entire Web this site home > eco-news econews archive Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy and Sustainable Living Eco-news: Earth and the environment Humans driving extinction faster than species can evolve (Mar 8, 2010) For the first time since the dinosaurs disappeared, humans are driving animals and plants to extinction faster than new species can evolve, one of the world's experts on biodiversity has warned. Conservation experts have already signalled that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction" of species, driven by the destruction of natural habitats, hunting, the spread of alien predators and disease, and climate change. Read more. Source: The Guardian Climate change human link evidence 'stronger' (Mar 5, 2010) A review from the UK Met Office says it is becoming clearer that human activities are causing climate change. It says the evidence is stronger now than when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change carried out its last assessment in 2007. The analysis, published in the Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change Journal, has assessed 110 research papers on the subject. Read more. Source: BBC Vast iceberg 'may disrupt ocean currents' (Feb 26, 2010) A vast iceberg which broke off the Antarctic continent this month could disrupt the world's ocean currents and weather patterns, scientists warn. Australian researchers say the iceberg – the size of Luxembourg – could block an area that produces a quarter of the world's dense and very cold seawater. They say a slowdown in the production of this water could result in colder winters in the north Atlantic. Read more. Source: BBC How the pet trade's greed is emptying south-east Asia's forests (Feb 22, 2010) Countries across south-east Asia are being systematically drained of wildlife to meet a booming demand for exotic pets in Europe and Japan and traditional medicine in China – posing a greater threat to many species than habitat loss or global warming. More than 35 million animals were legally exported from the region over the past decade, official figures show, and hundreds of millions more could have been taken illegally. Read more. Source: The Guardian Orangutan survival and the shopping trolley (Feb 22, 2010) The challenge of saving the orangutan – man's closest relative – from extinction is trickling down to the weekly shop. Many of the biscuits, margarines, breads, crisps and even bars of soap that consumers pick off supermarket shelves contain an ingredient that is feeding a growth industry that conservationists say is killing the orangutans. The mystery ingredient in the mix is palm oil – the cheapest source of vegetable oil available – and one that rarely appears on the label of most products. Read more. Source: BBC Galapagos sea lions head for warm Peru waters (Feb 8, 2010) A colony of sea lions endemic to the Galapagos Islands have moved 1,500km away, a Peru-based organisation which monitors the aquatic mammals has said. The Organisation for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Animals says the sea lions have swum to northern Peru because of rising temperatures. It says the temperature rise was caused by climate change. Read more. Source: BBC Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers (Feb 7, 2010) An orchestrated campaign is being waged against climate change science to undermine public acceptance of man-made global warming, environment experts claimed last night. The attack against scientists supportive of the idea of man-made climate change has grown in ferocity since the leak of thousands of documents on the subject from the University of East Anglia on the eve of the Copenhagen climate summit last December. Read more. Source: The Independent Is water vapor in the stratosphere slowing global warming? (Jan 30, 2010) Since 2001 there has been less water vapor in a narrow, lower band of the stratosphere thanks to cooler temperatures in the tropopause, and that may just be holding back global warming at ground level, according to new research published online in Science on January 28. This effect could either be the result of natural variability in Earth's climate, or yet another effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases like water vapor trapping more heat and thus warming sea-surface temperatures. Read more. Source: Scientific American Last decade warmest ever: NASA (Jan 25, 2010) The past decade was the warmest ever on Earth, a new analysis of global surface temperatures released by NASA showed Thursday. The US space agency also found that 2009 was the second-warmest year on record since modern temperature measurements began in 1880. Last year was only a small fraction of a degree cooler than 2005, the warmest yet, putting 2009 in a virtual tie with the other hottest years, which have all occurred since 1998. Read more. Source: The Independent Major Antarctic glacier is 'past its tipping point' (Jan 14, 2010) A major Antarctic glacier has passed its tipping point, according to a new modelling study. After losing increasing amounts of ice over the past decades, it is poised to collapse in a catastrophe that could raise global sea levels by 24 centimeters. Pine Island glacier (PIG) is one of many at the fringes of the West Antarctic ice sheet. Read more. Source: New Scientist Another reason to save coral? Reefs are responsible for ocean biodiversity (Jan 12, 2010) The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth. It might also represent the most prolific cradle for new types of animals on the planet, according to new research published in the January 8 edition of Science. "In the oceans, new species and genera tend to originate in the tropics and in the shallows near shore," says paleobiologist Carl Simpson of Humboldt University in Berlin, one of the researchers on the new