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Increase in Yellowstone visitors raises park's concerns over wildlife and safety
Park rangers reassess how to manage tourist violations, staff burnout and ‘animal jam’ as number of national park guests peaked to four million last year
Yellowstone national park is finding new ways to manage tourism after visits jumped by almost 600,000 between 2014 and 2015. After 15 years of steady growth, last year’s 4m visits was a tipping point, says park ranger Charissa Reid.
The park expects the number to rise in 2016. July is likely to be the first million-visit month in the park’s 144-year history.
Continue reading...Is depression a state of body not mind?
Bane of the oceans
Air pollution threat hidden as research 'presumes people are at home': study
Previous investigations fail to reveal impact of ‘world’s largest human health threat’ because they do not account for people’s movement, researchers say
The true impact of air pollution has been obscured by the failure to consider people’s exposure as they move around during the day, according to a new study that has mapped the hotspots of New York’s air pollution based on where people gather for work or recreation.
The research cites air pollution as “the world’s single largest environment and human health threat” but laments that the problem has not previously been “considered spatially and temporally”, with most studies basing a person’s pollution exposure on where they live.
Continue reading...Balkan countries unite in a war on waste
Trash activists from former war-torn countries formed some of the world’s largest cross-border civic movements against rubbish and pollution
Balkan countries once divided by war, nationalism and religion have been quietly uniting to confront a common foe: rubbish.
Under the rubric of the Let’s Do It campaign, Albanian and Kosovar activists jointly cleared their border area and the polluted Lake Vermica last April, in a Wombles-style campaign that has involved more than 5% of Albania’s population, and 7% of Kosovo’s.
Continue reading...Yuval Noah Harari: "We are probably one of the last generations of Homo sapiens."
The best and worst of worlds in my Kenya
Paula Kahumbu: When will we learn that wildlife conservation is part of wealth creation and not an obstacle to it?
Three days spent in Samburu Reserve to celebrate World Elephants Day with 91 children from Kenya’s poor neighbourhoods, slums and rural areas were probably the most moving experience of my life.
A team of staff, interns and volunteers from my NGO WildlifeDirect put on an ambitious three-day programme of discovery, play and learning for the children. The children experienced a real safari, in a four-wheeled-drive vehicle. They camped for the first time in their lives. They met wild animals in the wilderness of Samburu, and talked to rangers and scientists involved in wildlife conservation.
Continue reading...China unveils 2020 Mars mission probe and rover
Young rabbit considers us as a threat
Wenlock Edge The rabbit we watched watching us was taking its sentry duty seriously, and had the makings of a dominant adult – if it survived long enough
All ear and eye, the rabbit was as alert as an exclamation mark. It remained still and watchful, as if it thought it was invisible when in fact its attention was so intense it seemed as obvious as a warning beacon in an otherwise languid August afternoon.
The young rabbit was assessing the distance of this particular threat – two people and a dog – the distance to the burrow in the hedge, an escape route across the field, the position of the other rabbits, other potential threats from land and sky.
Continue reading...Mojo agrees with AGL – Disruptors set to take their business
Labor ready to sacrifice ARENA for medal in budget Olympics
New transmission line will open up wind farm opportunities
UNHCR's 'Blue Dot' hubs
In response to the increasing number of women and children fleeing the war in Syria, UNHCR has set up a number of special support centres, also known as “Blue Dot” hubs, along the route through Greece and the Western Balkans specifically catering to their needs.
Continue reading...Five years to zero emissions – Australia’s climate reality check
Investors controlling $13tn call on G20 leaders to ratify Paris climate agreement
Investors say countries that move first will attract investments and call for regulators to force disclosure of climate-related risks
A group of 130 institutions that control US$13tn of investments have called on G20 nations to ratify the Paris agreement this year and accelerate investment in clean energy and forced disclosure of climate-related financial risk.
Countries that ratified the Paris agreement early would benefit from better policy certainty and would attract investment in low-carbon technology, the signatories said in a letter before the G20 heads of government meeting in September.
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