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Up until the mind XIXth century most homes and buildings were made out of wood, a readily available and cheap material. However, like we all know wood is easily flammable and caused a myriad of issues, especially in urban environments. How many times were whole cities at risk of being whipped out by flames? Rome? […]
An extremely worrisome climate model predicts, based on current global warming projections, that storm surges – the most damaging and dangerous part of a hurricane – are set to increase in frequency and magnitude by as much as ten times by the turn of the century due to climate change. The scientists involved in the […]
It is indeed a war of manipulation and misdirection, but the main actors are not the ones you may think about first. As a new study concluded, some 3 out of every 4 climate change denial books have direct, easily verifiable connections to conservative organizations. A research conducted by Riley E. Dunlap of Oklahoma State […]
Hotter than ever, basically.
A group of international researchers assessed 17 state-of-the-art climate model simulations and based on these have found that temperature seasonality shifts and green plants could move further north by as much as a whooping 20 degrees latitude by the turn of the century. So far, in the past 30 years alone, southern vegetation has moved […]
An international team of researchers set out on the daunting task of surveying the Central African elephant population. Their results offer a new harsh cold shower as to the critical situation wildlife our planet is currently in. Their findings suggest the African elephant population in the area has plummeted by a staggering 62% and their […]
A group of researchers assessed seven individual climate models and found that in each case common open water vessels will be able to navigate through portions of the Arctic, currently possible only with icebreaker ships, by the mid-century. Moreover, the thinning ice will allow ice-strengthened vessels to sail directly over the pole, something currently unimaginable, dramatically shortening […]
In New Orleans, a landmark trial began to assess whether BP was grossly negligent during the 2010 BP oil spill. Ethically speaking, not only was BP grossly negligent, but the spill was just grossly… gross! Estimates show that 4.1 million barrels of oil were spilled into the gulf of Mexico, making it the largest accidental […]
A new climate model has predicted dramatic snow fall decline worldwide as a result of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide in the next 100 years. Many regions in the world depend on fresh water as a result of snow melt, which means if the study’s predictions hold that dire consequences to the biosphere and climate balance await. […]
Everything is connected on our planet; things you do on one side have completely unexpected but related effects on the other, and there is nothing truly isolated. Here’s a good example of just that: For most of the year, the Arctic is frozen. Hard ice and tundra is all you’re going to see there most […]
Society treats the sky like an “open sewer” – pumping carbon waste into the air the same way it pumped waste into waterways, and with the same results. People are getting sick, Gore explained, comparing the climate crisis to 19th-century cholera epidemics, including one in London where the outbreak was traced to a single water […]
Here’s a global warming reduction plan that might appeal to most of you – work less! According to a Washington thinktank called the Center for Economic and Policy Research, an annual 0.5 percent reduction in work hours would cut between eight and 22 percent of every degree of warming from now until 2100. In the past few […]
Water and energy are two of the things we pretty much take for granted – but we shouldn’t. Water is not infinite, and if you consume it at a high enough rate, it will run out; meanwhile, there’s a tight connection between living standard and energy consumption – and as the population continues to increase […]
Remember how a few days ago, the entire media and popullation of China was outraged by the smog covering a significant part of China, including Beijing ? The extent of the smog was so big you could easily see it from outer space. Well, predictions claimed the smog will dissipate in a few days, but […]
A newly published massive study, where some 133 scientists collaborated, revealed that during our planet’s last warm period between ice ages the Greenland ice sheet was still fine and sturdy, despite it was a lot shorter than it is today and caused an increase of a few feet in world sea levels. The authors involved in […]
I recently came across a great article discussing solar photovoltaic (PV) efficiency. You can read it in its entirety on this website – here’s the gist. When people hear that the typical efficiency for solar power is somewhere around 15%, or even as low as 12% for organic photvoltaics, they scoff and start to mumble that […]
Researchers at University of Toronto and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich) have recently published a paper that claims exotic plant species do indeed eliminate native plants from the wildlife ecosystem, contrary to previous reports that found the threat unreal. The ecologists argue that reports heralding invasive plants as non threatening are based […]
In what looks to be one of the most one sided and saddening events in the Amazon rainforest history, an indigenous community of about 400 villagers is preparing to resist the Ecuadorean army and one of the biggest oil companies in South America – to protect their homes and the rainforest they live in. Pristine […]
