• Despite emails and cold winter, 83% of Brits view climate change as a current or imminent threat - 68% agree humanity is causing climate change, while skeptics "represent a fringe position"

    Updated: 2011-01-31 17:35:12
    The public’s belief in global warming as a man-made danger has weathered the storm of climate controversies and cold weather intact, according to a Guardian/ICM opinion poll published today. Asked if climate change was a current or imminent threat, 83% of Britons agreed, with just 14% saying global warming poses no threat. Compared with August [...]

  • Wall Street Journal: Selectively pro-science

    Updated: 2011-01-31 17:34:45
    –Our guest blogger is Prof. Scott Mandia, in a repost. “Rigorous scientific studies have not identified links between autism and either thimerosal-containing vaccine or the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine” (Miller and Reynolds, 2009).  The scientific community also tells us that the world is round, that smoking is strongly linked to lung cancer, and that humans are [...]

  • Energy and global warming news for January 31, 2011: Deep recession fails to reverse rising global emissions, as China’s CO2 surges 13%; Eco-friendly 7-Elevens - China now surpasses U.S. emissions by over 40%!

    Updated: 2011-01-31 17:25:21
    Click to enlarge An atlas of pollution: the world in carbon dioxide emissions The deepest recession since the 1930s has failed to reverse rising global carbon emissions, as plummeting industrial output in the west was offset by the continuing rapid expansion of China and a handful of other emerging economies, new statistics for 2009 show. While US emissions fell substantially [...]

  • Instead of ‘Drill, Baby, drill’ let’s Charge, Baby, Charge

    Updated: 2011-01-31 14:45:14
    As gas prices spiral out of control again, threatening our economic recovery, President Barack Obama laid out a bold plan to address the threats of our dependence on oil.  Brad Johnson has the story. Only by making our transportation system oil-free will Americans be free from skyrocketing gas prices, free from [...]

  • Reports: Egyptian and Tunisian riots were driven in part by the spike in global food prices - Food prices were driven up by extreme weather and high oil prices

    Updated: 2011-01-30 20:16:45
    Political unrest has broken out in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and other Arab countries. Social media and governmental policies are getting most of the credit for spurring the turmoil, but there’s another factor at play. Many of the people protesting are also angry about dramatic price hikes for basic foodstuffs, such as rice, [...]

  • Choosing polluters over children’s health

    Updated: 2011-01-30 13:33:44
    Our guest blogger is Pete Altman, in an NRDC Switchboard repost. Let’s get straight to the point. When members of Congress choose to support bills that would prevent the EPA from updating Clean Air Act standards, they are making a choice to support polluters over the health of children and adults in America. Some of these bills [...]

  • Pushing policies that would destroy a livable climate, Chamber of Commerce lectures on “energy reality”

    Updated: 2011-01-30 13:33:03
    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce dug further into denial of the reality of global warming pollution Friday, attacking the Obama administration’s clean energy goals as “wholly unrealistic.”  Brad Johnson has the story. In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called for the end to billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for the oil [...]

  • How to strengthen U.S. innovation

    Updated: 2011-01-30 13:30:47
    What is China doing to promote innovation-led economic growth? What can the United States do to remain a global innovation leader? How do the Republican Study Committee’s budget cuts hurt our innovation? Kate Gordon, CAP’s Vice President for Energy Policy, answers all these questions: Also see: The top 10 things the U.S. can do to Compete with [...]

  • Feeding a larger population on a warmer planet

    Updated: 2011-01-29 15:33:14
    Thanks to Joe Bish for this article from the Post Carbon Institute’s Energy Bulletin. —————— At a recent event hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington D.C., Mark Rosegrant, Director of the Environment and Production Technology Division, said, “Income and population growth drive food prices higher, putting pressure on our food [...]

  • A wee ditty about the bee

    Updated: 2011-01-28 21:16:00
    I liked this. Another quick and entertaining look at why bees are important, why they’re crashing, and what people can do about it (at least, on a very fine scale). And it’s all done in Scottish. Filed under: conservation, ecosystem function, ecosystem services, environmental policy, pollination

  • Will sidewalk salt hurt my pond? | Decorative Ponds & Water Gardens Q & A | Week Ending January 29th

    Updated: 2011-01-28 20:08:54
    Nobody wants to worry about slipping and falling on icy driveways and walkways but is the salt you are using to keep you safe actually hurting your pond?

