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August 31, 2005
The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans apparently survived Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed according to a report in The Baltimore Sun. Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana city Monday.
August 30, 2005 A dramatic rise in carbon dioxide 250 million years ago may have caused global temperatures to soar and result in Earth's greatest mass extinction, according to a study published in the September issue of Geology. Global warming, which may have produced temperatures 10 to 30 degrees Celsius higher than today, would have had a significant impact both on oceans, where about 95% of lifeforms became extinct, and on land, where almost 75% of species died out.
August 29, 2005
Late last month an atmospheric scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a study in Nature that found that hurricanes have grown significantly more powerful and destructive over the past three decades. Kerry Emanuel, the author of the study, warns that since hurricanes depend on warm water to form and build, global climate change might increase the effect of hurricanes still further in coming years.
August 28, 2005
I've added some special photo categories for images found on the site.
August 27, 2005
August 26, 2005 Between the 1967 and the 1990s, the Oriente rainforest of Ecuador suffered serious degradation and deforestation from Texaco's oil extraction and production activities. Today Texaco, now owned by Chevron, is facing a multi-billion dollar liability in a case stemming from its role in the environmental damage. Amazon Watch, an environmental group that has been tracking the case, says trial isn't going so well for the oil firm.
August 25, 2005
A group of scientists from Feati University in the Philippines recently devised a biological fuel cell that uses the enzyme Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD) to directly convert biochemical energy into electricity. Their research raises the possibility that household pests like mosquitoes, rats, cockroaches and flies could be used as biofuel sources.
August 24, 2005
August 23, 2005 This week policy makers, industry leaders, and development experts are meeting in Abuja, Nigeria to discuss the future of African fisheries and aquaculture. The fisheries sector, consisting of both inland (freshwater) and marine fisheries, is a vital source of food and income to millions of Africans. Fish production, processing and trade provides employment for more than 10 million, while fish exports from Africa are worth US$ 2.7 billion annually. The following is a description of the summit from Fish for All, an initiative seeking to shape public policy on issues from issues as fish and development, fish and nutrition, health, livelihood, environment, gender, water, river basins and coasts, trade and economic growth.
August 22, 2005 At the upcoming 8th World Wilderness Congress in Anchorage, Alaska, Dr. Michael Fay, a world-renowned conservationist and explorer famous for his 15-month, 2,000 mile walk through Central Africa's forests, will offer the first report on his "MegaFlyover," the yearlong survey took him through close to 50 countries and covered 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers). Over the course of his journey in a 1960's-era Cessna, Dr. Fay snapped digital photos every 20 seconds and landed in places rarely seen by humans. His survey will help set conservation priorities for the African continent.
August 20, 2005 Two hippo stories have been in the news lately. In the first, a baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, Kenya. In the second, an article by Mark Grossi in The Fresno Bee, hippo sweat could soon be used to prevent sunburn and protect skin from mosquito bites. Professor Christopher Viney at the University of California at Merced is working on deciphering the molecular structure of skin secretions from the hippopotamus. The research could eventually result in the creation of skin-care products based on compounds produced by the African animal.
August 19, 2005 A recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), and New York University, found that a single humpback whale migrated between the Atlantic and Indian oceans, the first documentation that whales move between ocean basins. It is believed that humpback whales make annual migrations of up to 25,000 km (16,000 miles).
August 18, 2005 Currently there are three "competitive" maps of the world's biodiversity hotspots based on different criteria: (1) areas rich in species diversity in general; (2) threatened species specifically; and (3) endemic species, which have a limited habitat. A new study found that these three maps share only 2.5% of their total area, thus adding confusion to what hotspots should be priorities for conservation efforts. The overlap all occurs in the Andean region of South America, implying that this area is the world's biodiversity champion.
August 17, 2005 Scientists in Australia are collecting blood from crocodiles in the hope of developing a powerful antibiotic for humans, after tests showed that the reptile's immune system kills the HIV virus.
August 16, 2005 An investigation by the International Fund for Animal Welfare found that wildlife products and live animals are trafficked illegally on the Internet.
August 12, 2005
I'm going to be away for a few days so I'm posting this a bit early.
August 11, 2005
August 10, 2005 German and Malagasy primatologists have discovered two new species of lemurs, naming one of them after Steve Goodman, a Field Museum scientist who has devoted nearly two decades to studying the animals of Madagascar.
August 9, 2005 Mark Hertsgaard argues in a San Francisco Chronicle editorial [external link] that nuclear energy isn't a viable option in the fight against global climate change and environmentalists should abandon it as a potential replacement for fossil fuel-based technologies. Citing a study by the Rocky Mountain Institute, Hertsgaard writes that "nuclear power is seven times less cost-effective at displacing carbon than the cheapest, fastest alternative -- energy efficiency." He uses the example of a $2 billion nuclear power plant. "If that $2 billion were instead spent to insulate drafty buildings, purchase hybrid cars or install super-efficient lightbulbs and clothes dryers, it would make unnecessary seven times more carbon consumption than the nuclear power plant would," writes Hertsgaard. "In short, energy efficiency offers a much bigger bang for the buck. In a world of limited capital, investing in nuclear power would divert money away from better responses to global warming, thus slowing the world's withdrawal from carbon fuels at a time when speed is essential."
August 8, 2005 The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a leading conservation group, estimates that 1,000 orang-utans are poached annually from the wild, often for sale as pets for the wealthy. The organization says there are some 30,000 to 40,000 orang-utans left in the wild.
August 7, 2005 Chocolate contains a powerful stimulant, theobromine, that provides health benefits for humans but could prove fatal for your pet.
August 6, 2005 A large plantation owner was caught burning almost 2 million trees in the Amazon to make way for a cattle pastures. Workers for Jose Dias Pereira, a landholder in the Brazilian state of Para, were caught by Inspectors from the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) and military police. IBAMA says this is the largest area of deforestation registered this year in Amazonia and has fined Pereira $770,000 (R$ 20.5 million reales).
August 5, 2005 In what has become almost an annual occurrence, fires are again burning in Indonesia and causing pollution troubles for neighboring Malaysia. Fires are set for agricultural land-clearing.
August 4, 2005 Authorities have found snakehead fish in New York state for the first time. Five snakeheads were captured in Meadow Lake in the New York borough of Queens during July and officials fear that the fish may be breeding. Snakeheads are of concern because they are voracious eaters that can rapidly ruin an ecosystem by consuming native species.
August 3, 2005
August 2, 2005 Today when Brazil is mentioned in the same sentence with "agriculture," people often first envision the Amazon rainforest giving way to soybean plantations and cattle farms. While the Amazon is being converted for such purposes, the cerrado, a vast area of savanna-like grasslands covering more than 20% of the country's surface area, is increasingly under threat as farmers from the United States and Europe are setting their sights on the biome's sizable agricultural potential.
August 1, 2005 In an effort to build its attractiveness as an ecotourism destination, Uganda has imported four rhinos from Kenya. The country hopes to develop a captive breeding program in an effort to reintroduce rhinos after their disappearance from the country in the 1960s due to poaching. archives | news | XML / RSS feed | photo blog
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