Food prices soaring, but a third is still lost or wasted: what can be done?
Food prices, along with the cost of energy, are one of the main current drivers of inflation around the world. Bloomberg reported last week that world food prices reached near-record levels in April, with corn prices almost doubling in the last 12 months and wheat prices going up by 57% in the same period. With…
Deepwater Horizon oil spill one year on – How have birds and marine life been affected?
The process of tallying and logging the harm the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico might have done to wildlife is still underway, one year after the disaster. However, indications are that the spill has not been as catastrophic as the worst predictions, but dead animals are still washing up on beaches.
Are all-inclusive resorts “the devil’s work”?
A decision announced earlier in April by British tour operator First Choice to sell only all-inclusive holidays from next year has triggered a debate about the pros and cons of all-inclusive resorts. Leading travel writer Simon Calder is quoted by the BBC News website as calling all-inclusives "the devil's work", while industry bodies and pressure…
A breakthrough for Golden Rice
More than 10 years after the release of Golden Rice – rice genetically modified to contain high levels of provitamin A – trials are about to begin in Bangladesh and the Philippines to assess whether eating Golden Rice really does increase vitamin A levels in the body. Vitamin A deficiency is a cause of blindness…
Using satellites to map forests’ carbon stock
An estimated 20% of the world’s anthropogenic emissions of CO2 derive from deforestation and degradation of tropical forests. Nonetheless, data and hence knowledge on the condition and coverage of these forests is incomplete, which makes it impossible to accurately monitor future changes. For this reason, the Woods Hole Research Center has initiated a three-year project…
Alternative energy sources – is wind the answer?
The damage caused to the Fukushima nuclear power plant by the earthquake and tsunami recently raised safety issues to a supposedly clean energy. The past twelve months have seen concerns with the traditional and dwindling traditional forms of energy; for example the coal mining accidents in Chile, New Zealand and China, oil and gas…
The global climate in 2010 – was the globe really at its warmest?
Image from WMO report A statement published last week by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) describes global temperature and aspects of the global climate in 2010. The “WMO Statement on the Status of the Global Climate” series was launched in 1993, at the beginning of climate awareness generated by the Second World Climate Conference, which…
Climate of changing public opinion
This week is Climate Week in the UK, which aims to get the public involved in thinking about climate change. In the scientific community, there is an increasing level of consensus about climate change and the need to take drastic action to limit severe consequences. However, in order to introduce challenging policies, there must be…
Natural hazards – how do we know when they’re coming?
The earthquake that hit Japan’s northeast coast today had a magnitude of 8.9 in the Richter scale and generated a 4-metre tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland. Fires triggered by the quake burned out of control up and down the coast. Only a couple of days ago, I…
Aid donors join forces to fight wheat rust
Emerging strains of stem rust disease of wheat, such as Ug99, are spreading out of East Africa and threatening the world's wheat supply. But the fight against this disease received a boost this week from a collaboration between the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The organisations have…