Newsitem List

The Durban South Africa UN climate change talks - COP17 - are drawing to a close. Ministers and heads of state met through Friday night to thrash out some meaning from these talks as civil society protested in the conference foyer and then outside in an overnight vigil....

Bison in Greater Yellowstone were sabotaged this week by the recommendations of a citizens working group that largely backed up the goals and management tactics of the partners to the Interagency Bison Management Plan. While the Citizens Working Group called for year-round habitat for bison in small parcels of land north and west of the park, they reaffirmed slaughter, hazing, and quarantine of wild buffalo, while upholding the false bogeyman of brucellosis. More importantly, at heart, they...

The carbon sink capacity of urbanized river estuary and coastal environments to mitigate climate change has reduced by 100 fold according to scientists from the University of Technology Sydney. The Scientists used core samples from Botany Bay in Sydney to reconstruct the sedimentation changes in the past 6000 years, highlighting the changes in the ecology. The plant samples in the sedimentation changed as rapid industrialisation occurred around Botany Bay during the 1950s....

A major new report on climate change in the Pacific Ocean region reports that the region is getter hotter, sea levels are rising, rainfall is changing and equatorial winds have weakened. The number of tropical cyclones may decrease slightly in the future, however cyclone intensity may also increase....

Over the past weekend the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the 'Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation' (SREX). The report confirms the long term trends in increasing global temperatures, rainfall, and incidence of drought, and many other effects with somehat lesser confidence. The report succinctly integrates a discussion of vulnerability, risk management and adaptation strategies for managing and ada...

16x9 The Bigger Picture - Untested Science A new frontier of natural gas production is making controversial headlines. Hydraulic Fracturing or "fracking" is becoming more common in Canada. But experts say "fracking" can cause contaminated ground water, earthquakes and pollute our land with toxic chemicals....

PRESS RELEASE: The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (PPT) will convene in Bangalore, India, to hear cases brought against six multinational agrochemical companies who stand accused of violating human rights by promoting reliance on the sale and use of pesticides known to undermine internationally recognised rights to health, livelihood and life....

The world’s population surpassed 7 billion on October 31. But except for perhaps the anti-family planning lobby, this was a milestone that few were in a mood to celebrate....

environment...

"The sooner we can get a handle on what’s causing the outbreak and take steps to prevent the spread to Alaska waters, the better,” said Tim Bristol, director of Trout Unlimited, Alaska Program. Photo of spawning sockeye salmon courtesy of Travis Nelson, Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife....