Rising Ocean Temperatures Could Set Off a Chain Reaction That Threatens Our Food Supply
Laura June reports for The Outline:
The research, conducted by a team at the University of Oregon, suggests that the temperature of the abyssal ocean (depths of 3,000 to 6,000 meters) could rise by about 1 degree Celsius over the next 84 years, which might not sound like a lot to a lay person. But, the research also suggests that this rise in temperature would likely cause massive problems all over the planet, because it is dependent on the deep ocean’s health, which accounts for more than 95 percent of the ocean’s entire volume. “Biodiversity in many of these areas is defined by the meager amount of food reaching the seafloor and over the next 80-plus years — in certain parts of the world — that amount of food will be cut in half,” Andrew Thurber, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University, and co-author of the study, said in a press release about the work.
Temperatures in the bathyal area of the ocean — not quite so deep, at around 200 to 3,000 meters — are expected to rise even more, up to 4 degrees Celsius in the same period. It is, Dr. Thurber said, “the equivalent of having summer for the first time in thousands to millions of years.” The main effect for the ocean in all of this will be an exacerbated lack of food and an increase in the metabolisms of the existing organisms. Increased metabolism leads to a need for more food, which is going to be a problem at a time when there will be an ever-lessening supply. Abyssal waters are already some of the most food-deprived areas of the planet, so the prospect of halving this already minuscule supply would be truly devastating.
Our Oceans Are Garbage
Tyler Hooper reports for VICE:
[…] Last September, more than 40 tons of garbage was pulled from the beaches of Vancouver Island alone. A good portion of the garbage is alleged to have come from the Japanese tsunami of 2011. However, the problem is not limited to just Vancouver Island; in 2015, a study estimated that the ocean contained 5.25 trillion pieces of garbage and counting. Some even estimate there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.
There have been reports from around the globe about the impact plastic pollution is having on both coastal marine environments and the wildlife that inhabits these regions. Recently, a whale off the Norwegian coast was found with more than 30 plastic bags in its stomach. In Canada, researchers have warned that plastic is affecting birds and smaller marine life. For a country with the largest coastline, it’s a problem that’s not getting better.
“The amount of plastic on [the] beaches is getting worse,” said Gillian Montgomery, chapter manager of the Vancouver Island Surfrider. Montgomery elaborated, adding that from what she’s seen plastic pollution has only gotten worse over the past few years and it’s not getting any better. It’s a frustration echoed by her colleague McKay. “The government does not publicly say plastics are a problem,” McKay said. “Because we have recycling, they just assume recycling takes care of everything.”
Bees Are Even Smarter Than We Realized
Annalee Newitz reports for Arstechnia:
You can now add bees to the rarefied list of tool-using animals, which already includes primates, crows, octopods, otters, porpoises, and more. A fascinating set of experiments has revealed that bees can be taught to use tools, even though they don’t use them in the wild.
Queen Mary University of London biologist Olli J. Loukola and his colleagues wanted to find out more about how bee intelligence works. Previous experiments with the insects have shown that they can count, communicate with each other using “waggle dances” that reveal the direction of food, and pull strings to get access to food. Loukola’s new tool use test showed that not only are bees good with tools, but they can also extemporize to use them more effectively.
Nature Videos Make Prisoners Less Violent
Coby McDonald reports for PopSci:
Imprisonment in America often means complete seclusion from nature. Take the case of the maximum security inmates at Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon: they spend 23 hours a day locked in 7 X 12 foot concrete cells. The only windows face inside the unit. Four or five times a week they can spend an hour in an exercise yard that is about twenty times smaller than a basketball court. From the yard, prisoners can glimpse the sky—the only “nature” they ever see. And this is typical.
Of course, prisons weren’t designed for comfort, and one could argue that access to nature is one of many pleasures that convicted criminals forfeit. But mental illness is a growing problem in prisons, the impacts of which society at large bears when inmates are released. Solitary confinement (a staple of maximum security units) has been shown to cause mental health issues, or when preexisting, exacerbate them. And it turns out that isolation from other human beings might not be the only factor. Researchers in the field of ecopsychology believe that nature deprivation can also damage mental well-being.
