A hotter planet means disappearing glaciers and ice, especially in the Arctic.
Ice in the Arctic continues to thin and disappear, even faster than anticipated. Arctic sea ice extent during September 2011 (the month when ice is at a minimum) was nearly 35 percent below the 1979-2000 average — the second smallest September Arctic sea ice extent since precise records began in 1979, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. And it wasn’t just September: overall, 2011 Arctic ice extent (that bottom blue line) was far below the long-term average for every single month.
Climate Change: Still Real
Take a closer look at what’s inside typical beauty products — the facts get pretty ugly. From harsh chemicals that pose health risks to the prevalence of petroleum-derived ingredients, you might be surprised to learn that what’s inside all those bottles and tubes is ruining the planet.
11 beauty products ruining the environment
Borneo monkey thought to be extinct caught on camera
Scientists don’t know how wide the langurs’ range is, how many there are or their population density.
Experts perplexed by 60 dolphins stranded on Cape Cod
In the past week, dozens of dolphins have swam onto land along Cape Cod, one of the largest cases of dolphins stranding themselves in years.
If there is no ice, there will be no polar bears
Biologist Geoff York, who oversees WWF’s polar bear conservation strategy, wants to help others understand how their daily actions affect this fragile region.
Wildlife vet Alex Lewis injects a mixture of dye and poison into the horn of this drugged rhino on Inverdoorn Game Reserve near Ceres. Picture: Matthew Jordaan
The horns of rhinos are being poisoned in hopes of deterring poachers and saving the species
The poison will not kill, but is designed to make anyone who consumes the ground-up horn feel sick. Most poached horn is smuggled into Asia where it fetches sky-high prices in the traditional medicine trade, although it has no proven medicinal qualities.
The horns were also injected with a bright-red dye that effectively defaced their interior, making them unusable as dagger handles or other ornamentation. Rhino horn has been used, particularly in Yemen, for dagger handles. The dye and poison combination was developed by Denel and has been designed to bind with keratin, the substance horn, hair and nails are made of.
The third part of the anti-poaching cocktail was barium, injected into smaller holes, which will show up on X-rays if the horns are smuggled through airport security.
Inverdoorn owner Damian Vergnaud, who was present throughout the operations that began before dawn yesterday, said yesterday: “I wanted to destroy the market value of the horns, and I hope other game reserve owners will follow what we’ve done. That way we can destroy rhino horn as a product. I think it will work if many people do it. I want everyone to know that we have done this to the horns.”
Begging whale sharks stir debate in Philippines
Whale sharks begging for food have sparked a debate on whether feeding the giant fish may ultimately be hurting the creatures.
Chevron Must Pay $18 Billion to Indigenous Ecuadorans: Court Upholds Largest Environmental Verdict Ever →
AmazonWatch: Yesterday, an Ecuadorian appellate court upheld a historic $18 billion award against Chevron for the company’s deliberate contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon. The decision is the largest environmental award ever handed down and the result of an 18-year legal battle brought by some 30,000 indigenous peoples and farmers seeking a clean up of contaminated sites, clean drinking water, and health care.
For more information, see the excellent 2009 documentary, Crude: The Real Price of Oil
Harp seal pups at risk from thinning ice
Scientists say harp seal pups off the coast of eastern Canada are dying at alarming rates due to a loss of winter ice cover.
The dangers of natural gas
Although natural gas is seen is considered comparably safer and better for the planet than other fossil fuels, there are drawbacks.
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