History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate
Published on Monday, June 7, 2010 by The Economic Times (India)
Renewables Can Create 8.5 Million Jobs: Greenpeace
BERLIN – Climate pressure group Greenpeace said on Monday that switching to renewable energy sources could create 8.5 million jobs by 2030 if governments turn their backs on “dirty and dangerous” fossil fuels.
If There Was Ever a Moment to Seize
Will Obama Stand Up to Big Energy in Deeds as Well as Words?
By Bill McKibben
Here’s the president on March 31st, announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: “Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and keep our businesses competitive, we are going to need to harness traditional sources of fuel even as we ramp up production of new sources of renewable, homegrown energy.”
Gulf Oil Spill: Cleaning Wetlands May Be Impossible, Scientists Say
Commercial Cooking Elevates Hazardous Pollutants in the Environment, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2010) — As you stroll down restaurant row and catch the wonderful aroma of food — steaks, burgers, and grilled veggies — keep this in mind: You may be in an air pollution zone.
Pollution from Asia Circles Globe at Stratospheric Heights
ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2010) — The economic growth across much of Asia comes with a troubling side effect: pollutants from the region are being wafted up to the stratosphere during monsoon season. The new finding, in a study led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, provides additional evidence of the global nature of air pollution and its effects far above Earth’s surface.
Pesticide Atrazine Can Turn Male Frogs Into Females
ScienceDaily (Mar. 1, 2010) — Atrazine, one of the world’s most widely used pesticides, wreaks havoc with the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females
Popular Herbicide Affects Sexual Development in Frogs, Research Finds
ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2009) — The controversy surrounding the unintended effects of herbicide and pesticide use has intensified as researchers from the University of Ottawa’s Department of Biology have identified that atrazine, a heavily-used herbicide, alters the sexual development in frogs.
Published on Friday, December 4, 2009 by The Guardian/UK
Shell Must Clean up Its Act in Nigeria
As Nigerian villagers take Shell to court over huge oil spills, it’s time for the group to take responsibility for polluting practices
Courting Controversy with
a New View on Exotic Species
A number of biologists are challenging the long-held orthodoxy that invasive species are inherently bad. In their contrarian view, many introduced species have proven valuable and useful and have increased the diversity and resiliency of native ecosystems.
Published on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 by Agence France Presse
Mankind Using Earth’s Resources at Alarming Rate
WASHINGTON – Humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as profligately as Americans, according to a report issued Tuesday.
Volatile Gas Could Turn Rwandan Lake Into a Freshwater Time Bomb
ScienceDaily (Nov. 16, 2009) — A dangerous level of carbon dioxide and methane gas haunts Lake Kivu, the freshwater lake system bordering Rwanda and the Republic of Congo.
Invest in Nature Now, Save Trillions Later: Study
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/11/13-3
Published on Monday, October 26, 2009 by The Independent/UK
Illegal Logging Responsible for Loss of 10 Million Hectares in Indonesia
by Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent
Lush tropical rainforest once covered almost all of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans. And just half a century ago, 80 per cent remained. But since then, rampant logging and burning has destroyed nearly half that cover, and made the country the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouses gases after the US and China.
Published on Thursday, October 15, 2009 by Think Forward
The Cost of Palm Oil
China is leaving the U.S. in the dust as it surges ahead on clean energy
Published on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 by the Louisville Courier-Journal
3 Environmental Groups to Sue EPA Over Coal-Ash Ponds
by James Bruggers
Three environmental groups have put the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on notice that they intend to sue the agency, alleging it has failed to regulate water pollution from the nation’s electric utilities, including discharges into rivers and lakes from hundreds of coal-ash ponds.
It’s as Easy as Compost: Strides Towards Zero Waste in San Fran
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/09/09-6
Solar Power from Space:
Moving Beyond Science Fiction
For more than 40 years, scientists have dreamed of collecting the sun’s energy in space and beaming it back to Earth. Now, a host of technological advances, coupled with interest from the U.S. military, may be bringing that vision close to reality.
Diesel Exhaust Is Linked To Cancer Development Via New Blood Vessel Growth
ScienceDaily (Sep. 2, 2009) — Scientists have demonstrated that the link between diesel fume exposure and cancer lies in the ability of diesel exhaust to induce the growth of new blood vessels that serve as a food supply for solid tumors.
Scientists Find ‘Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch’
ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2009) — Scientists have just completed an unprecedented journey into the vast and little-explored “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch.”
Rising acidity erodes Alaska’s fisheries
Alaska’s marine waters – source of 60 percent of the United States’ seafood harvest – show surprising impact as greenhouse emissions undermine the base of the food web.
Plastics In Oceans Decompose, Release Hazardous Chemicals, Surprising New Study Says
ScienceDaily (Aug. 20, 2009) — In the first study to look at what happens over the years to the billions of pounds of plastic waste floating in the world’s oceans, scientists are reporting that plastics — reputed to be virtually indestructible — decompose with surprising speed and release potentially toxic substances into the water.
Published on Thursday, August 20, 2009 by The Independent/UK
Scientists Uncover New Ocean Threat from Plastics
by Steve Connor
Scientists have identified a new source of chemical pollution released by the huge amounts of plastic rubbish found floating in the oceans of the world. A study has found that as plastics break down in the sea they release potentially toxic substances not found in nature and which could affect the growth and development of marine organisms.
Do we really need to ban plastic bags?
They are the ultimate symbol of our throwaway culture. But, as the Welsh Assembly announces plans to tax plastic bags, some believe they are distracting us from more important environmental issues
Published on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 by TomDispatch.com
Climate Disobedience: Is a New ‘Seattle’ in the Making?by Mark Engler
In the early morning of October 8, 2007, a small group of British Greenpeace activists slipped inside a hulking smokestack that towers more than 600 feet above a coal-fired power plant in Kent, England. While other activists cut electricity on the plant’s grounds, they prepared to climb the interior of the structure to its top, rappel down its outside, and paint in block letters a demand that Prime Minister Gordon Brown put an end to plants like the Kingsnorth facility, which releases nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each day.
Humans ‘Damaging The Oceans’ In Profound Ways
ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2009) — There is mounting evidence that human activity is changing the world’s oceans in profound and damaging ways.
Falling Behind On Green Tech
By John Doerr and Jeff Immelt
Monday, August 3, 2009
America confronts three interrelated crises: an economic crisis, a climate crisis and an energy security crisis. We believe there’s a fourth: a competitiveness crisis. This crisis is particularly evident in America’s worldwide standing in the next great global industry, green technology.
There is no topic of greater importance to America’s economic future. The question is whether the United States will lead or lag in tomorrow’s global energy markets. And the difference between these two futures is dramatic.
Published on Saturday, August 1, 2009 by The Guardian/UK
A Wind Farm Is Not the Answer
The green movement’s fixation with technology reveals that we are asking the wrong questions
New Hope For Fisheries: Overfishing Reduced In Several Regions Around The World
ScienceDaily (July 31, 2009) — Scientists have joined forces in a groundbreaking assessment on the status of marine fisheries and ecosystems. The two-year study, led by Boris Worm of Dalhousie University and Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington and including an international team of 19 co-authors, shows that steps taken to curb overfishing are beginning to succeed in five of the ten large marine ecosystems that they examined.