paper. Read more. Source: Scientific American Copenhagen chaos sets world on track for 3.5°C (Dec 19, 2009) Western leaders began to leave Copenhagen in the early hours of Saturday morning, claiming to have secured a global agreement to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius. But the deal provoked immediate anger for failing to include concrete measures to reach that target, and scientists at the talks said it would set the world on a path to 3.5 degrees of warming by 2100. Read more. Source: New Scientist Ocean acidification rates pose disaster for marine life, major study shows (Dec 10, 2009) The world's oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the last 55m years, threatening disaster for marine life and food supplies across the globe, delegates at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen have been warned. Ocean acidification – the facts says that acidity in the seas has increased 30% since the start of the industrial revolution. Many of the effects of this acidification are already irreversible and are expected to accelerate, according to the scientists. Read more. Source: The Guardian This decade 'warmest on record' (Dec 8, 2009) The first decade of this century is "by far" the warmest since instrumental records began, say the UK Met Office and World Meteorological Organization. Their analyses also show that 2009 will almost certainly be the fifth warmest in the 160-year record. Burgeoning El Nino conditions, adding to man-made greenhouse warming, have pushed 2009 into the "top 10" years. Read more. Source: BBC Major sea level rise likely as Antarctic ice melts (Nov 30, 2009) Sea levels are likely to rise by about 1.4m (4ft 6in) globally by 2100 as polar ice melts, according to a major review of climate change in Antarctica. Conducted by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, it says that warming seas are accelerating melting in the west of the continent. Ozone loss has cooled the region, it says, shielding it from global warming. Read more. Source: BBC This year 'in top five warmest' (Nov 25, 2009) This year will be one of the top five warmest years globally since records began 150 years ago, according to figures compiled by the Met Office. The UK's weather service projects that, unless there is an exceptionally cold spell before the end of the year, temperatures will be up on last year. Climate sceptics had pointed out that the temperature rise appeared to have stalled in the last decade or so. Read more. Source: BBC World's last bastion of stable ice now thawing (Nov 25, 2009) We thought it was one of the Earth's last remaining regions of stable ice. Now it seems the East Antarctic ice sheet has been losing mass since 2006 and could become a significant source of sea level rise, according to data from gravity-measuring satellites. Read more. Source: New Scientist Earth 'heading for 6C' of warming (Nov 18, 2009) Average temperatures across the world are on course to rise by up to 6C without urgent action to curb CO2 emissions, according a new analysis. Emissions rose by 29% between 2000 and 2008, says the Global Carbon Project. All of that growth came in developing countries, but a quarter of it came through production of goods for consumption in industrialised nations. Read more. Source: BBC Greenland ice loss 'accelerating' (Nov 12, 2009) The Greenland ice sheet is losing its mass faster than in previous years and making an increasing contribution to sea level rise, a study has confirmed. Published in the journal Science, it has also given scientists a clearer view of why the sheet is shrinking. The team used weather data, satellite readings and models of ice sheet behaviour to analyse the annual loss of 273 thousand million tonnes of ice. Read more. Source: BBC Amazon deforestation 'record low' (Nov 12, 2009) The rate of deforestation in the Amazon has dropped by 45% and is the lowest on record since monitoring began 21 years ago, Brazil's government says. According to the latest annual figures, just over 7,000 sq km was destroyed between July 2008 and August 2009. The drop is welcome news for the government in advance of the Copenhagen summit on climate change. Read more. Source: BBC Species' extinction threat grows (Nov 3, 2009) More than a third of species assessed in a major international biodiversity study are threatened with extinction, scientists have warned. Out of the 47,677 species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17,291 were deemed to be at serious risk. These included 21% of mammals, 30% of amphibians, 70% of plants and 35% of invertebrates. Read more. Source: BBC 'Freezer plan' bid to save coral (Oct 25, 2009) The prospects of saving the world's coral reefs now appear so bleak that plans are being made to freeze samples to preserve them for the future. A meeting in Denmark took evidence from researchers that most coral reefs will not survive even if tough regulations on greenhouse gases are put in place. Scientists proposed storing samples of coral species in liquid nitrogen. Read more. Source: BBC Baffin Island reveals dramatic scale of Arctic climate change (Oct 20, 2009) A frozen lake on a remote island off Canada's northern coast has yielded remarkable insights into how the Arctic climate has changed dramatically over 50 years. Muddy sediment from the bottom of the lake, some of it 200,000 years old, shows that Baffin Island, one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, has undergone an unprecedented warming over the past half-century. Read more. Source: The Independent Arctic to be 'ice-free in summer' (Oct 15, 2009) The Arctic Ocean could be largely ice-free and open to shipping during the summer in as little as ten years' time, a top polar specialist has said. "It's like man is taking the lid off the northern part of the planet," said Professor