Portions of the longest river in America, the Mississippi, are at risk of becoming unnavigable, spelling serious economic trouble in areas from the Upper-Midwest to New Orleans since it would also block a major shipping route. Typically the Army Corps of Engineers has been manipulating the river for decades in order to prevent it from […]
A few days ago I was telling you about the drastic state of pollution taking place in China these days – pollution levels are so high that all newspapers, even communist ones started pressing the government into environmental protection. To see how much the Beijing pollution evolved – take a look at the picture of […]
Canada’s oil production has been blooming lately, mostly due to the oil sands in Alberta, who hold some of the world’s largest oil reserves. However, a new study shows that exctractions from these oil sands are associated with an increase of local water toxicity. The black gold curse Researchers from the Queen’s University in Kingston, […]
Researchers from the University of Michigan and University College London have found that trees in the Amazon forest will be able to withstand even the most dreaded of forecasted global warming scenarios from a century from now, after they showed they’ve withstood the test of time. The researchers found that most tree species had been around for millions of […]
Researchers at Rice University and City College of New York have devised rechargeable lithium-ion batteries using a substance extracted from the madder plant as a cathode. The plant has been used since ancient times as a dye, and only recently have researchers learned about its fantastic capabilities it poses as an alternative green battery. The madder plant or Rubia […]
If current climate change trends continue, rising sea levels could prove devastating for low lying coastal areas around the globe, placing the biodiversity at extremely high risks. Islands are especially threatened by rising sea levels, and this study conducted on the Hawaiian islands offers the most detailed and multifaceted assessment available of how island biodiversity […]
Over the past few years, a series of papers looked on how the United States could benefit by switching from crude oil to alternative synthetic fuels. Their findings show that, given the current economic environment where oil prices have simply skyrocketed, synthetic fuels are more advantageous compared to crude oil from a number of perspectives, including […]
It was a warm, drought plagued year – in July 2012, farmers in the U.S. Midwest and Plains regions watched crops wither and falter, after a series of unusually high temperatures and low precipitations. However, as the lack of rain continued to make its mark scientists observed another indication of drought in data from NASA […]
A recent report released by the UN and compiled by he Met Office and the University of East Anglia suggest the average temperature for 2012 will be about 14.45C, placing it in the 9th position of the hottest years list currently on record since 1850. Still, 2012 is cooler than the past decade’s average, registered as […]
Around the globe, local climates are changing. Maybe you haven’t noticed it yet, because in most regions this is a slow and subtle change, but the people that are used to observing the nature around their cities, or the people in agriculture that are deeply connected to the patterns of rain and drought will tell you […]
It’s the already a clichee: the big, international company wants to do some highly profitable operations, threatening the native wildlife and environment. This time, the corporate behemoth is Northern Dynasty Minerals, of British Columbia, who teamed up with other companies, and now name themselves the Pebble Partnership. In the other corner lies native groups, […]
Some 12,900 years ago, a massive flood of melted freshwater in the Arctic caused a 1,200-year-long chill nicknamed the “Big Freeze.” During this time much of the Northern Hemisphere was engulfed by centuries of cold, which caused the extinction of most great mammals, like mammoths, as well as the Clovis people. For decades, scientists have […]
The Great Gray Owls of Yosemite are a unique species, after they separated from their cousins some 30,000 years ago when an ice age forced them into isolation. Though similar to the Great Gray Owls, commonly encountered through out North America and the Asian taiga forests, the Yosemite branch is genetically distinct, but unfortunately also […]
As the topic of climate change is frantically being discussed in every government office nowadays, a burst of solutions, some contradictory, are being constantly proposed. Sitting on the desk for a while is the solar geoengineering proposition – hailed by many, heavily criticized by others. A new study claims that solar engineering could be undertaken more […]
Between 247 to 252 million years ago, Earth life was going through quite possibly its most dire time. During this period some 90% of world’s species were wiped out, but what puzzled scientists for so long is the fact that it took five million years for life to recover after this apocalypse. A new study […]
Oil spills are one of the most devastating man-made ecological disasters out there. During such an outbreak, millions of gallons of oil can end up in the ocean, killing countless marine life, as well as harming the ecosystem. Handling such disasters, beyond pointing fingers which comes to no avail to the marine life, has become […]
