspace restrictions, many banning all non-emergency flights, but commercial operators, including British Airways, KLM and Air France, have carried out or plan test flights without passengers. European carriers and airports have called for a review on the…
Tags: air, ash, BBC, carriers, cloud, eruption, Europe, flights, Iceland, traffic, UK, volcano
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, Apr 15th, 2010,
The volcanic eruption on Iceland has resulted in the ‘most significant in living memory’, according to a BBC News report. The flight cancellations in the UK and other European countries are even more extensive than what occurred following the attacks on September 11th, 2001. As the ash moves southward from Iceland towards the British Isles and Scandinavia, the restriction on air traffic is suspected to continue after 18:00 BST. Air traffic control service Nats was quoted by the BBC saying it is ‘very unlikely that the situation over England will improve in the foreseeable future’. The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull has…
Tags: air, ash, BBC, eruption, eruptions, Eyjafjallajokull, flight, Iceland, traffic, volcano
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 3rd, 2010,
A census on marine life in the Antarctic called The British Antarctic Survey seeks to shed some light on how the wide variety of animals that live on the Antarctic sea floor might react to climate change. According to the survey, which began in 2005, ‘the Polar Regions are amongst the fastest warming places on Earth’. Changes in winter sea ice levels, ocean acidification and rising temperatures are already reducing the population of krill, an important food source for Arctic penguins, seals and whales. Changes also favor an increase in the amount of jellyfish in the area. From a BAS…
Tags: Antarctic, BBC, British, change, climate, ecosystem, glacier, global, iceberg, life, marine, Mertz, ocean, polar, research, scientist, sea, survey, warming
Climate Change, Green living, Pollution, Recycling, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 25th, 2010,
Not to be outdone by its fellow large expanse of sea and longtime nemesis, the larger Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean can now claim a colossal plastic garbage patch of its own. According to reports from the BBC and AP, the Atlantic ‘Rubbish Patch’ – located within the latitudes of 22 and 38 degrees N in the North Atlantic Ocean – is comparable to the better-known Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The researchers carried out 6,100 tows in areas of the Caribbean and the North Atlantic – off the coast of the US. More than half of these expeditions revealed floating…
Tags: AP, Atlantic, BBC, garbage, great, north, ocean, Pacific, Patch, plastic, poison, pollutants, rubbish, sea, trash
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 22nd, 2010,
![]( "<!--:en-->Preserving Japan")
' src='http://gf1.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/7577.jpg' alt='preserving-japans-giant-salamanders' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> In Japan, the giant salamander – or hanzaki – is a national monument. Children sing its praises and a festival is held in its honor. Unlike most salamanders, which are generally only a couple of inches or a few centimeters in length, the hanzaki can grow to be an enormous 1.5 meters (5 feet) long and weigh as much as 34 kg (80 lbs). This ancient species of giant salamander has barely changed for 20 million years and has a definite prehistoric look to it. But human activity threatens its continued survival. The building of dams and dykes has significantly…
Tags: BBC, Chinese, giant, habitat, hanzaki, human, japan, salamander
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Feb 18th, 2010,
![]( "<!--:en-->Full disclosure: Multinational corporations")
' src='http://gf2.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/7465.jpg' alt='full-disclosure-multinational-corporations-feed-us-rainforests' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> A new report by the Forest Footprint Disclosure initiative discloses how global business is destroying the one of the world’s most valuable resources: its rainforests. A UK government backed project, Forest Footprint Disclosure’s aim is to inform investors and the public about how organizations contribute to deforestation. The results are not good: the beef, soy, palm oil, biofuels and lumber industries all significantly cause rainforest destruction – and they are all big moneymakers. In the current economic model, cold hard cash is worth a lot more than natural capital. Despite pockets of growing awareness, this model of heedless, irresponsible consumption…
Tags: BBC, Brazil, Brazilian, Business, companies, food, Forest Footprint Disclosure, investor, multinational, rainforest
Climate Change, Uncategorized, Jan 16th, 2010,
The cold snap or ‘big freeze’ disproves global warming. The heat wave the UK experienced last June proved it was real. Sometimes what’s obvious or ‘crystal clear’ is anything but. Climate change and global warming are – precisely as their names would suggest – global phenomena concerning climate, and not local weather events, as many apparently believe. And so the UK’s Meteorological Office – commonly referred to as the Met Office – would like climate scientists to better inform the public because, as this BBC News opinion piece by Dr Richard Betts, head of climate impacts at the Met Office…
Tags: BBC, climate, Climate change, cold snap, global warming, Guardian, heat wave, media, Met Office, Richard Betts, scientists, UK
Green living, Health, Jan 15th, 2010,
