Seal the Deal! Hollywood joins the campaign to combat climate change
Climate change is here and threatens us all; say Hollywood actors, film directors, environmentalists and politicians in a new UN public service announcement series, launched this week, urging viewers to sign the Climate Petition on the Seal the Deal!
Falling deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon
Things are looking up for the future of the Amazon. A number of positive news stories have appeared in the last month including decreased deforestation rates, regeneration of previously deforested land, new land reform legislation and progress with action on cattle ranching. Here’s a summary – follow the links for more information and sources. Falling…
Trees on farms – area twice the size of the Amazon
Image: World Agroforestry Centre Almost half of the world's farmland has at least 10% tree cover, according to scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre, indicating that farmers, particularly in the developing world, are far less destructive to carbon-storing forests than previously believed. This is the first study to use detailed satellite imagery to quantify the…
Lost Land of the Volcano
Last night on BBC television in the UK was the first of three programmes of the BBC’s jungle expedition, natural history discovery programmes “Lost Land of the ….” in this Volcano. This time the series, was filmed in the forests of the remote tropical island of New Guinea, primarily exploring the area around the giant…
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…
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…
Forest destruction threatens Kenya’s economy
Photo from Landcoalition.org East Africa's wildebeest migration, which crosses the River Mara and brings vast herds of animals into the Maasai Mara game reserve, is one of the great wildlife spectacles of the world. But the migration, and other iconic wildlife attractions including the millions of flamingos that Lake Nakuru in Kenya is famous for, are…
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…