EcoWorldly

Gas-filled Railway Tanks Explode in Italy: Who’s Responsible?

Eva Pratesi — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:00:53 +0000

In Tuscany we think that was a foretold tragedy, that one happened last Monday, 29th of June, in Viareggio. Axle failure on a wagon carrying liquid gas caused a rail disaster in central Italy.

Read more of this story »

Arctic Sea Ice Lowest in 800 Years

Bryan Nelson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:19:23 +0000

A plethora of corroborative data shows that this year’s sea ice levels in the Arctic are the lowest seen in 800 years.

The new research, published in the journal Climate Dynamics, doesn’t specify a cause or reason for the retreat, but it does note that if sea ice melt continues at this level, it’s likely that the North Pole will be completely ice-free during the summer months within a few decades.

Read more of this story »

Blame-apportionment and Reactionary measures can not remedy Environmental Ailments

Dr Vandana Prakash — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:26:25 +0000

Much of environmental management has been reactive. Human action (excess or unwise use or both) created problems; overtime, the problems became apparent and need for solutions inescapable. Remedies had to be found and put in place.

Picture: Smog in Los Angeles, Courtsey: Nathan via Flickr.com under creative commons license.

Read more of this story »

Delhi’s Air Pollution Levels Rising Again

Dr Vandana Prakash — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:44:51 +0000

When I was looking at Delhi’s environment almost a decade back, Delhi was entering its bitter battle against being the ‘fourth most polluted city’ in the world. Much thought and action (or shall we say reaction) was devoted to the problem. Delhi was able to remedy both its ‘fourth most polluted’ status and its air quality with unprecedented ‘hyper-activity:’ remarkable for being so well concerted across the different levels and different arms of the government.

Picture: Delhi Smog in January 2009

As I revisited the problem more recently, I was both shocked and saddened to see a decline so visibly and so quickly. Examining Delhi’s data, in January this year, I found an increase in vehicular pollution. I was not expecting this to happen in face of the phenomenal and difficult measures that Delhi had undertaken: like relocation of industries out of residential areas (something that had come about as a result of the developmental dream for Delhi in the 1950s) and conversion of the entire fleet of Delhi Transportation Corporation (DTC) buses into Compressed Natural gas or CNG (resulting in the largest CNG-operated public transportation in the world).

Read more of this story »

New Species of Phallus-Shaped Mushroom Is 2 Inches Long, Named After Scientist

Bryan Nelson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:28:42 +0000

Phallus drewesii, named after Dr. Robert Drewes of the California Academy of Sciences, is a 2 inch long phallus-shaped mushroom that grows on wood, smells like rotting meat and curves awkwardly downward.

Upon discovering that the new species would be named after him, Drewes remarked: “It is a wonderful honour and great fun to have this phallus-shaped fungus named after me. I have been immortalized in the scientific record.”

Read more of this story »

Human Health Endangered by Australian Drought

Susan Kraemer — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:31:24 +0000

Due to climate change; one of the now dried up lakes in Australia is gradually turning into Sulphuric Acid.

The Age is reporting that there are fears people living in towns around the lakes may suffer from acid dust, blowing off the bare lakes as rising acidity threatens to wipe out ecology in the lakes. The lake-bed soils turn into sulphuric acid when exposed to the air, and record low flows down the Murray are exposing the beds.

Read more of this story »

Indian Luxury Resort Endangers Isolated Jarawa Tribe

Derek Markham — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:42:57 +0000

The survival of the Jarawa tribe, on the Andaman Islands in India, is threatened by the construction of a luxury resort by Barefoot India, a so-called ‘environmentally friendly’ tourism company.

The Jarawa tribe has only had outside contact since 1998, and the 320 members are being affected by poaching on their land, pressure from settlers and loggers, and exposure to diseases, alcohol, and possible sexual exploitation.

Read more of this story »

California’s consumer-driven recent ecofriendly initiatives: Solar Incentives, Residential MicroFueler & Digital Textbooks

Dr Vandana Prakash — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:07:46 +0000

California is trying many different initiatives to make its contribution to mitigate climate-change, many different ways to reduce its GHG emissions- drop by drop. Diverse attempts themselves improve its chances of success. But what in my mind, greatly improves its chance is the ability of California to think on behalf of the consumer, the common person.

Picture: Solar Panels on California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco

Read more of this story »

Western Gray Whale Critically Threatened by Oil and Gas Exploration

Derek Markham — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:27:02 +0000

One of the world’s most critically endangered whales, the western gray whale, is being pushed out of its annual feeding area by loud industrial activity from oil and gas exploration by Exxon, BP, and Rosneft, says a panel of top scientists.

“Western gray whale cows with their calves feed near the shore, but the industrial noise resulting from oil and gas development activities is pushing them out of the area.” - Doug Norlen, Pacific Environment

Read more of this story »

While Cape Town Budgets To Keep Them Out, The Baboons Still Dropping In

Dave Harcourt — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:59:59 +0000

A post of a few months ago considered whether the Cape Town City Council would have to charge residents to manage the Peninsular Baboons - now they have approved funds and plan a workshop while residents have baboons droping into their bathroom.

City Supports Baboon Monitoring and Wants to Develop a Plan

In the first news story since the recent post on the Cape Peninsular baboons, the Cape Town City Council has set aside a quarter of a million dollars to continue the funding of the baboon monitoring programme on the Peninsula. This was good news for many as there has been uncertainty, as to whether the city council would continue to fund a ten-year-old baboon monitor programme. The programme has minders keeping watch over baboon troops and where possible keeping them away from the urban areas. Sensibly the city has also decided that the quarter of a million dollars is only an interim solution and will also be working with South African National Parks (Sanparks) and Cape Nature Conservation to address the problem. The city will host a baboon expert workshop at the Civic Centre on July 2, with the aim of finding “the most effective strategy for baboon management in the Cape Peninsula” and determining how best to implement it.

Read more of this story »