Birds face longer migrations due to climate change
Some European birds will have to fly further as global warming shifts their breeding grounds northwards in the biggest challenge to the tiny migrants since the Ice Age, scientists said on Wednesday.
“For some birds the extra distance might make the difference between being able to make it or not,” Stephen Willis of Durham University told [...]
Americas on alert for sea level rise
Climate change experts in North and South America are increasingly worried by the potentially devastating implications of higher estimates for possible sea level rises.
The Americas have until now been seen as less vulnerable than other parts of the world like low-lying Pacific islands, Vietnam or Bangladesh.
But the increase in the ranges for anticipated sea [...]
Man’s Greatest Crimes Against the Earth
In a striking break with tradition, a link to pictures.
http://discovermagazine.com/photos/9-of-the-saddest-pictures-on-the-planet
Pollution link with birth weight
Exposure to traffic pollution could affect the development of babies in the womb, US researchers have warned.
They found the higher a mother’s level of exposure in early and late pregnancy, the more likely it was that the baby would not grow properly.
The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at [...]
U.S. asks U.N. to create coastal ship emissions zones
The United States has asked the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization to create a buffer zone around America’s coastline to cut pollution from ocean-going ships that harms human health, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday.
The EPA estimates the plan would save up to 8,300 lives annually in the United States and Canada by 2020. [...]
Woman becomes first in Britain to have 15-minute sterilisation
Natalie Read, 36, who already has two children, was treated and discharged from hospital in the same afternoon and was able to travel abroad within days.
Normally, a sterilisation operation for a woman involves invasive surgery, an overnight stay in hospital and weeks of recovery time at home.
Mrs Read said the new procedure, which [...]
Satellite data shows Arctic on thinner ice
Arctic sea ice, a key component of Earth’s natural thermostat, has thinned sharply in recent years with the northern polar ice cap shrinking steadily in surface area, government scientists said on Monday.
Thinner seasonal sea ice, which melts in summer and freezes again every year, now accounts for about 70 percent of the Arctic total, up [...]
UK biodiversity still in decline
Biodiversity in the UK is continuing to decline according to statistics released by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Responding to this latest assessment, Buglife, a conservation trust that works with Defra, pointed out that the abundance of farmland birds and seabirds had changed from orange to red, and that the area [...]
Earth Day - There’s only one earth but there’s ever more of us
There’s only one earth, but there are another 1.5 million people, every week.
Do the math and point it out!
The campaign:
* A carbon-free future based on renewable energy that will end our common dependency on fossil fuels, including coal.
* An individual’s commitment to responsible, sustainable consumption.
[...]
Ice bridge ruptures in Antarctic
An ice bridge which had apparently held a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place during recorded history shattered on Saturday and could herald a wider collapse linked to global warming, a leading scientist said.
The Wilkins, now the size of Jamaica or the U.S. state of Connecticut, is one of 10 shelves to have shrunk or [...]
Warning of food price hike crisis
A crisis is unfolding in the UK as people in poverty struggle with rising food prices and the recession, the Save the Children charity has warned.
Colette Marshall, of Save the Children, said: “We are facing a crisis. Benefits simply haven’t been enough and with rising food costs it means that families cannot afford to [...]
Climate change the biggest loser of G20 summit, warn environmental groups
The $1.1 trillion stimulus package agreed by G20 leaders yesterday risks locking the world into a high-carbon economy in which greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, environmental groups have warned.
“Once again world leaders have short-changed people and the planet,” said Friends of the Earth’s executive director Andy Atkins. “The economic system and the global environment [...]
Litter on British beaches soars
The amount of litter dumped on beaches across Britain has more than doubled in the last 15 years to its highest ever level, endangering the health of wildlife and humans, according to a survey on Wednesday.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said its beachwatch 2008 annual survey had found an average of 2,195 items of litter [...]
Global and European temperature/ greenhouse gas - Assessment published Mar 2009
Key message
Global
* The global (land and ocean) average temperature increase up to 2008 was 0.7oC compared to pre-industrial levels.
* The rate of global average temperature change has increased from 0.1oC per decade over last 100 years, to 0.16oC in last decade.
* The [...]
EPA finds greenhouse gases endanger health
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that climate-warming greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, pose a danger to human health and welfare, a White House website showed on Monday.
“I think it’s historic news,” said Frank O’Donnell of the environmental group Clean Air Watch. “It is going to set the stage for the first-ever national limits on [...]
Shampoo in the water supply triggers growth of deadly drug-resistant bugs
Fabric softeners, disinfectants, shampoos and other household products are spreading drug-resistant bacteria around Britain, scientists have warned. Detergents used in factories and mills are also increasing the odds that some medicines will no longer be able to combat dangerous diseases.
