Last Chance for Kyoto Protocol

Scientific American
By Jon Herskovitz and Agnieszka Flak

Countries have been at loggerheads for years and hopes are slim of any major progress, despite increasingly dire warnings from climate scientists 

Here >>  and   Here >>

1000 Naked Israelis Strip to Save the Dead Sea

Karin Kloosterman

 

Spencer Tunick’s naked shoot at the Dead Sea in Israel: yes, some women even got covered in Dead Sea mud.

Cloaked in secrecy, they wouldn’t know the location until they got into the bus. While politics in the Middle East seems to overshadow environmental issues, some passionate Israelis decided to be a part of history, and photographer Spencer Tunick’s dream of his latest “Naked Sea” installation, at the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth.

The nude models aged 18 to 77 met early Saturday morning, according to one participant, calling it both exhilarating and strangely natural to be part of one of the latest Tunick projects. Tunick who comes from a religious Jewish family in New York has done about 75 naked installations in cities around the world. This one was about environmental awareness and freedom in the Middle East. The Dead Sea is rapidly sinking due to water shortages from one end in the north as the Jordan River runs dry, and greedy chemical companies from Israel and Jordan on the south side. More >

Energy Farmer powered by waste

White Roofs: Energy Conservation Project

An energy conservation project is cooling New York City's roof tops with a simple paint job.

The Lost World Of Lake Vostok

Top Documentary Films

It sometimes seems as if our planet has no secrets left – but deep beneath the great Antarctic ice sheet scientists have made an astonishing discovery. They’ve found one of the largest lakes in the world. It’s very existence defies belief. Scientists are desperate to get into the lake because its extreme environment may be home to unique flora and fauna, never seen before, and NASA are excited by what it could teach us about extraterrestrial life. But 4 kilometers of ice stand between the lake and the surface, and breaking this seal without contaminating the most pristine body of water on the planet is possibly one of the greatest challenges science faces in the 21st century.

In 1957 the Russians established a remote base in Antarctica – the Vostok station. It soon became a byword for hardship – dependent on an epic annual 1000km tractor journey from the coast for its supplies. The coldest temperature ever found on Earth (-89°C) was recorded here on the 21st July 1983. It’s an unlikely setting for a lake of liquid water. But in the 1970’s a British team used airborne radar to see beneath the ice, mapping the mountainous land buried by the Antarctic ice sheet. Flying near the Vostok base their radar trace suddenly went flat. They guessed that the flat trace could only be from water. It was the first evidence that the ice could be hiding a great secret.

But 20 years passed before their suspicions were confirmed, when satellites finally revealed that there was an enormous lake under the Vostok base. It is one of the largest lakes in the world – at 10,000 square km it’s about the extent of Lake Ontario, but about twice as deep (500m in places). The theory was that it could only exist because the ice acts like a giant insulating blanket, trapping enough of the earth’s heat to melt the very bottom of the ice sheet.

Biodegradable products may be doing more harm than good, study finds

North Carolina researchers say products that are advertised as biodegradable are likely doing more damage to the environment in landfills than regular products.

Microorganisms break down biodegradable items, a process that produces methane which is a greenhouse gas when released into the atmosphere, according to Morton Barlaz, the head of North Carolina State Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. He co-authored a recently published paper detailing the unexpected findings.

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La moda china de emplear mascotas vivas como llaveros

BP Oil Spill Anniversary: Where Are We Now?

A year after the BP oil spill and things are better along the Gulf Coast. Shrimpers are expecting a big harvest, tourists are returning, and fishermen are working again.
But grading the fate of wildlife that live in and around the Gulf of Mexico since that massive BP spill one year ago isn't so easy.
"I don't think anyone knows yet where we are," said Tom Brosnan, an environmental scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the government's lead agency in dealing with the spill. "We're doing variety of studies from deepwater habitats to the pelagic zone to the shoreline, and it's going to take some time to figure it out."

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Rising Sea Levels Could Threaten 180 U.S. Cities By 2100

WASHINGTON (Reuters/Deborah Zabarenko) - Rising seas spurred by climate change could threaten 180 U.S. coastal cities by 2100, a new study says, with Miami, New Orleans and Virginia Beach among those most severely affected.
Previous studies have looked at where rising waters might go by the end of this century, assuming various levels of sea level rise, but this latest research focused on municipalities in the contiguous

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Rising Sea Levels Could Threaten 180 U.S. Cities By 2100

Ecuadorian court rules Chevron must pay $9 billion for oil pollution

By Juan Forero

Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, February 15, 2011; 12:36 AM

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - A judge in a small jungle town in Ecuador on Monday ordered Chevron to pay more than $9 billion in damages, finding the energy giant responsible for the oil pollution that has fouled a stretch of land along Ecuador's northern border.

Ecuadorian court rules Chevron must pay $9 billion for oil pollution

El Mundo segun Monsanto: Los alimentos transgenicos/ Documental

El mundo según Monsanto", un libro y un documental de dos horas que

denuncia los efectos negativos mundiales que provocan los productos

agroquímicos y las semillas de soja transgénica que comercializa la

empresa más grande del mundo en el rubro.