That concept resonated with the administrators at Snake River who were struggling to address violence and suicide among their most troubled inmates. The superintendent of the prison, Mark Nooth, encouraged his staff to explore novel solutions.
U.S. Navy Secretly Conducting Electromagnetic Warfare Training on Washington Roads
Dahr Jamail reports for Truthout:
Without public notification of any kind, the US Navy has secretly been conducting electromagnetic warfare testing and training on public roads in western Washington State for more than five years.
An email thread between the Navy and the US Forest Service between 2010 and 2012, recently obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Oregon-based author and activist Carol Van Strum in November 2014, revealed that the Navy has likely been driving mobile electromagnetic warfare emitters and conducting electromagnetic warfare training in the Olympic National Forest and on public roads on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula since 2010.
[…] As Truthout previously reported, the Navy itself has produced a medical study showing that exposure to electromagnetic radiation causes a myriad of human health problems, including corneal damage, tubular degeneration of testicles, brain heating, sterility, altered penile function, death, cranial nerve disorders, seizures, convulsions, depression, insomnia, chest pain, and even sparking between dental fillings.
Other reports by the US Air Force, NASA, medical doctors and scientific publications confirm these and other deleterious health effects that would result from the Navy’s electromagnetic weaponry arsenal, in addition to large-scale negative impacts on birds, aquatic life and other biota.
Industrial farming is one of the worst crimes in history
Yuval Noah Harari reports for The Guardian:
[…] The fate of animals in such industrial installations has become one of the most pressing ethical issues of our time, certainly in terms of the numbers involved. These days, most big animals live on industrial farms. We imagine that our planet is populated by lions, elephants, whales and penguins. That may be true of the National Geographic channel, Disney movies and children’s fairytales, but it is no longer true of the real world. The world contains 40,000 lions but, by way of contrast, there are around 1 billion domesticated pigs; 500,000 elephants and 1.5 billion domesticated cows; 50 million penguins and 20 billion chickens.
In 2009, there were 1.6 billion wild birds in Europe, counting all species together. That same year, the European meat and egg industry raised 1.9 billion chickens. Altogether, the domesticated animals of the world weigh about 700m tonnes, compared with 300m tonnes for humans, and fewer than 100m tonnes for large wild animals.
This is why the fate of farm animals is not an ethical side issue. It concerns the majority of Earth’s large creatures: tens of billions of sentient beings, each with a complex world of sensations and emotions, but which live and die on an industrial production line. Forty years ago, the moral philosopher Peter Singer published his canonical book Animal Liberation, which has done much to change people’s minds on this issue. Singer claimed that industrial farming is responsible for more pain and misery than all the wars of history put together.
The scientific study of animals has played a dismal role in this tragedy. The scientific community has used its growing knowledge of animals mainly to manipulate their lives more efficiently in the service of human industry. Yet this same knowledge has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that farm animals are sentient beings, with intricate social relations and sophisticated psychological patterns. They may not be as intelligent as us, but they certainly know pain, fear and loneliness. They too can suffer, and they too can be happy.
- It’s time to wean ourselves off the fairytale version of farming
- The abuse of animals won’t stop until we stop eating meat
- Cruelty to farm animals should come as no surprise
- Industrial farming puts ecosystems at risk of collapse, warns Prince Charles
- Farmageddon (Documentary)
- Food Inc. (Docuementary)
- Death On A Factory Farm (Documentary)
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (Book)
- Animal Liberation by Peter Singer (Book)
- Intensive animal farming – Wikipedia
British oil company’s hand behind Congo army action
Marc Santora writes for Business Day Live:
‘
When a British oil company began prospecting in Africa’s oldest national park, drawing worldwide concern and inspiring an Oscar-nominated documentary last year, the company was adamant in denying any wrongdoing.
Though soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo may have engaged in a campaign of intimidation and coercion against residents who were opposed to drilling in the park, the company said it could not be held responsible for their actions.
