Ecology and Environment

While the world’s oceans contain some 200,000 identified living species, the actual numbers could reach the millions ­­– all exposed to the dangers of climate change, pollution and over-exploitation. To stem these threats, the United Nations is meeting to negotiate a treaty that would protect three-quarters of the earth’s surface… »

Perhaps the immutable forces of Nature are beginning to take charge of the total food supply for human consumption. That is to say, Nature is taking control of the human food supply out of human hands where that control has resided for the past 10,000 years. There is something terrible… »

Claire Corkhill, University of Sheffield for The Conversation A missile engine exploded at a naval test range, west of the city of Severodvinsk on Russia’s northern coast at 9am on August 8. At least five people were killed and several others injured. As it is associated with… »

Co-Written by Meena Miriam Yust and Arshad Khan When Chelsea Rochman at the University of Toronto and colleagues began their study on medakas (small Japanese rice paddy fish), they did not expect to find what they did. They first soaked ground-up polyethylene in San Diego Bay for three months and then… »

The word sacrifice is bandied about by both sides of the debate on climate action. Shall we unpack this loaded shuttlecock? »

By Julia Conley, As climate scientists raise alarm over hotter and hotter global temperatures, a top U.S. weather agency reported on Thursday that July 2019 was the hottest month the planet has ever experienced since the government began recording global temperatures nearly 140 years ago. NOAA’s monthly Global Climate Report revealed… »

While the rise of methane in the Earth’s atmosphere over the past decade has been “globally significant,” quick action to end fracking would have a rapid, positive impact on the environment by Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams New research by a scientist at Cornell University… »

Sea level has been stable, at current levels, throughout recorded history for 5,000 years. That’s about to change. Still, it’s very difficult for people to imagine a change in sea level after 5,000 years of rock-solid stability. Nevertheless, assuming sea levels do rise markedly, one of the biggest questions of… »

Rainforests are a crucial feature of Earth’s biosphere. Apart from being critical to Earth’s climate and vital carbon sinks, the major player in Earth’s hydrological (water) cycle, a massive producer of oxygen and home to most of the world’s species, rainforests are the home of a large indigenous human population. »

The first-ever comprehensive scientific assessment of the links between land and climate change is a critical contribution to efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, tackle the impacts of global warming and protect food security, the World Meteorological Organization said on 8 August 2019*. The release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate… »