U.N. says food production may fall 25 percent by 2050
Up to a quarter of global food production could be lost by 2050 due to the combined impact of climate change, land degradation and loss, water scarcity and species infestation, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
The fall-off will strike just as 2 billion more people are added to the world’s population, according to the U.N. [...]
China seeks to cut fertilizer, water use
Excessive use of nitrogen fertilizers in China in the past few decades has polluted its groundwater, given rise to acid rain, soil acidification and increased greenhouse gas emissions, Chinese experts said.
In their article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they urged farmers in the country to reduce their use of synthetic [...]
Burp of Arctic laughing gas is no joke
It seems the Arctic is belching out nitrous oxide – commonly known as laughing gas. Unfortunately, the punchline is that it is a powerful greenhouse gas.
Previously, emissions of N2O were thought to enter the atmosphere mainly from tropical forests and intensively managed farmland, with only a negligible amount from northerly environments.
Maija Repo and colleagues from [...]
Noise - another pollution driven by overpopulation
Think planes, trains, automobiles, high density housing, poor housing standards…
UK Noise Association
Coal-fired power stations are death factories. Close them
The climate is nearing tipping points. Changes are beginning to appear and there is a potential for explosive changes, effects that would be irreversible, if we do not rapidly slow fossil-fuel emissions over the next few decades. As Arctic sea ice melts, the darker ocean absorbs more sunlight and speeds melting. As the tundra melts, [...]
Global warming ‘underestimated’
The severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed, a leading climate scientist has warned.
Professor Chris Field, an author of a 2007 landmark report on climate change, said future temperatures “will be beyond anything” predicted.
Prof Field said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had underestimated the [...]
Cutting water use could be best way to save electricity
In regions where pumping and distributing water requires significant electricity use, policies that lead to reduced water consumption could address climate change more efficiently than requiring businesses and households to use less energy, according to water expert Peter Gleick.
The virtues of water efficiency can be found in California and China - regions where water shortages [...]
‘CO2 reduction treaties useless’
A new report says treaties aimed at reducing CO2 emissions are useless.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers report says we have to accept the world could change dramatically.
It also says we should start planning our major infrastructure now to accommodate more extreme weather events and sea level rises.
While not against attempts to reduce emissions, the report’s [...]
* Environment Mercury pollution harms millions – and action on curbing its use is overdue
This month the world’s environment ministers meeting in Nairobi, Kenya can take a landmark decision to lift a global health threat from the lives of hundreds of millions of people. A strategy to begin seriously dealing with mercury and the highly toxic compounds of the heavy metal will come before the UN Environment Programme’s governing [...]
Sydney men first in the world to trial ‘male Pill’
SYDNEY men will be among the first in the world to try a new contraceptive giving them control over their own fertility. ANZAC Research Institute, at Concord Hospital, will begin testing a new two-monthly male contraceptive injection from today. It works exactly like the female contraceptive pill by shutting down the reproductive [...]
Bleak forecast on fishery stocks
The world’s fish stocks will soon suffer major upheaval due to climate change, scientists have warned. Changing ocean temperatures and currents will force thousands of species to migrate polewards, including cod, herring, plaice and prawns. By 2050, US fishermen may see a 50% reduction in Atlantic cod populations.
The predictions of “huge changes”, [...]
Model sees severe climate change impact by 2050
Current efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions will do little to ease damaging climate change, according to a report issued Friday that predicts Greenland’s ice sheets will start melting by 2050.
A computer model calculated that if carbon dioxide emissions continue to grow at the current rate over the next 40 years, global temperatures will still [...]
CO2 hits new peaks, no sign global crisis causing dip
Atmospheric levels of the main greenhouse gas are hitting new highs, with no sign yet that the world economic downturn is curbing industrial emissions, a leading scientist said on Thursday.
Levels of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities, rose to 392 parts per million (ppm) in the atmosphere in Svalbard in December, a [...]