“We can’t tell the army to go and kiss off,” Roger Cagle, the deputy chief executive director of the oil company, SOCO International, told The Telegraph newspaper. He said the soldiers had been assigned by the Congolese government to keep the company safe.
But according to documents obtained by Global Witness, an advocacy group, SOCO appears to have paid tens of thousands of dollars to an army officer who has been accused of leading a brutal campaign against those objecting to the company’s oil exploration in the Virunga National Park.’
- Church of England divests from Soco oil firm over Virunga operations
- Soco International Accused of Paying Bribes for Congo Oil Exploration
- ‘Soco paid Congo major’ accused of Virunga oil intimidation
- Democratic Republic of Congo wants to open up Virunga national park to oil exploration
- Virunga film-makers ask viewers to join campaign against oil company Soco
- Soco halts oil exploration in Africa’s Virunga national park
Stanford researcher Paul Ehrlich warns sixth mass extinction is here
Editor’s Note: Paul Ehrlich is well known for making predictions of doom about the future going back decades starting with his 1968 book ‘The Population Bomb’. You can learn more about his work (including criticisms) in the links below.
- Sixth mass extinction is here: Humanity’s existence threatened
- What Paul Ehrlich Missed (and Still Does): The Population Challenge Is About Rights
- Political Population Poppycock, and the Ethics of Misinformation
- The Infamous 1968 ‘Population Bomb’ Doomsayer Still Stands by His Claim
- The Bleak Science Bankrolled by the Pentagon
- Earth faces sixth ‘great extinction’ with 41% of amphibians set to go the way of the dodo
- Pulitzer-winning scientist warns wildlife face a ‘biological holocaust’
- Invertebrate populations have seen a 45% decline over the last 40 years
- Biologist warn of early stages of Earth’s sixth mass extinction event
- NASA-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for ‘irreversible collapse’?
- Paul Ehrlich: ‘Nobody Has The Right to Have 12 Children – Or Even 3’
- Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown
- Betting on the Apocalypse
- Cracked Crystal Ball: Environmental Catastrophe Edition
- Ehrlich: We Must Change Behavior to Save Global Culture
- Astonishing falls in the fertility rate are bringing with them big benefits
- Overpopulation – RationalWiki
- The Population Bomb – Wikipedia
- Paul R. Ehrlich – Wikipedia
Want to Help Nepal Recover from the Quake? Cancel its Debt, Says Rights Group
Kanya D’Almeida writes for IPS News:
‘
[…] Questions abound as to how this impoverished nation, ranked 145 out of 187 on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) – making it one of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) – will recover from the disaster, considered the worst in Nepal in over 80 years.
One possible solution has come from the Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of over 75 U.S.-based organisations and 400 faith communities worldwide, which said in a press release Monday that Nepal could qualify for debt relief under the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) new Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCR).
The IMF created the CCR this past February in order to assist poor countries recover from severe natural disasters or health crises by providing grants for debt service relief. Already, the fund has eased some of the financial woes of Ebola-impacted countries by agreeing to cancel nearly 100 million dollars of debt.
Quoting World Bank figures, Jubilee USA said in a statement, “Nepal owes 3.8 billion dollars in debt to foreign lenders and spent 217 million dollars repaying debt in 2013.”
Nepal owes some 1.5 billion dollars each to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as well as 54 million dollars to the IMF, 133 million dollars to Japan and 101 million dollars to China.’
- Death Toll In Nepal Crosses 6800
- Nepal quake: ‘No chance’ to find more survivors, as death toll rises
- Nepal government criticised for blocking earthquake aid to remote areas
- Nepal customs holding up relief efforts, says United Nations
- Aid Needed For Earthquake Victims On Himalayan Villages
- Nepal’s Rich Cultural Heritage Devastated By Quake
- Nepal Aid Workers Helped by Drones, Crowdsourcing
- One thousand Europeans still missing after Nepal quake
- Nepali village deals with death and destruction
- The economic impact of Nepal’s earthquake
- Disease outbreak threatens Nepal’s quake survivors
Was 1610 the beginning of a new human epoch?