Peter Wadhams, from the University of Cambridge. Professor Wadhams has been studying the Arctic ice since the 1960s. Read more. Source: BBC Madagascar biodiversity under threat as gangs run wild (Oct 13, 2009) Roasted lemurs and criminal gangs exporting precious hardwood: this is the sad state of affairs for Madagascar's legendary biodiversity. Since a military coup forced the president to resign in March, conservationists and biologists have watched as loggers have stripped the country's forests and killed its animals for bushmeat. Read more. Source: New Scientist Decline of a tribe: and then there were five (Oct 13, 2009) They are the last survivors: all that's left of a once-vibrant civilisation which created its own religion and language, and gave special names to everything from the creatures of the rainforest to the stars of the night sky. Just five people represent the entire remaining population of the Akuntsu, an ancient Amazonian tribe which a generation ago boasted several hundred members, but has been destroyed by a tragic mixture of hostility and neglect. Read more. Source: The Independent Himalayan sherpas bugged by the sight of house flies at 5,000m (Oct 12, 2009) Earlier this year Dawa Steven Sherpa was resting at Everest base camp when he and his companions heard something buzzing. "What the heck is that?" asked the young Nepali climber. They searched and found a big black house fly, something unimaginable just a few years ago when no insect could have survived at 5,360 meters. Read more. Source: The Guardian Climate pledges so far are nowhere near enough (Oct 8, 2009) With just 60 days left before world leaders meet in Copenhagen to thrash out a new global climate deal, how do the chips that are on the table tally up? Not very well. According to the latest estimate of the carbon cuts offered by rich nations, the pledges fall well short of the reductions that climate scientists say are needed to avoid dangerous climate change. Read more. Source: New Scientist Warning over global oil 'decline' (Oct 8, 2009) There is a "significant risk" that global production of conventional oil could "peak" and decline by 2020, a report has warned. The UK Energy Research Council study says there is a general consensus that the era of cheap oil is at an end. But it warns that most governments, including the UK's, exhibit little concern about oil depletion. Read more. Source: BBC Green roofs save on carbon overheads (Oct 5, 2009) Green roofs are not just a load of greenwash. That's according to a new study which has measured the amount of carbon absorbed by 13 different green roofs. A team led by Kristin Getter at Michigan State University in East Lansing examined 12 existing green roofs and grew their own Sedum-covered roof. They found that the roofs absorbed up to 375 grams per square meter over the two years of their study. Read more. Source: New Scientist The great drought: Disaster looms in East Africa (Oct 3, 2009) On the plains of Marsabit the heat is so intense the bush seems to shiver. The leafless scrub, bleached white by the sun, looks like a forest of fake Christmas trees. Carcasses of cattle and camels are strewn about the burnt red dirt in every direction. Read more. Source: The Independent Earthquakes weaken distant faults (Oct 1, 2009) The major 2004 earthquake in Sumatra may have weakened the San Andreas fault, 8,000km away in California. This is according to scientists who took measurements from the fault over two decades. Reporting in the journal Nature, the team found that small "repeating earthquakes" became more frequent as the San Andreas Fault weakened. Read more. Source: BBC Four degrees of warming 'likely' (Sep 29, 2009) In a dramatic acceleration of forecasts for global warming, UK scientists say the global average temperature could rise by 4C (7.2F) as early as 2060. The Met Office study used projections of fossil fuel use that reflect the trend seen over the last 20 years. Their computer models also factored in new findings on how carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans and forests. Read more. Source: BBC 'Millions at risk' as deltas sink (Sep 21, 2009) Most of the world's major river deltas are sinking, increasing the flood risk faced by hundreds of millions of people, scientists report. Damming and diverting rivers means that much less sediment now reaches many delta areas, while extraction of gas and groundwater also lowers the land. Rivers affected include the Colorado, Nile, Pearl, Rhone and Yangtze. Read more. Source: BBC Warming Arctic 'halts migration' (Sep 17, 2009) Milder winters in the Arctic region have led to fewer Pacific brants, a species of sea goose, migrating southwards, say researchers. A study by the US Geological Survey found that as many as 30% of the birds were overwintering in Alaska rather than migrating to Mexico. Until recently, more than 90% of the species were estimated to head south. Read more. Source: BBC Arctic 'warmest in 2,000 years' (Sep 4, 2009) Arctic temperatures are now higher than at any time in the last 2,000 years, research reveals. Changes to the Earth's orbit drove centuries of cooling, but temperatures rose fast in the last 100 years as human greenhouse gas emissions rose. Scientists took evidence from ice cores, tree rings and lake sediments. Read more. Source: BBC Engineering Earth 'is feasible' (Sep 1, 2009) A UK Royal Society study has concluded that many engineering proposals to reduce the impact of climate change are "technically possible". Such approaches could be effective, the authors said in their report. But they also stressed that the potential of geo-engineering should not divert governments away from their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Read more. Source: BBC earlier econews BACK TO TOP

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