There’s a general belief, most likely resulting from extensive marketing ploys, that electric cars are the cleanest mean of transportation, and an adoption should be hastily made in order to save our planet. While it’s true that electric cars have virtually zero emissions and not even one part per million of CO2 is released during operation, a […]
A lot of the climate change models today are based under the assumption that greenhouse gas emissions weren’t that significant pre-1850, when the industrial age boom began. A new study from scientists at Utrecht University in the Netherlands found otherwise, and reported that human activity was responsible for plenty of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere […]
According to the most comprehensive study ever carried out on the World Heritage Site, findings have shown that damage caused by storms, crown-of-thorns starfish and bleaching have resulted in more than half of the amount of coral covering reefs being cut in half since 1985 and will likely continue to decline if immediate countering steps are not made. Australia’s […]
According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate change models suggest that average global temperatures will likely rise by 2 to 11.5 degrees F (1.1 to 6.4 degrees C) by the end of this century. The consequences of an increase of just a few degrees are dire. Apparently, taking clear and effective steps […]
This year, we witnessed the United States’ carbon emissions drop to a record level, one that hasn’t been seen in the last 20 years. Lots of people started shouting and spreading misinformation, claiming that renewable energy and all those green measures were responsible for this remarkable feat. It would be great if this were true […]
When you think of air pollution, inevitably your mind wanders to huge, fume spilling power stations, old motor trucks and other nasty things in these lines. Surprisingly enough, researchers at University of California, Riverside, found that charbroiled burgers, chicken, and steaks are behind much of Southern California’s air pollution, topping even diesel engines. These findings were made after […]
While it may lack most of Bruce Wayne’s gadgets, the very first artificial bat cave in the world is sure to provide resonable accomodations for non-superhero dwellers. The cave was introduced after a group of environmentalists raised money, in an effort to help save thousands of bats from a disease which has claimed the lives […]
Immediately after the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, as a result of the devastating tsunami which swept the country resulting thousands of casualties and damage amount to $40 billion, Japanese authorities quickly evacuated the local human population such that exposure to radiation could be kept at a minimum. The local wildlife, however, […]
An U.S.conservation group has pushed a petition to the government requesting that California’s great white sharks should be federally protected as an endangered species. The organization has presented a number of studies and claims, backed by other independent organizations, and argues that California’s white sharks are a genetically distinct species. With a mere 340 adults […]
Groundwater use is unsustainable in many of the world’s major agricultural zones; as a matter of fact, about a quarter of the world’s population lives in regions where groundwater is being used up faster than it can be replenished, concluded researchers. The planet thirsts Our entire civilization depends on our water supply, and aside from […]
Scientists who studied sediment cores drilled from the ocean floor off the Antarctic coast, have found on subsequent analysis fossil pollens that came from a tropical forest. Most likely, the continent was covered by rainforest some 52 million years ago. The researchers involved warn however that by the end of the century, ice from the […]
Biodiversity helps keep the world’s ecosystem in balance, and if threatened, it could bring forth destabilization leading to a chain reaction of events, mostly irreversible. Crops would fail, pests and viral infections might surface, CO2 retention might decrease and more – basically, the Earth will have a tougher time fending for itself if its biodiversity […]
Researchers at the University of Delaware and the Canadian Ice Service recently reported that an ice island, whose surface is twice that of Manhattan, broke off from Greenland’s Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest glaciers left in Greenland connecting the great Greenland ice sheet with the ocean via a floating ice shelf. The 46-square-mile giant iceberg broke […]
Researchers from the Natural History Museum in Madrid counted chinstrap penguins in Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands in 1991-1992 and again in 2008-2009. They discovered a frightening decline in penguin population in the area, with one species culled by more than a third. The most affected species at hand is the chinstrap penguin, named so after the black strip […]
NASA announced a truly unexpected phenomena, observed under the shrinking Arctic ice: a massive algae bloom under the ice. Not long ago, the life of this crucial plant seemed to suffer greatly, a worrying phenomena, as algae produces much of the world’s oxygen. The same year that NASA researchers launched the Icescape expedition to the […]
This month, the 20th anniversary of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, an United Nations conference where various issues where addressed like the systematic scrutiny of patterns of production, alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels, new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions or the growing […]