  • Soil erosion lessening the hope that we can feed our booming population

    Updated: 2011-01-28 00:18:58
    Thanks to Joe Bish for this article. —————— Editor’s Note: A recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN has concluded that soil erosion is a critical threat to food security. Increasing world population means that more food will need to be produced. Yet little new land exists for cultivation. Further, [...]

  • Plant consumption rising significantly as population grows and economies develop

    Updated: 2011-01-27 15:07:18
    Thanks to Joe Bish for this article. See a related article at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/12/humans-consuming-25-percent-all-plant-life.php. These findings are more optimistic than research two decades ago by Stanford biologist Peter Vitousek, which found that, at that time, humans were appropriating 40 percent of the products of photosynthesis. Sanderson and others have classified up to 83% of the global [...]

  • Interview with Bill Ryerson

    Updated: 2011-01-27 14:46:04
    Bill Ryerson appeared on Vermont Public Television’s Profile with Fran Stoddard on January 7, 2011. Watch the full episode. See more Profile.

  • Can We Support Everyone Counted?

    Updated: 2011-01-26 15:05:33
    The first census, in 1790, counted our numbers, then about 4 million. With the release of the current census, we hear about how we are becoming older or more diverse, but we get no discussion of the stunning fact that our nation is one of three global population supergiants and the world’s fourth-fastest growing nation! [...]

  • The Wild Weather of 2010

    Updated: 2011-01-26 14:55:36
    Thanks to Edmund Levering for this story. —————– Drought, flood, record heat and record snow–this year had it all. Living on Earth’s Jeff Young asks weather experts whether climate change pushed these extreme events. Their answers carry a warning about the weather of the future. CURWOOD: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Steve Curwood. The other [...]

  • The Cleaner Plate Club: How to Get Your Kids to Eat… and Like… their Vegetables

    Updated: 2011-01-25 20:49:01
    Deal with “Ewww, I don’t like that” a lot at the dinner table? Feel pressed for time between all the other activities that fill your day, and  just want meals to be quick and convenient? Yep, we’ve all been there… but we also want our kids to eat well. Beth Bader and Ali Benjamin‘s The [...]

  • World on the Edge: Quick Facts

    Updated: 2011-01-25 17:09:10
    We are facing issues of near-overwhelming complexity and unprecedented urgency. Can we think systemically and fashion policies accordingly? Can we change direction before we go over the edge? Here are a few of the many facts from the book to consider: There will be 219,000 people at the dinner table tonight who were not there [...]

  • The Perils of Climate Change in Brazil

    Updated: 2011-01-25 14:38:42
    At a time when economic growth remains elusive for the United States and many other major world economies, Brazil is attracting attention from the global business community because of its strong growth prospects. The Brazilian economy, the largest in Latin America, is expected to grow by 5% in 2010, according to the country’s central bank. [...]

  • Online Documentary Series The Perennial Plate Dishes Out Sustainble Food Issues

    Updated: 2011-01-24 16:52:40
    Want to learn about winter salads, how to kill a squirrel and eat it, cranberry jam, making sheep’s milk cheese, or maple syrup? All these food topics and more about sustainable and socially responsible eating are covered in this unique online documentary series based in Minnesota over the span of a year, The Perennial Plate. [...]

  • Integrating Women’s Human Rights into Global Health Research: An Action Framework

    Updated: 2011-01-24 15:34:13
    Donna Baptiste, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago has published an article in the Journal of Women’s Health that describes Population Media Center’s work in northern Nigeria. It discusses PMC’s program promoting maternal health and addressing obstetric fistula, starting on the sixth page of the attached document. Donna Baptiste Integrating Women’s Human [...]

  • 8 things you can do about population

    Updated: 2011-01-24 14:11:54
    Thanks to Lisa Hymas of Grist for this article and to Kathlene Carney for bringing it to my attention. ——————– As we zoom toward 7 billion, population growth is looking ever more hairy and daunting. The big-picture solution is empowering women everywhere and making sure they have the tools, knowledge, and support to control the [...]

  • America’s Most Pressing Issue In 2011: Human overpopulation-what you can do about it

    Updated: 2011-01-23 14:06:03
    Thanks to Frosty Wooldridge for this article. Also, see Mark Powell’s excellent commentary on the way the U.S. Census Bureau characterized the growth that occurred from 2000 to 2010. You will find it at https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B5F-idWfw7TeNWFiMzE1MzctZTA0NS00YzkyLTljNjktOWIyZmViNDcwMjlh&hl=en&authkey=CKDbmc0I ———————– You may have read about the results of the U.S. Census last week. The United States grows by 3.1 [...]