UN chief in India climate warning
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned a climate change conference in India that failure to tackle the issue will lead to global economic upheaval.
He appealed to nations to reach agreement on carbon emission cuts.
Mr Ban is attending the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit which, organisers say will press for cuts in carbon emissions.
He [...]
UN predicts fall in global cereal production as record numbers go hungry
Bad weather, violent conflict and volatile market prices could force a drop off in the global production of cereal crops this year, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) predicted today after already warning that some 1 billion people worldwide are going hungry.
Drought and high food prices in much of the developing world coupled [...]
Women Spending Five Minutes On Contraception And Worrying About Pregnancy
According to new figures launched today by fpa (Family Planning Association) almost one in three UK women aged 18-49 typically spends up to just five minutes selecting a suitable contraceptive method to use.
Yet, almost half of these women (47%) have had a pregnancy scare (thinking they were or could be pregnant when they didn’t [...]
David King: Iraq was the first ‘resource war’ of the century
The Iraq war was just the first of this century’s “resource wars”, in which powerful countries use force to secure valuable commodities for themselves, according to the UK government’s former chief scientific adviser. Sir David King predicted that with human population growing, natural resources dwindling and seas rising because of climate change, the squeeze [...]
Population issues key to fighting poverty, other ills in Asia
Population policy, reproductive health and gender equality remain central to reducing poverty in the Asia and the Pacific region despite recent economic growth, specialists agreed at a conference convened by United Nations agencies in Bangkok this week.
In the three-day review of progress since the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference (APPC) held in Bangkok in [...]
Majority of world population face water shortages unless action taken
Two-thirds of the world’s population will face a lack of water in less than 20 years, if current trends in climate change, population growth, rural to urban migration and consumption continue, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro warned today.
Speaking at a high-level symposium on water security at UN Headquarters, Ms. Migiro stressed that “if present [...]
World cannot afford to ignore climate change, Ban says at New Delhi summit
The world must tackle the growing threat of climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a sustainable development summit in New Delhi today, stressing that the crisis threatens to roll back development gains and lead to further economic and social misery. We cannot afford to ignore or underestimate this existential threat. Failure to combat [...]
U.S.-China seen needing close climate partnership now
China and the United States must act fast and in unison on global warming if the world is to be saved from devastating change, a report drawn up in part by the new U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu warned. The two top emitters must bring their leaders together for a climate summit, to [...]
Gas chief warns of energy crunch
The government must boost subsidies for renewable energy projects urgently to have any chance of meeting its 2020 targets, the chief executive of Centrica, owner of British Gas, has warned. In an interview with the Guardian, the chief executive, Sam Laidlaw, said that the UK faces a energy crunch in as little as two [...]
Australia, California, Mexico hit by extreme weather
Australian heatwave sign of climate change
A heatwave scorching southern Australia, causing transport chaos by buckling rail lines and leaving more than 10,000 homes without power, is a sign of climate change, the climate change minister said on Thursday. The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a total of six days of 40-plus Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) [...]
EEA Briefing 3/2008 - Impacts of Europe’s changing climate
European Environment Agency report on the impact of climate change on Europe
Link to report
Acid oceans ‘need urgent action’
The world’s marine ecosystems risk being severely damaged by ocean acidification unless there are dramatic cuts in CO2 emissions, warn scientists. More than 150 top marine researchers have voiced their concerns through the “Monaco Declaration”, which warns that changes in acidity are accelerating. It says pH levels are changing 100 times faster than [...]
Small families produce big green gains - OPT study
An area of land larger than Wales could be released for “re-greening” in the UK if couples limited their family size to no more than two children, according to a new study from the Optimum Population Trust.
Currently 26 per cent of women in the UK are expected to have more than two children. If they [...]
