The Carbon the World Forgot
Image courtesy of "The Carbon the World Forgot" report. Boreal forests, found in northern areas like Canada, Russia, Scandinavia and parts of the United States, cover 11% of the earth and store 22% of all carbon on the land surface in soil, permafrost, peatlands and wetlands. They also store nearly twice as much carbon as…
Himalayan glaciers – not melting as fast as once thought?
I came across an interesting article whilst reading a recent issue of Science (13 November) that bucks the trend of many gloomy climate change reports over the last few months. It seems that Himalayan glaciers are not melting as fast as is commonly believed. A recent report by senior glaciologist Vijay Kumar Raina, formerly of…
Going Veggie to save the planet – does what you eat really matter to our planet?
According to Lord Stern of Brentford, what we eat does matter and we should be eating less meat or even becoming vegetarians to reduce greenhouse gases emissions and, therefore, stop global warming from increasing and climate change from happening.
International Day of Climate Action – 24 October 2009
“Scientists say that 350ppm CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.” Read on to find out why.
Climate change – the influence on food security
“When it rains, it does not rain on one roof only” This is a saying from the home village in western Kenya of my friend and colleague Dennis Rangi, CABI’s Executive Director for International Development. He said this in his introduction to the CABI Summit in London which I though was particularly apt as I…
How synchrotrons could aid crop protection
Image courtesy of Diamond (www.diamond.ac.uk) 2003 saw construction begin on a facility representing the UK’s largest investment in science for over 40 years. Diamond Light Source opened in 2007 and is an impressive structure on the South Oxfordshire landscape, 10 miles or so from where I’m sitting in CABI’s head office. It is a synchrotron…
Barack Obama is deeply committed to passing a climate bill this year
An article in yesterday’s New York Times online reported that the Obama administration announced on Wednesday (30/09/09) that they’re moving forward on new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from hundreds of power plants and large industrial facilities, rather than waiting for Congress to act. Read on to find out how far reaching the new…
Is it a bug’s life?
Avid followers of …handpicked and carefully sorted…. will recall my previous blog on bees and the debate on whether neonicotinoid insecticides should be banned or not. Well, unsurprisingly, the debate continues. A media release from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) on 11 September called for an “independent and comprehensive assessment of the impact of neonicotinoids”.…
Bacteria-based biofuel: as long as there’s sunshine
Carbon-neutral because, like plants, bacteria use carbon dioxide for growth. Read on to find out more about this promising new biofuel source.