Current science on Arctic warming and its global effects
Over the past few decades, the Arctic has warmed at about twice the rate of the rest of the globe. This has resulted in destabilisation of important Arctic systems, including sea ice, the Greenland Ice Sheet, mountain glaciers and aspects of the Arctic carbon cycle. A peer-reviewed report dealing with the subject was produced by…
Camping to fight climate change – the heat is on
If you go to Blackheath, London, today you will witness environmental protestors camping and campaigning to get those in power to step up their act and stop global warming and climate change. Another camp gathering is being organised in Bangladesh to take place in October. Youth delegates pledged to keep global warming high on the…
Water Tops Climate Change as Global Priority – according to survey
Less than 1% of surface water is useable water in rivers, lakes and ponds; less than 3% is in glaciers and polar ice caps, which means around 97% of the world’s water is in the sea, is salty and unusable. Over 65% of the cells in our bodies is water, which means we just cannot…
We caught malignant malaria from chimpanzees — but when exactly?
Image: CDC/ James Gathany, Dr. Frank Collins, University of Notre Dame A couple of weeks ago I came across a news item entitled 'Scientists report original source of malaria', with a sub-headline to the effect that it jumped to humans from chimpanzees, possibly through a single mosquito. Reading the story indicated that it actually referred…
Matt Damon and Water.org – working toward global access to safe water
Matt Damon (actor and H2O Africa co-founder) and Gary White (WaterPartners executive director and co-founder) have announced the launch of a new organisation – Water.org – which is focused on improving access to safe water and sanitation in the developing world. Water.org will help the nearly 890 million people without safe water and the…
Can protected areas prevent Amazon dieback due to climate change?
The Amazon rainforest has been subject to many scientific studies on climate change impacts especially considering its extensive, wide-ranging biodiversity, and huge reserves of carbon and water. At the Copenhagen climate change congress back in April it was suggested that we may already have passed a tipping point and that the Amazon rainforest is on…
Algal biofuels heading for market?
Whilst leafing through a recent issue of Science magazine I was interested to read a news item that highlighted ExxonMobil's entry into the biofuels arena. ExxonMobil, the last major oil company to move into biofuels, has announced that it intends to spend $600 million over 5-6 years to develop biofuels from algae. Half the money from…
Inuit people seeing major impacts resulting from climate warming
Climate change is still a hot issue with talk of negotiations and reductions of emissions in greenhouse gases in advance of the Copenhagen summit in December. But how is climate change affecting us in our daily lives? Here in the UK, I would be hard pushed to see the effects of climate change unless you…
A Climate Conference on Wheels
A few spaces are still available for the Brita Climate Ride – the first bicycle tour to raise money and awareness to fight climate change. September 26-30 2009300 Miles 200 RidersNew York City to Washington DC
Please can I have some more?
Pets may be able to negotiate with their owners over what, when and how much they are fed. This is the view of Jon Day of the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, based in part on evidence of how human babies “ask” for food before they can talk. Analysing these interactions may help avoid obesity…