Hannah Devlin reports for The Guardian:
‘
King James was on the throne, Shakespeare’s Cymbeline was playing in the theatre and Galileo discovered four moons of Jupiter. In future, though, 1610 could be chiefly remembered as the geological time-point at which humans came to dominate Earth.
Scientists have argued that it is time to draw a line under the current geological epoch and usher in the start of a new one, defined by mankind’s impact on the planet.
The year 1610 is a contender for marking the transition, they claim, because this is when the irreversible transfer of crops and species between the new and old worlds was starting to be acutely felt.’
Why Animals Eat Psychoactive Plants
‘The United Nations says the drug war’s rationale is to build “a drug-free world — we can do it!” U.S. government officials agree, stressing that “there is no such thing as recreational drug use.” So this isn’t a war to stop addiction, like that in my family, or teenage drug use. It is a war to stop drug use among all humans, everywhere. All these prohibited chemicals need to be rounded up and removed from the earth. That is what we are fighting for.
I began to see this goal differently after I learned the story of the drunk elephants, the stoned water buffalo, and the grieving mongoose. They were all taught to me by a remarkable scientist in Los Angeles named Professor Ronald K. Siegel.’
- Intoxication: The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering Substances (Book)
- Graham Hancock: The War on Consciousness
- Citing Failed War on Drugs, World Leaders Call for Widespread Decriminalization
- How the War on Drugs and the War on Terror Merged Into One Disastrous War on All Americans
- ‘It is time to end the war on drugs’, says top UK police chief
John Perkins on Embracing Cuba, TPP Kiss of Death & Restoring the Life Economy
‘Abby Martin interviews Author and Activist, John Perkins, discussing the economic impact of the US’ new policy towards Cuba as well as the damage that international free trade agreements do to third world economies.’ (Breaking the Set)
Earth faces sixth ‘great extinction’ with 41% of amphibians set to go the way of the dodo
Robin McKie reports for The Guardian:
‘A stark depiction of the threat hanging over the world’s mammals, reptiles, amphibians and other life forms has been published by the prestigious scientific journal, Nature. A special analysis carried out by the journal indicates that a staggering 41% of all amphibians on the planet now face extinction while 26% of mammal species and 13% of birds are similarly threatened.
Many species are already critically endangered and close to extinction, including the Sumatran elephant, Amur leopard and mountain gorilla. But also in danger of vanishing from the wild, it now appears, are animals that are currently rated as merely being endangered: bonobos, bluefin tuna and loggerhead turtles, for example.
In each case, the finger of blame points directly at human activities. The continuing spread of agriculture is destroying millions of hectares of wild habitats every year, leaving animals without homes, while the introduction of invasive species, often helped by humans, is also devastating native populations. At the same time, pollution and overfishing are destroying marine ecosystems.’
- Biodiversity: Life – a status report
- Pentagon preparing for mass civil breakdown
- Exhaustion of cheap mineral resources is terraforming Earth – scientific report
- Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for ‘irreversible collapse’?
- The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Book Review)
The Ocean Contains Over Five Trillion Pieces of Plastic Weighing More than 250,000 Tons
Rachel Nuwer reports for Smithsonian:
‘Plastic is the most pervasive pollutant in the ocean today. But researchers have struggled to estimate just how much of the 6 billion tons of plastic that has been manufactured since the mid-20th century ultimately winds up in the ocean.
Now a carefully vetted estimate of our oceans’ plastic burden shows that the answer is not pretty. Based on the calculations, at least 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic—weighing nearly 269,000 tons—are currently bobbing around in the ocean. A team of researchers from six countries reported the finding today in PLOS ONE.
Revealing this disturbing figure required the team to conduct 24 garbage-collecting expeditions between 2007 and 2013. Those trips to sea included visits to all five sub-tropical gyres—large systems of constantly rotating currents infamous for their roles in creating garbage patches—plus the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Bengal and Australia. At all of the sites, teams collected water samples for estimating the amount of microplastic, pieces of plastic smaller than 4.75 millimeters. They also tallied up larger pieces using standardized visual surveys. These data represent the most comprehensive tally yet done for ocean plastic pollution.’
