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Endangered dolphin passed around by beachgoers - video
Beachgoers in Argentina picked up and passed around an endangered Franciscana dolphin, which can be seen being plucked out of the water before being petted by beachgoers. Other images showed people taking selfies with the dolphin
Continue reading...Following orders to do something bad may distance us from a sense of responsibility
'Superinfected' mozzies could stop dengue and Zika
Human DNA in Neanderthals pushes back out-of Africa timeline
Ecotourism doesn't always help orangutans
Plants in Australia's outback may have 'given up'
US 'likely culprit' of global spike in methane emissions over last decade
Harvard study shows 30% rise across the country since 2002 with peaks coinciding with shale oil and gas boom, reports Climate Central
There was a huge global spike in one of the most potent greenhouse gases driving climate change over the last decade, and the U.S. may be the biggest culprit, according a new Harvard University study.
The United States alone could be responsible for between 30-60% of the global growth in human-caused atmospheric methane emissions since 2002 because of a 30% spike in methane emissions across the country, the study says.
Continue reading...Hubble studies 'super-Earth' atmosphere for first time
Aussie cockroaches evolved as climate changed millions of years ago
‘Never seen it so bad’: violence and impunity in Brazil’s Amazon
Former deputy editor of National Geographic Brazil says a “humanitarian catastrophe” is taking place in Brazil’s Amazon
One of the perpetrators of arguably Brazil’s most internationally high-profile murders in recent years is currently walking around free. In 2013, amid much media coverage, Lindonjonson Silva Rocha was sentenced to 42 years prison for killing two nut collectors-turned-environmental activists in southern Pará, but then in November last year he escaped.
One man who knew both victims, “Zé Cláudio” Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espírito Santo, is Felipe Milanez, a political ecologist at the Federal University of Recôncavo of Bahia, activist, film-maker, former deputy editor of National Geographic Brazil, and the editor of the recently-published book, Memórias Sertanistas: Cem Anos de Indigenismo no Brasil. Here I interview Milanez, via email, about Zé Cláudio and the Brazilian Amazon:
Continue reading...Donald Trump warned against scrapping Paris climate deal
US climate envoy says threats by Republican presidential candidates to withdraw from the global agreement would be ‘diplomatic black eye’
President Obama’s special envoy for climate change has warned Republican presidential hopefuls including Donald Trump and Ted Cruz that any attempt to scrap the Paris climate agreement would lead to a “diplomatic black eye” for the US.
Speaking to journalists in Brussels, Todd Stern also said that a recent supreme court decision to block Barack Obama’s clean power plan would not affect US climate pledges, or plans to formally sign up to the Paris agreement later this year.
Continue reading...Masdar's zero-carbon dream could become world’s first green ghost town
Developers have abandoned their original goal of building the world’s first zero-carbon city in the UAE desert. With completion originally scheduled for this year, just how much of the once-revolutionary vision has actually been realised?
Years from now passing travellers may marvel at the grandeur and the folly of the futuristic landscape on the edges of Abu Dhabi: the barely occupied office blocks, the deserted streets, the vast tracts of undeveloped land and – most of all – the abandoned dream of a zero-carbon city.
Masdar City, when it was first conceived a decade ago, was intended to revolutionise thinking about cities and the built environment.
Continue reading...Two BIG physics problems
New species of ancient flower found in amber from the Dominican Republic
Fiji becomes first country in the world to ratify Paris agreement
Parliament unanimously agree to ratify UN climate treaty ahead of signing ceremony in April in New York, reports BusinessGreen
Fiji has become the first country in the world to formally approve the UN climate deal agreed by 195 nations in Paris in December.
The island nation’s parliament unanimously agreed to ratify the Paris agreement on Friday, according to local news reports.
Continue reading...Help save Britain's seas from governments who make a mockery of marine conservation | George Monbiot
On Wednesday, the consultation closes on an outrageous proposal to allow destructive fishing activities in a special area of conservation in Wales. This is the last chance to make our voices heard
Governments take the advice they want to hear. As they seek to avoid trouble and find the path of least resistance, they often look for advice that meshes with the demands of industrial lobbyists.
This problem has afflicted the life of the sea for many years. Governments consult the scientists who tell them that high catches of fish are sustainable, and ignore more cautious assessments. This allows them to get the fishing lobby off their backs, while claiming to have based their decisions on science. Bad advice from scientists and selective hearing by government were among the factors that led to the collapse of the Grand Banks cod fishery off Newfoundland.
Continue reading...This climate scientist has tried really hard to get a date | Howard Lee
A date for disaster: the end-Permian mass extinction event.
Seth Burgess has, literally, travelled to the ends of the Earth to find a date. Along the way he has endured attacks of giant flesh-eating bee-flies, paddled a raft 60 miles in driving Siberian rain, braved volcanoes in Alaska, and inhaled polluted air in China for weeks on end, all the while hauling pounds of rocks. And all in the name of Science.
The date he seeks plays extremely hard to get.
Continue reading...The world's most polluted cities
This month’s data set graphic by Pete Guest looks at the deaths attributable to air pollution as well as WHO guidelines
Continue reading...Six-year-old girl dies after bite from brown snake in northern NSW
Girl was bitten at property near Walgett on 5 February, taken to local hospital then airlifted to Sydney Children’s hospital before her condition deteriorated
A six-year-old girl has died after being bitten by a brown snake on a property in outback New South Wales.
The girl was bitten at a property near Walgett, in the state’s north, on the afternoon of 5 February and was transferred to the local hospital to receive anti-venom.
Continue reading...‘Phony peach’: the disease that threatens to devastate Britain’s trees and plants
Xylella fastidiosa has wreaked havoc in the US and Europe and could dwarf the impact of ash dieback in the UK
It has caused severe damage to plants and trees in the US and southern Europe and now there are fears it is heading this way. With experts warning that it could make the devastating ash dieback disease seem like “a walk in the park”, the UK is on red alert for signs that Xylella fastidiosa has entered the country.
First confirmed in Europe three years ago when it ran rampant across olive plantations in southern Italy, a subspecies of Xylella has since been detected in southern France, where it has destroyed vines and lavender plants, and in Corsica. Xylella fastidiosa has also been found in both South and North America where it is commonly referred to as “phony peach disease” and where it has caused severe damage to citrus and coffee plantations. In New Jersey it has attacked more than a third of the state’s urban trees.
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