El trabajo expone además las consecuencias que tiene para el

ambiente y el suelo el monocultivo de la soja transgénica. También

retrata los efectos en la salud humana de la utilización del

Roundup, un herbicida sospechado de producir cáncer. En síntesis,

expone la cara más oscura de la lógica económica neoliberal, a

través de la realidad agrícola de América del Norte y del Sur,

especialmente de Argentina.

El trabajo embiste directamente a la empresa de Saint Louis -

Misuri, EEUU- que en más de un siglo de existencia fue fabricante

del PCB (piraleno), del “agente naranja” usado como herbicida en la

guerra de Vietnam y de hormonas de incremento para la producción

láctea prohibida en Europa. Hoy Monsanto es el primer semillero de

soja, maíz, algodón y productor de agroquímicos del mundo. Quien

dice semilla, dice Monsanto, pero también dice alimentos.

Es la empresa norteamericana que maneja el mercado mundial de la

soja. Es la misma empresa que fabricó PCB, y ocultó durante 50 años

que ese aceite era cancerígeno. Ahora es empresa que produce y que

patentó las semillas de soja genéticamente modificadas, para

resistir agroquímicos y tempestades.

Amazonas, de fuente de oxígeno a tubo de escape

Amazonas, de fuente de oxígeno a tubo de escape

• Dos sequías en los últimos diez años ponen en peligro la selva
• Los árboles muertos que se pudren liberan dióxido de carbono
• De ser el pulmón del planeta, pasará a soltar millones de toneladas de CO2

Kiribati - A Climate Change Reality

Secret of Canada's Neon Green River revealed

By J Ocean Dennie.

Residents of Canada's Vancouver Island will be sleeping easier now that they know what led to the completely bizarre neon green discoloration of one of the major rivers flowing through the south part of the island.

The iconic watershed, saddled with the ironic moniker Goldstream River, unexpectedly turned neon green last week, scaring residents and concerning area biologists. The colour of the water is similar to that found in the photo to the left. At first, it was not clear whether the odd hue was a result of a toxic spill or a natural phenomenon. No one was sure what effect the contamination would have on the sensitive rainforest ecosystem. While, the river is a popular destination for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts visiting Goldstream Provincial Park, it is also known for its abundant salmon runs, eagles, and unique flora. Water samples taken by government officials now conclusively reveal that the culprit of the water's unusual colour was fluorescein, a tracing product used primarily to uncover rainwater leads in environmental simulations and diagnose numerous medical conditions. Thankfully the chemical is non-toxic. Dan Gilmore, B.C.'s environment ministry spokesman, reassured the public in a statement saying that "Fluorescein is a synthetic organic compound soluble in water and alcohol. It is widely used as a fluorescent tracer for many applications. The product itself and its products of degradation are not toxic." The concentration used in this incident was not enough apparently to cause any acute damage to wildlife. Any industrial accident has been ruled out and the incident is now being considered as a prank since a public fountain in the community nearest the river, Langford, B.C. also spewed neon green around the same time, according to The Vancouver Sun. The Daily Brew reports that, according to Langford Mayor Stew Young, only a small amount of the chemical is necessary to change the colour of a river. "It's a non-polluting chemical that's really bright green. It's probably some idiots with a bit of knowledge," he said. This would not be the first time fluorescein has ended up subversively in a river system. In 1962, it was used to dye the Chicago River green for St. Patrick's Day. While fluorescein is non-toxic organic compound, bodily contact with the chemical can lead to acute skin and eye irritations, as well inflammation of the digestive and respiratory tracts. It could also potentially cause anaphylactic shock. Witnesses who saw the river bedazzled river claim it looked like antifreeze and was so bright it hurt to look at it directly, Yahoo News wrote. Thankfully, the brilliant neon green has leached away and the river is back to normal, (or so we've been told).

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/302256#ixzz1AlOYQcT5

Chernobyl Decay and Deformed/ WARNING: Video contains graphic images.

WARNING: Video contains graphic images.

Conspiranoia: La muerte de aves y peces en Arkansas

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 09:46 PM PST

Un impactante reporte preparado por el Directorado Ruso de Inteligencia Militar para el Exterior (GRU) para el Primer Ministro Putin, indica que uno de los más importantes expertos en armas biológicas y químicas fue brutalmente asesinado después de que amenazó con exhibir una prueba del ejército de [...] Prueba de Armas en Arkansas Causa Gran Mortandad de Fauna

Mass bird and fish deaths becoming worldwide phenomenon

• Mass bird and fish deaths becoming worldwide phenomenon | Raw Story

  • Dead Birds Fall From Sky In Sweden, Millions Of Dead Fish Found In Maryland, Brazil, New Zealand

El desastre del Lago Aral

Ukraine to open Chernobyl nuclear disaster area to tourists in 2011

TheStar Ukraine to open Chernobyl nuclear disaster area to tourists in 2011

'The impact of a global temperature rise of 4 °C (7 °F)

Laz Ciencias: 'The impact of a global temperature rise of 4 °C (7 °F)