Construction of Nicaragua canal to begin December 22
‘
Construction of Nicaragua’s $50 billion Interoceanic Grand Canal, expected to rival the Panama Canal, will begin Dec. 22 after feasibility studies have been approved, the committee overseeing the project said on Thursday.
The route suggested for the 172-mile (278-km) canal, which would be longer, deeper and wider than the Panama Canal, was approved in July. Construction will be led by Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group).
Opponents of the plan are concerned about the canal’s effect on Lake Nicaragua, an important fresh water source for the country, as well as the impact on poorer communities.
Committee member Telemaco Talavera said the feasibility studies were expected to be approved next month. The plan is to finish the canal within five years, with it becoming operational around 2020.’
The Top Censored Stories of 2014: Interview with Mickey Huff
‘Abby Martin interviews, Mickey Huff, Director of Project Censored, about some of the top 25 censored stories of 2014, covering everything from the lack of police brutality statistics to the impact of ocean acidification.’ (Breaking the Set)
Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF
Damian Carrington reports for The Guardian:
‘The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.
“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” said Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.” He said nature, which provides food and clean water and air, was essential for human wellbeing.’
Zeitgeist’s Peter Joseph on Wealth Illusion, Structural Violence & Hope for Survival
‘Abby Martin interviews the creator of the Zeitgeist Movement, Peter Joseph, covering everything from the upcoming Zeitgeist Festival in Los Angeles on October 4th to economic and societal solutions to global problems ranging from environmental destruction to mass inequality. (Breaking the Set)
FEMA Is Trying To Get Back $5.8M in Hurricane Sandy Aid Money
Alice Speri reports for VICE News:
‘The US disaster response agency is now asking Hurricane Sandy victims to return millions that it accidentally handed out following the devastating storm, which in the fall of 2012 affected the entire eastern seaboard of the US, from Florida to Maine, and as far west as Wisconsin.
The agency is hoping to recoup some $5.8 million in aid it disbursed to households affected by the “superstorm” that flooded several communities and killed dozens of people while damaging or destroying tens of thousands of homes.
FEMA shelled out some $1.4 billion in aid following the storms — but it is now looking into some 4,500 households it has found to be ineligible for the funds, and it has already sent out letters to about 850 of them asking for its money back, the Associated Press found in an investigation of the agency’s records.’
Illegal land clearing for commercial agriculture responsible for half of tropical deforestation
‘A comprehensive new analysis released today says that nearly half (49%) of all recent tropical deforestation is the result of illegal clearing for commercial agriculture. The study also finds that the majority of this illegal destruction was driven by overseas demand for agricultural commodities including palm oil, beef, soy, and wood products. In addition to devastating impacts on forest-dependent people and biodiversity, the illegal conversion of tropical forests for commercial agriculture is estimated to produce 1.47 gigatonnes of carbon each year — equivalent to 25% of the EU’s annual fossil fuel-based emissions.’
British oil giant accused of bribery in tussle over Africa’s oldest national park
Jim Armitage reports for The Independent:
‘Contractors and agents working on behalf of a major London-based oil company paid bribes to officials and rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo in their bid to explore for oil in Africa’s oldest national park, according to anti-corruption activists.
Soco International has been conducting studies on whether it is feasible to drill for oil in Lake Edward in Virunga, the Unesco world heritage site made famous by Dian Fossey and the movie Gorillas in the Mist. In April, the park’s head, Emmanuel de Merode was shot and seriously injured by unknown assailants.’