The warning has been made by Birmingham and Warwick university scientists, who say disinfectants and other [...]
Plans to relax TV ad rules for abortion advice, contraception
Pregnancy advisory services - including abortion information - could be advertised on TV and radio under proposals due to be released.
Restrictions on condom adverts could also be relaxed, as part of plans aimed at reducing high UK rates of teenage pregnancy and sexual infections.
They suggest condom adverts could be shown before the 2100 watershed.
The [...]
David Attenborough is new Optimum Population Trust Patron
Sir David Attenborough, Britain’s best-known natural history film-maker, today (Monday April 13) described the growth in human numbers as “frightening” and urged environmental organisations to spell out “loud and clear” the problems caused by population growth.
Sir David, who has become a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, the leading think tank in the UK concerned [...]
Water meters in all homes by 2030 to ease shortages
Many parts of the country face crippling water shortages in the near future unless immediate action is taken to protect precious supplies, according to an Environment Agency (EA) report to be published this week. Measures include compulsory water meters in every home.
The EA warns in the Water Resources Strategy document that many rivers, particularly those [...]
Home building plans ‘in trouble’
A government pledge to build three million affordable new homes by 2020 is in trouble because of the recession, the housing minister has said.
Margaret Beckett said the government must now look at ways to put the programme “back on track” once the downturn comes to an end.
She said the government was doing what it could [...]
Archbishop of Canterbury says limiting one’s fertility for the environment is “common sense”
The Archbishop said that “we are near a tipping point” of climate change, and that the church, and other religious communities, are not doing their part to lead the world against it.
“People from Westminster are constantly telling me that they need me ‘to keep up the pressure’ on them to do something.” Dr Williams added [...]
UK: School Sexual Health Clinics Could Reduce Teenage Pregnancy Rate
Young people are more likely to use sexual health services if they can access them in schools, according to research being presented today at the Royal College of Nursing’s 2009 International Research Conference in Cardiff.
Dr Debra Salmon, Reader in Community Health at the University of West England, will be presenting the evaluation of a pilot [...]
Convenience ups interest in post-sex contraceptive
Family planning clinics should consider offering same-day intrauterine device (IUD) insertion to women seeking emergency contraception and walk-in pregnancy testing, according to a new report. Doing this, the findings suggest, will increase interest in and use of IUDs for this purpose.
The morning after pill is the best known form of emergency contraception, although copper-containing IUDs [...]
World Health Day - overpopulation costs lives
Overpopulation costs lives, in terms of famine, drought, erosion of natural resources and the pressures on people to live in dangerous or unsuitable areas, such as coastal areas subject to flooding or areas with limited resources.
Population growth poses a real threat to future water and food supplies.
And population is a key underlying cause [...]
How clean is Europe’s air?
Particulate matter and ground-level ozone remain important air pollutants in Europe. Despite improvements due to EU legislation, they continue to have a heavy toll on human health especially in southern and eastern Europe. Two reports released today by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shed light on Europe’s air quality.
Air pollution
[...]
Arctic meltdown is a threat to humanity
Interesting article in New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127011.500-arctic-meltdown-is-a-threat-to-humanity.html?full=true
‘Crunch year’ for world’s forests
Efforts to mitigate climate change could be hampered if nations do not agree to protect the world’s forests by the end of the year, warn researchers.
Earthwatch says it is vital for leaders attending a key UN summit in December to find a way to halt deforestation.
Deforestation accounts for about 20% of the greenhouse gas [...]
High birth rates hamper development in poorer countries, warns UN forum
Rapid population growth, fuelled by high fertility, presents a barrier to reducing poverty levels and reaching other internationally agreed development goals, experts attending the current session of the United Nations population body said today.
The meeting of the Commission on Population and Development, which began on Monday and concludes on Friday, is examining the extent to [...]
Earth population ‘exceeds limits’
There are already too many people living on Planet Earth, according to one of most influential science advisors in the US government.
Nina Fedoroff told the BBC One Planet programme that humans had exceeded the Earth’s “limits of sustainability”.
Dr Fedoroff has been the science and technology advisor to the US secretary of state since 2007, [...]
Catholic Church announces new sexual position
In a largely unheralded policy change, the Vatican today announced a relaxation of its longstanding opposition to artificial family planning methods, reversing Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae. Traditionally, the Church has advocated only the ‘ABC’ methods of avoiding conception: abstinence, breastfeeding and calendar based. The move follows President Obama’s removal of [...]