The Cost of the Biofuel Boom: Destroying Indonesia’s Forests
As a child, Matt Aman grew up in the lush tropical lowland rain forest of Sumatra. Tigers padded through the underbrush, rarely seen and silent as shadows. “It made my skin prickle,” the indigenous leader recalled recently as he sat on the floor of a stick hut surrounded by fellow villagers. “When I was [...]
Global warming is ‘irreversible’
A team of environmental researchers in the US has warned many effects of climate change are irreversible. The scientists concluded global temperatures could remain high for 1,000 years, even if carbon emissions can somehow be halted. Their report was sponsored by the US Department of Energy and comes as President Obama announces a review of [...]
‘Be as spontaneous as you like…’: BPAS offers passionate Valentines’ couples the latest ‘fit and forget’ contraceptive options
Thousands of couples ask the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) about the most reliable contraceptive methods each year. Research shows the failure rate in ‘typical use’ of the oral contraceptive Pill, the UK’s most commonly-used method, is 8%. The ‘typical use’ failure rate of the condom, the next most frequently-used method, is even higher at [...]
Underage drinking crack down to target rise in teenage pregnancies
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said that there was a clear link between rising rates of teenage pregnancy and the tendency of a large number of teenagers to drink heavily. The Chief Medical Officer is to set out new guidance on alcohol consumption by children. Mr Balls said: “The good news is that the [...]
Rising sea salinates India’s Ganges
Rising sea levels are causing salt water to flow into India’s biggest river, threatening its ecosystem and turning vast farmlands barren in the country’s east, a climate change expert warned Monday.
A study by an east Indian university in the city of Kolkata revealed surprising growth of mangroves on the Ganges river, said Pranabes Sanyal, the [...]
UN debates global food cost rise: threat to UK food security
Just because the issue of food prices has not been in the headlines recently it has not gone away.
Although prices have fallen from the highs recorded during the unprecedented spike at the beginning of 2008, they have not fallen back to where they had been before the crisis began. And many of the factors [...]
Addressing teen pregnancy - local activity
A NEW plan has been launched today to reduce the high number of teenage pregnancies in Nottingham. The strategy includes proposals to increase the number of schools and colleges offering contraception to pupils, improved sex and relationship education, and parenting courses to help mums and dads tell their children about sex. There will [...]
Fast action needed to avoid climate chaos
Scientists say that if temperatures increase beyond 2 degrees, humanity faces severe environmental fallout, such as melting polar ice caps and rising sealevels. Increasing numbers of scientists and politicians question whether the 2 degrees goal is achievable, given the slow progress of international negotiations so far. But it is not too late to [...]
Water - another global ‘crisis’?
“Obviously there are many drivers of human development,” says the UN’s Andrew Hudson.
“But water is the most important.” At the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where Dr Hudson works as principal technical advisor to the water governance programme, he calculated the contribution that various factors make to the Human Development Index, a measure of [...]
A Call for Tougher Standards On Mercury Levels in Fish
Nine years ago, dozens of patients — some my own, some referred by fellow San Francisco physicians — began showing up in my office with similar symptoms that included fatigue, hair loss, headache, muscle and joint pain, and various neurological ailments. The common link among all these patients was a regular diet of fish — [...]
UK Seaside Safe Sex Campaign Angers Tourism Leaders
Seaside tourism leaders are furious — over plans to erect giant pictures of men’s genitals in a family resort. The row has erupted in the holiday town of Blackpool, on the North West coast of the UK, a once-vibrant tourist destination which has suffered falling visitor numbers in recent years.
A furor has erupted after [...]
TV linked to teen pregnancy
A study (”Does Watching Sex on Television Predict Teen Pregnancy? Findings from a National Longitudinal Survey of Youth”) released recently by the RAND Corporation reports an increasing correlation with exposure to sexual content on television and sexual attitudes and behavior in today’s youth. Shows like Gossip Girl, The Hills, and 90210, which are targeted [...]