  • Organic Gardening and Natural Building Internships at Dancing Rabbit

    Updated: 2011-01-22 19:02:27
    Do you want to learn how to live more sustainably? Interested in getting some hands-on experience with organic gardening, building with natural materials, and living in an off-the-grid community? Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage of northeastern Missouri has several work exchange (or internship) opportunities for folks looking to learn some valuable skills growing food and building homes! [...]

  • 2010 Hits Top of Temperature Chart

    Updated: 2011-01-20 20:11:34
    Topping off the warmest decade in history, 2010 experienced a global average temperature of 14.63 degrees Celsius (58.3 degrees Fahrenheit), tying 2005 as the hottest year in 131 years of recordkeeping. This news will come as no surprise to residents of the 19 countries that experienced record heat in 2010. Belarus set a record of [...]

  • Biodiversity begins at home

    Updated: 2011-01-19 14:17:13
    A few months ago I was involved in a panel discussion entitled ‘Biodiversity begins at home’ held at the Royal Institution of Australia in Adelaide and sponsored by the Don Dunstan Foundation. The main thrust of the evening was to have both academic (me & Andy Lowe) and on-the-ground, local conservationists (Sarah Lance, Craig Gillespie [...]

  • Holy Shit! Can Manure Management Save Us?

    Updated: 2011-01-18 19:18:54
    “Holy Shit!” is damned right. Here’s a book about just that — manure. Precious, plentiful, misunderstood manure. Cow manure, horse poop, human feces, dog shit, you name it, Gene Logsdon writes about it. In this recent book (affiliate link) from good ol’ contrary farmer Gene Logsdon, the wonder and mystery and amazing fertilizing power of [...]

  • Coral bleaching - massive coral die-off after large bleaching event

    Updated: 2011-01-16 21:25:00
    Global Issues Social , Political , Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All Main : menu Home About Issues World News Site Updates Support Contact You are : here Home Issues Articles Coral Reefs Coral Reefs Author and Page information by Anup Shah This Page Last Updated Sunday , January 16, 2011 This page : http : www.globalissues.org article 173 coral-reefs To print all information e.g . expanded side notes , shows alternative links , use the print : version http : www.globalissues.org print article 173 This web page has the following : sub-sections Coral Reefs : Ecosystems of Environmental and Human Value Coral Reefs Are Dying Around the World Global Threats to Coral Reefs Climate change causing global mass coral bleaching Legacy of Nuclear Tests The political will to address

  • Deforestation partly to blame for Queensland floods

    Updated: 2011-01-16 21:00:20
    Last week I sent a fairly random Tweet about deforestation in south-eastern Queensland being partially responsible for the record floods there. It went more or less unnoticed, but I thought the comment deserved a proper explanation. As many of you might know, my colleagues and I wrote an article a few years ago about the [...]

  • Cartoon guide to biodiversity loss X

    Updated: 2011-01-13 22:02:54
    The latest batch of six cartoons… See also full stock of previous ‘Cartoon guide to biodiversity loss’ compendia here. Filed under: cartoon, climate change

  • S.A.F.E. = Species Ability to Forestall Extinction

    Updated: 2011-01-08 06:07:42
    I’ve been more or less underground for the last 3 weeks. It has been a wonderful break (mostly) from the normally hectic pace of academic life. Thanks for all those who remain despite the recent silence. – But I’m back now with a post about a paper we’ve just had accepted in Frontiers in Ecology [...]

  • Cancún climate change conference; good for rich countries, bad for developing ones

    Updated: 2011-01-04 02:56:00
    Global Issues Social , Political , Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All Main : menu Home About Issues World News Site Updates Support Contact You are : here Home Issues Articles COP16—Cancún Climate Conference COP16—Cancún Climate Conference Author and Page information by Anup Shah This Page Created Tuesday , January 04, 2011 This page : http : www.globalissues.org article 791 cop16-cancun-climate-conference To print all information e.g . expanded side notes , shows alternative links , use the print : version http : www.globalissues.org print article 791 November 29 December 10, 2010, Cancún , Mexico was the venue for the 16th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference , also known as the 15th Conference of the Parties or COP 16. This conference came a year after the

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