According to a piece in the London Times ‘two thirds of dairy farmers in England and Wales have gone out of business in the past decade,’ with another failing every day. The culprit? For one, it’s cheap milk. Prices are so low on standard, non-organic milk that dairy farmers in the UK have trouble turning a profit. Surplus milk products, on the other hand – butter, cream, cheese and yoghurt – are much better earners. The problem is that so many of these products sold in Britain are produced in other countries – from Ireland to as far away as…
Tags: BBC, Bloom, Britain, British, cattle, cheap, climate, cows, dairy, Health, industry, milk, organic, Times, UK
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 12th, 2010,
The strains of human civilization take their toll on the natural environment in many ways – not least among them the biodiversity of our planet. The loss of species is in fact unsustainable – to both the species and ecosystems that vanish and to humanity who benefits from those species and ecosystems in so many ways. According to a BBC News report the UN lists among these benefits ‘purification of air and water, protection from extreme weather events, and the provision of materials for shelter and fire.’ The UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) began at the Rio Earth Summit…
Tags: BBC, biodiversity, ecosystem, International Year of Biodiversity, Nature, natures, species, UN
Climate Change, Nature, Dec 31st, 2009,
Two stories from the BBC highlight how very different societies are adapting to climate change – specifically to the threat of flooding and rising water levels. One article explains how a new study conducted by researchers in the United States suggests that reconnecting flood-plains to rivers would decrease chances of future flooding and lessen the potential for flood damage in urban areas. In addition to minimizing flood risks, reconnecting rivers to flood-plains would result in better land use for flood-plains, increased resilience to the effects of climate change and ‘an increase in flood-plain goods and services,’ including the potential for…
Tags: adaptation, BBC, Climate change, delta, flood, flood-plains, Mekong, nature conservancy, river, Vietnam
Climate Change, Green living, Dec 9th, 2009,
![]( "<!--:en-->Carbon confusion: What")
' src='http://gf3.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/2411.jpg' alt='carbon-confusion-whats-the-best-way-to-help-the-environment' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> A recent piece in the London Times entitled ‘After lunch we’ll save the planet’ documents a project that set out to calculate the carbon footprints of four families living in the U.K. It came up with some interesting results. The families consider themselves to be living generally Green lifestyles and are conspicuously upper middle class. How they go about being ‘eco-friendly’ differs, but the overall picture is a curious mix of luxury, admirable effort, frustration and sacrifice. They really want to be Green and exemplary, but they also have a lot of money and like the rest of us, are…
Tags: BBC, carbon, carbon footprint, environment, flying, Green, Martin Wright, rainforest
Green living, Science & Technology, Nov 8th, 2009,
The BBC’s Box project followed a functioning metal shipping container on its journey from port to port around the world for over one year. The Box’s trip lasted 421 days and covered 51,654 miles (83,129 km) circling the globe twice, mostly by boat, but also using rail and road. Its contents included such treasures as tins of cat food, bathroom scales and bottles of Scotch whiskey destined for Shanghai. Following the voyages of a big red shipping container emblazoned with the BBC logo was an attempt to illustrate and transmit the global nature of today’s world, particularly in terms of…
Tags: BBC, Box, environment, recycled, shipping container
Wildlife & Flora, Oct 30th, 2009,
Grizzly Man he is not, but the similarities between the professional life of biologist Lynn Rogers and the well-known pursuits of Timothy Treadwell – slain subject of director Werner Herzog’s 2005 documentary – will likely draw a few extra viewers on October 28th, when the BBC’s debuts Bearwalker of the Northwoods. Treadwell was a gung-ho naturalist (and obviously a bit of a fantasist) who spent 13 summers camping amongst wild Alaskan grizzly bears. Though his intimacy and affinity for bears was astonishing, Treadwell eventually became the victim of a large male grizzly, along with his girlfriend Amie Huguenard. Grizzly Man…
Tags: BBC, bear, bearwalker, black bears, grizzly, Rogers, Treadwell
Wildlife & Flora, Oct 22nd, 2009,
When I say ‘caught on tape’ I don’t mean to say that the orcas were doing anything wrong. They were just taking advantage of the mackerel that managed to wriggle out of the massive nets of a Scottish fishing vessel. Poor mackerel: escaping death by fishing boat only to be relinquished into the awaiting jaws of 50 killer whales. Life in the North Sea gives no quarter. The crew filming the BBC program Autumnwatch was lucky enough to catch the orcas on video, which can be seen here, along with more information about killer whales and the encounter. Actually a…
Tags: BBC, killer whale, orca
Wildlife & Flora, Oct 1st, 2009,
The BBC has just opened Wildlife Finder, the world’s largest zoo online. On this site you can see over 370 animals doing their “thing” right out in their own habitat, rather than the cramped, faux settings of a regular zoo. Visitors to this online zoo can search through their favorite animals, habitats and ecosystems, and see what others are checking out as well. “It has always been my hope that, through film-making, I can bring the wonder of the natural world into people’s sitting rooms,” Sir David Attenborough said. “Now the web has totally changed how we can link information,…
Tags: BBC, online zoo, Wildlife & Flora