Biomass-burning ‘behind Asian brown clouds’
Burning biomass is the main cause of the dense ‘brown clouds’ that plague South Asia each winter, and both biomass and fossil fuel burning should be targeted to combat climate change and improve air quality. These are the conclusions of a study published on Friday 23 January in Science. The study, conducted at two [...]
Dramatic Expansion Of Dead Zones In Oceans Likely With Unchecked Global Warming
Dead zones are low-oxygen areas in the ocean where higher life forms such as fish, crabs and clams are not able to live. In shallow coastal regions, these zones can be caused by runoff of excess fertilizers from farming. A team of Danish researchers have now shown that unchecked global warming would lead to a [...]
Drought, heat killing trees in western N.America
Trees in the western United States and Canada are dying twice as quickly as they did just 30 years ago, with rising average temperatures almost certainly to blame, researchers reported on Thursday. These thinner and weaker forests will become more vulnerable to wildfires and may soak up less carbon dioxide, in turn speeding up [...]
‘Tragedy’ of maternal death
Women in poor nations are 300 times more likely to die in childbirth or from pregnancy complications than those in the developed world, Unicef warns. The lifetime risk in the poorest countries was one in 24, compared with one in 8,000 in richer countries. About 99% of the 500,000 maternal deaths in 2005 [...]
World’s major fishing nations failing on sustainability
More than 40% of the world’s fishing is carried out unsustainably and largely in defiance of international codes of conduct, according to a new study. The team that carried out the research said that voluntary schemes to prevent overfishing should be replaced with binding international laws that can better protect marine ecosystems. Scientists graded [...]
The pending scramble for water
In 2008, Saudi Arabia ceased to be self sufficient in wheat production.
It is looking to access land overseas to grow crops, possibly in Pakistan or the Horn of Africa.
China is acquiring agricultural land in Southern Africa for similar purposes.
And Daewoo Logistic is looking to lease land in Madagascar, to grow food for South Korea.
Other countries [...]
Antarctic ice sheet collapse may swamp U.S. coasts
North America’s coastlines would be hit especially hard by rising sea levels if the huge West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapses and melts in a warming world as some experts fear, scientists said on Thursday.
The loss of that ice sheet alone would inundate some coastal areas, swamping New York, Washington D.C., south Florida, Los Angeles, San [...]
Abortions in GP surgeries to be extended
Abortions up to nine weeks can be carried out medically with drugs rather than surgery and after two Government pilots found the process was safe and acceptable in premises outside traditional hospital, more clinics are to be set up.
It has been argued that early medical abortions should be provided nearer patients homes rather [...]
New evidence on Antarctic warming
The continent of Antarctica is warming up in step with the rest of the world, according to a new analysis. Scientists say data from satellites and weather stations indicate a warming of about 0.6C over the last 50 years. Writing in the journal Nature, they say the trend is “difficult to explain” without [...]
Population: The elephant in the room
It’s the great taboo of environmentalism: the size and growth of the human population.
It has a profound impact on all life on Earth, yet for decades it has been conspicuously absent from public debate.
Most natural scientists agree our growing numbers and our unchecked impact on the natural environment move us inexorably toward global calamities of [...]
Many unplanned pregnancies are due to contraceptive failure
At least a third of pregnancies in Britain are unplanned. Half of these happen to women using some form of contraception, typically the Pill or condoms. And our abortion and teenage pregnancy rates are among the highest in the developed world. Unplanned pregnancy isn’t just an issue in under-age teenagers indulging in risky behaviour; [...]
Two children should be limit, says green guru
Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, says curbing population growth through contraception and abortion must be at the heart of policies to fight global warming. “I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible.”
The Optimum Population Trust, a campaign group [...]
Stop scattering ashes, families are told
So many people want to scatter the ashes of family and friends in beauty spots that the government has been forced to step in with anti-pollution rules. Last month, staff at the Jane Austen House Museum in Hampshire discovered piles of human ashes scattered around the novelist’s home and gardens, and football grounds, rivers, parks, [...]