- Soco International Says It Will Cancel Oil Exploration in Congo’s Virunga Park
- Soco denies paying for Congo DRC trip to UN to discuss Virunga oil drilling
- Soco International’s oil activity in world heritage park raises tricky questions for investors
- VIRUNGA: Interview with filmaker Orlando von Einsiedel
- Virunga – Official Trailer
What?! Another Massive BP Oil Spill Cover-Up? Interview with Greg Palast
‘Abby Martin speaks with investigative journalist, Greg Palast discussing the most recent penalties against BP, and aspects of the company’s criminality that have been largely overlooked by the rest of the media including a massive oil spill cover-up in the Caspian Sea.’ (Breaking the Set)
- UK government lends hand to BP in U.S. Gulf oil spill rulings
- Sick Gulf Oil Spill Victim Speaks Out Against BP’s Lies
- Interview with Antonia Juhasz on the BP Gulf Oil Spill Ruling
- Black Tide: The Devastating Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill (Book)
- BP Lashes Out at Journalists and “Opportunistic” Environmentalists
- BP could face up to $18bn in extra fines after US ruling on Gulf of Mexico spill
- Halliburton Gulf Oil Spill Settlement Will Shield Company from Billions in Liability
- BP’s cleanup promise broken; oil visible on beaches
- Mike Papantonio: BP’s Toxic Legacy
- How BP Uses Bribes To Do Business: Interview with Greg Palast
- The Untold Story of The BP Gulf Disaster: Interview with Greg Palast
- Lap Dancers, the CIA, Payoffs and BP’s Deepwater Horizon
- Gulf of Mexico Dolphins, Sea Turtles Dying in Record Numbers
- BP Refinery Spilling Oil into Lake Michigan
Bacteria found in bees show potential as an alternative to antibiotics
Fiona MacDonald reports for Science Alert:
‘A team of researchers from Lund University in Sweden has identified a unique group of 13 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that come from the honey stomach of bees, and are found in fresh honey, that have an impressive ability to fight pathogens. The honey stomach is one of two stomachs found in bees, and it stores nectar, which worker bees later suck out and store in the hive.
Together, these live bacteria produce a number of active microbial compounds, such as hydrogen peroxide, fatty acids and anaesthetics, that can kill other harmful bacteria – it’s believed that this is the formula that protects the bee colony against collapse. Unfortunately, these LAB are processed out of the honey we buy in shops, but the researchers now believe they could be used to help treat anitibiotic resistance.’
Chemical Industry using TTIP ‘to attack the precautionary principle’
Axel Singhofen reports for Chemical Watch:
‘The last 12 months have seen a surge of attacks against the EU’s precautionary principle. Some law firms consider it as a potential obstacle to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and UK Conservative MEP Julie Girling considers that “the EU’s expanding embrace of `precautionary’ regulation… may well be the biggest threat” to an agreement being signed off.
Last October, 12 CEOs of mainly chemical companies wrote to the presidents of the European Commission, Council and Parliament, calling for the formal adoption of an “innovation principle” as a counterbalance to “precautionary legislation”, because they were concerned that “the necessary balance of precaution and proportion is increasingly being replaced by a simple reliance on the precautionary principle and the avoidance of technological risk.’
- Report: Late lessons from early warnings: science, precaution, innovation
- Constructing “Sound Science” and “Good Epidemiology”: Tobacco, Lawyers, and Public Relations Firms
- A reply to a “common sense” intervention by toxicology journal editors
- Deficits in US and European chemicals legislation
- WHO/UNEP Report: Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
- Berlaymont Declaration on Endocrine Disrupters
- Conservative MEP: The Junk Science Threat to Free Trade
From Pine Beetles to Disappearing Glaciers, NASA Scientists Tell of “Dramatic” Planetary Changes
Dahr Jamail writes for Truthout:
Until very recently, popular thinking assumed that anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) was in a “slow” period. However, last year, a study published in Geophysical Research Letters showed that the planet had experienced more overall warming in the 15 years leading up to March 2013 than it had in the 15 years before that. In case there was any doubt that the planet is warming more quickly than previously thought, a study published in the August 22, 2014 issue of Science has verified this.
Another study from July addressed how regional climate systems were synchronizing, after which “the researchers detected wild variability that amplified the changes and accelerated into an abrupt warming event of several degrees within a few decades.” Shortly thereafter, yet another study showed that rapid warming of the Atlantic waters, most likely due to ACD, has “turbocharged” the Pacific Equatorial trade winds. Whenever that phenomenon stops, it is highly likely we will witness very rapid changes across the globe, including a sudden acceleration of the average surface temperature of the planet.
