|
Japan's Minamata Disease Still Lingers |
Fisherman Akinori Mori and his wife, Itsuko, are already at work on their boat, reeling in nets of squid, fish and crabs. Nothing about this placid scene reveals that Japan's worst environmental disaster unfolded here. Starting 50 years ago, whole neighborhoods were poisoned by mercury-contaminated fish from these waters. Thousands of people were crippled, hundreds died agonizing deaths. Babies were born with horrifying deformities. full story |
|
Pipes Hung in the Sea
Could Help Planet to Heal Itself |
Pipes hanging in the ocean might bring global warming under control, two of Britain's most distinguished scientists suggest today. By mixing deeper water with surface water, they could help the sea absorb vastly more carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, say James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis which sees the earth as a single organism, and Chris Rapley, the director of the Science Museum in London. full story |
|
Bush Prepares for Greenwashing
Climate Summit |
For the first time in 16 years, a major environmental conference opens in Washington, hosted by the Bush administration. But no concrete results are expected, and that, say European participants, is the point of this high-level meeting. Far from representing a Damascene conversion on climate change by President George Bush, the two-day gathering of the world's biggest polluting nations is aimed at undermining the UN's efforts to tackle global warming, say European sources. full story |
|
Despite Progress Against Trafficking,
World Still Hungry for Exotic Creatures |
Asia is a global hotspot for the illegal trade in wild animals and plants, according to TRAFFIC, a wildlife-trade monitoring network based in the United Kingdom. And China is the country that consumes the most wildlife worldwide, says Galster. Factors contributing to the trend include regionally high biodiversity, low public awareness of the problem, and inadequate government attention to addressing it. full story |
|
|
Iranian President's NY Visit Sparks Protests |
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met leaders of an anti-Zionist Jewish group on Monday at the start of a visit to New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting that has sparked protests and anger. Mainstream Jewish groups were among those who condemned an invitation by Columbia University for the Iranian leader to speak later on Monday at its World Leaders Forum. full story |
|
|
Treaty May Restart Polar Bear Hunts in Russia |
A new Russia-U.S. treaty could allow hunters in Russia to kill polar bears, a species already under threat from global warming, WWF said on Monday. Russian and U.S. scientists and authorities drew up the treaty to improve cooperation and standardize treatment of polar bears living across the Bering Strait. But it may force Russia to reintroduce polar bear hunting, 50 years after the Soviet Union banned it. full story |
|
|
Bush Takes Lead on Global Warming Action |
Rich and poor nations yesterday agreed, for the first time, to make big cuts in pollution in order to fight global warming. And the Bush administration, which has consistently sought to sabotage international action to combat climate change, helped to lead the way. Govt.s and environmentalists are hoping this weekend that the apparently incredible breakthrough will set the stage for a new onslaught on the heating-up of the planet. full story |
|
|
Too Late to Avoid Global Warming,' Say Scientists |
The latest study from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put the inevitability of drastic global warming in the starkest terms yet, stating that major impacts on parts of the world - in particular Africa, Asian river deltas, low-lying islands and the Arctic - are unavoidable and the focus must be on adapting life to survive the most devastating changes. full story |
|
Record Resource Consumption
Depletes a Warming World |
Record levels of consumption by a global population that now numbers 6.6 billion people are pushing the limits of ecosystem services upon which all life depends, according to the latest Worldwatch Institute report. The 44 trends tracked illustrate the urgent need to check consumption of energy and other resources that are contributing to the climate crisis, starting with the largest polluter, the US. full story |
|
Stark Warning of Extinction List:
'Life on Earth Is Disappearing' |
Gorillas, vultures, corals, Asian crocodiles and even seaweeds are joining thousands of other species on the slide towards extinction, according to the latest edition of the Red List, the international catalogue of threatened wildlife, published yesterday. One in four of the world's mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world's assessed plants on the current list are in now in jeopardy. full story |
|
The Appalling Fate of the Polar Bear,
Symbol of the Arctic |
It has been declared at risk by conservation groups. Yet rich Westerners are paying thousands of dollars for the privilege of shooting an animal whose very existence is already threatened by environmental disaster. Polar bears, the very symbol of the Arctic's looming environmental disaster, are crashing towards extinction as a result of global warming, the US govt. has found. full story |
|
Climate Change Will Harm Life on
the Deep Ocean Floor, Study Finds |
Scientists used to believe that a global disaster that wiped out most of the life on Earth would not touch the unusual organisms that live around the mineral-rich vents on the sea floor. But research by a team of British scientists has found that even these deep-sea creatures which live in total darkness and survive on the chemical energy oozing from mineral vents on the seabed are not immune from the seasonal changes above. full story |
|
|
Israeli Virus Linked to Devastating Bee Disease |
Scientists are homing in on a possible cause of the new bee disease known as colony collapse disorder, linking it with a virus from Israel that may have arrived in the US via shipments of live bees from Australia. Since it was first reported in '04, colony collapse disorder has affected 23% of the commercial bee colonies in the US, causing losses of from 50 to 90% of the bees in each colony. full story |
|
Shockwaves from Melting Icecaps Are
Triggering Earthquakes, Say Scientists |
The melting of Greenland's ice sheet has accelerated so dramatically that it is triggering earthquakes for the first time. Scientists monitoring the glaciers have revealed that movements of gigantic pieces of ice are creating shockwaves that register up to three on the Richter scale. The speed of the arctic ice melt has accelerated to such an extent that a UN report issued earlier this year is now thought to be out of date by its own authors. full story |
|
|
Ice-free Arctic Could Be Here in 23 Years |
Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University in Denver which released the figures, said: "It's amazing. It's simply fallen off a cliff and we're still losing ice." The Arctic has now lost about a third of its ice since satellite measurements began 30 years ago, and the rate of loss has accelerated sharply since 2002. full story |
|
The Green Provocateur:
Cornering the Corporates |
At St Pancras Station in London, the first stop in my day of eco-agitation, I approached the new platform being finished off by the builders beneath William Barlow's glorious 19th-century arched roof. Sunlight was pouring in – but every overhead bulb was switched on, too. All in all, I calculated well over one million watts of lighting being used unnecessarily.. full story |
|
|
Last Refuge of the Orangutan |
Homeless, semi-paralysed and blind in one eye, Montana faces an uncertain future. Even if his friends find somewhere for him to live, the 15-year-old has been seriously weakened by years in assisted care. The lethal dangers of readjustment in his natural home include men like those who shot him out of a tree when he was just a baby. But for the source of the greatest threat to Montana's existence look no further than your food cupboard. full story |
|
|
Can You Buy a Greener Conscience? |
According to Native Energy, money from "An Inconvenient Truth," along with payments from others trying to neutralize their emissions, went to the developers of a methane collector on a Pennsylvanian farm and three wind turbines in an Alaskan village. As it turned out, both projects had already been designed and financed, and the contributions from Native Energy covered only a minor fraction of their costs. full story |
|
