Higher CO2 Levels Could
Lead to More Summer Floods |
Rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere will lead to higher river levels and an increase in the risk of summertime flooding because plants will be less able to soak up rainwater from waterlogged soil, the Met Office has found. The research reveals a significant link between rising CO2 levels caused by burning fossil fuels and the ability of plants to absorb water through their roots, a major factor that prevents saturation of the soil during wet summers. full story |
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Global Warming Causing Mediterranean Sea to Rise, Threatening Egypt's Lush Nile Delta |
Millions of Egyptians could be forced permanently from their homes, the country's ability to feed itself devastated. That's what likely awaits this already impoverished and overpopulated nation by the end of the century, if predictions about climate change hold true. The World Bank describes Egypt as particularly vulnerable to the effects of global warming, saying it faces potentially "catastrophic" consequences. full story |
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Marine Bird Populations Declining |
John Bower, a professor of field biology at Western, says he's still working on the final report but that early results point to steep declines in a number of key species. Among them: the common murre, a long-billed black and white seabird, whose population has declined 93% since the 1970s census; and the Western grebe, a long-necked black and white seabird, which has seen its numbers drop 81%.
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Diesel Spill off Vancouver Island
Could Threaten Killer Whale Habitat |
Scientists and environmentalists are concerned that the recent diesel spill off Vancouver Island could threaten the habitat of the killer whales who frequent the area. About 50 killer whales have swum through the slick after a barge overturned Monday and dumped a loaded diesel truck near an ecological reserve off northern Vancouver Island.
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Tennessee Nuclear Fuel Problems Kept Secret |
A 3-year veil of secrecy in the name of national security was used to keep the public in the dark about the handling of highly enriched uranium at a nuclear fuel processing plant, including a leak that could have caused a deadly, uncontrolled nuclear reaction. The leak turned out to be one of 9 violations or test failures since '05 at privately owned Nuclear Fuel Services Inc., a longtime supplier of fuel to the U.S. Navy's nuclear fleet. full story |
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Are There More Hurricanes, And
Are They the Result of Global Warming? |
Hurricanes like the one which has careered across the Caribbean and was last night striking Mexico are only formed when the surface temperature of the ocean exceeds a specific point, which is 26C. As the oceans warm globally with climate change, much larger areas of water will exceed the threshold, and more energy will be available to power a given storm. full story |
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Whales And Dolphins Are
'Endangered by Wind Farms' |
The growth in offshore wind farms, a central part of the Government's fight against global warming, poses a potentially devastating threat to whales and dolphins, a report said yesterday. Noise during construction, such as pile driving, can be heard by marine creatures in shallow water up to 80km away, damage their hearing at close range and causing dramatic changes to behaviour at distances of 20km. full story |
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World's Birds on Death Row: Race against Time
to Save 189 Species from Extinction |
The biggest and most wide-ranging bird conservation programme the world has ever seen will be launched next week with the aim of saving every one of the planet's critically endangered species from extinction. The task is urgent. There are now no fewer than 189 birds in this most precipitous category, 51 more than there were just seven years ago. Scientists say that if no action is taken then all of them could be gone within the next 10 years. full story |
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Bad for Baby: New Risks
Found for Plastic Constituent |
Two animal studies demonstrate that early exposure to a chemical known to leach from baby bottles, the linings of food cans, and other plastic items can trigger illness and even changes in genetic expression. A building block of polycarbonate plastics, bisphenol A ends up in food, people, and the environment. In one of the new studies, the pollutant permanently reprogrammed a gene in pups of mice fed BPA-laced chow. full story |
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Former Forest Service Official
Files Lawsuit over Firing |
A former U.S. Forest Service official has sued the federal govt., saying it discriminated against him and wrongfully fired him after he came forward with allegations of pesticide misuse in forests across the SW. Doug Parker, who worked as the pesticide coordinator and assistant director of forestry health for the agency's SW region, filed his lawsuit in federal court last month. full story |
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Floating Arctic Ice Shrinking at Record Rate |
The area of floating ice in the Arctic has shrunk more than in any summer since satellite tracking began in 1979, and it has reached that record point a month before the annual ice pullback typically peaks, experts said. The cause is probably a mix of natural fluctuations, like unusually sunny conditions in June and July, and long-term warming from heat-trapping greenhouse gases and sooty particles accumulating in the air. full story |
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Extinct: The Dolphin That
Could Not Live alongside Man |
After more than 20 million years on the planet, the Yangtze river dolphin is today officially declared extinct, the first species of cetacean (whale, dolphin or porpoise) to be driven from this planet by human activity. An intensive six-week search by an international team of marine biologists involving two boats that ploughed up and down the world's busiest river last December failed to find a single specimen. full story |
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India's Tigers in Crisis, Less than Half Estimated |
India's tigers are facing their severest crisis with only between 1,300 and 1,500 left in the wild, less than half the population of endangered big cats previously estimated, conservationists said on Friday. The estimates are based on a tiger census by the government-run Wildlife Institute of India, due to be made public later this year. full story |
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Urban Sparrow Under Severe
Threat from New Housing |
According to new research, house sparrows are in a sorry state, with their numbers reduced dramatically by too many houses. Researchers found that numbers of the birds, including the chirpy males, decline rapidly when gardens and green spaces in towns and cities are converted to housing. full story |
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Scientists Use Satellites
to Track Endangered Macaws |
Macaws, which often stay with one mate for life and have low reproduction rates, are in danger of being wiped out in Guatemala as thousands of acres of forest are cut down to make way for settlers and clandestine airstrips for drug traffickers moving cocaine from Colombia into the US. Poachers rob chicks from their nests and can sell them for hundreds of dollars on the black market to buyers who want them as pets. full story |
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The North Pole: A New Imperial Battleground |
A miniature Russian submarine, supervised by an elderly scientist with a magnificent bushy grey beard, is due to make its first probe to the ocean bed beneath the North Pole, where no human machine has ventured before. And given that the marine life down there have never seen or heard anything remotely like a submarine, the deep ocean inhabitants will probably let it pass it without fear and with minimal curiosity. full story |
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Rare Species Suffer as Floods Wash Away Young |
Britain's wildlife has suffered severely alongside the human victims of our record wet summer and its floods. Some of our best- loved creatures, including the endangered grey partridge, have lost their young and their habitat has been destroyed. From wading birds and water voles to the spectacular swallowtail butterfly, the wettest summer since records began has had devastating consequences.
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