In Chad, elephants make a comeback
Celeste Hicks reports for Al Jazeera:
‘[…] The dire situation facing Africa’s elephants has become headline news. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists last month warned that poaching had caused elephant populations to reach a tipping point on the continent where more animals are being killed than are being born.
In Central Africa, the number of elephants has declined by 60 percent in just a decade. Zakouma, however, is bucking that trend. There has not been a single case of poaching inside the 19,000-square-mile park for nearly three years.
That’s very different from the situation at the end of the last decade, when a wave of killings hit the park, near the border with Central African Republic. The number of elephants that inhabit the park for most of the year fell from about 4,000 in 2006 to just 450 by 2011.’
Pulitzer-winning scientist warns wildlife face a ‘biological holocaust’
Tom Bawden reports for The Independent:
‘Half the planet should be set aside solely for the protection of wildlife to prevent the “mass extinction” of species, according to one of the world’s leading biologists. The radical conservation strategy proposed by Dr E.O. Wilson, the hugely-influential 85-year old Harvard University scientist, would see humans essentially withdraw from half of the Earth.
Dr Wilson, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, warned that we are facing a “biological holocaust” as devastating as the extinction of the dinosaurs unless humans agree to share land more equally with the planet’s 10 million other species. Outlining his audacious “Half Earth” theory, he said: “It’s been in my mind for years that people haven’t been thinking big enough – even conservationists.’
Iceland raises Bardarbunga volcano alert to orange
‘The risk of an eruption at Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano has increased, with signs of “ongoing magma movement”, Iceland’s meteorological office says. The risk level to the aviation industry has been raised to orange, the second-highest level, the met office said. Any eruption could potentially lead to flooding or an emission of gas, the office added in a statement.
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 2010, producing an ash cloud that severely disrupted European airspace. The Bardarbunga volcanic system is located under the north-west region of Iceland’s Vatnajokull glacier.’
Effects Of Radiation From The Fukushima Disaster On The Ecosystem Are Being Slowly Revealed
Chris Pash reports for Business Insider:
‘A range of scientific studies at Fukushima have begun to reveal the impact on the natural world from the radiation leaks at the power station in Japan caused by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Biological samples were obtained only after extensive delays following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown, limiting the information which could be gained about the impact of that disaster. Scientists, determined not to repeat the shortcomings of the Chernobyl studies, began gathering biological information only a few months after the meltdown of the Daiichi power plant in 2011.
Results of these studies are now beginning to reveal serious biological effects of the Fukushima radiation on non-human organisms ranging from plants to butterflies to birds. A series of articles summarising these studies has now been published in the Journal of Heredity. These describe widespread impacts, ranging from population declines to genetic damage to responses by the repair mechanisms that help organisms cope with radiation exposure. “A growing body of empirical results from studies of birds, monkeys, butterflies, and other insects suggests that some species have been significantly impacted by the radioactive releases related to the Fukushima disaster,” says Dr Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina, lead author of one of the studies.’
- The Fukushima Health Crisis: Why New Studies Are Needed Now!
- Study: Japanese monkeys’ abnormal blood linked to Fukushima disaster
- Abnormal changes in small birds and the role of science
- Harvey Wasserman: Fukushima’s Children are Dying
- Global Physicians Issue Scathing Critique of UN Report on Fukushima
- UN Report: Fukushima radiation ‘unlikely’ to increase cancer rates
- Trace Levels of Fukushima Disaster Radionuclides in East Pacific Albacore
- Navy sailor suffering after Fukushima exposure: Others with same symptoms “told to be quiet”
- Ailing U.S. Sailors Sue TEPCO After Exposure to Radiation 30x Higher Than Normal
- U.S. sailors sue Tepco for $1 billion over alleged radiation exposure
- Radiation damage at the root of Chernobyl’s ecosystems
