The Amazonian rainforest isthe planet’s respiratory system–the more than 1 billion acres of trees help regulate the climate and produce more than 20% of the Earth’s oxygen. And that’s why one of the biggest fears surrounding climate change is the possibility of what’s known as Amazon dieback–the risk that higher temperatures and …
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Summer Sizzlers Here to Stay
Enjoying the summer of 2010 so far—with its record-setting heat and stultifying humidity? Hate to see it all come to an end? Not to worry: there should be plenty more like it, and that’s especially true if you live in a big city like those on the east coast that have been so hard-hit by this summer’s sizzlers.
It may be no surprise …
Update on the Oil Spills—All of Them
Michigan is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of oil spills. But as of Monday, add the state to the list of those laying booms, scrambling cleanup teams and otherwise trying to stanch the flow of thick crude leaking from a busted oil pipe. And add that spill to yet another new gusher the Gulf of Mexico—this one …
Oil Spill: What Will the Storm Do?
As tempests go, tropical storm Bonnie would barely be strong enough to cause a Louisianan to look up from his gumbo. As of Friday evening, the National Hurricane Center actually downgraded Bonnie to a tropical depression, with winds only around 35 mph—below the 39 mph minimum needed for to be an official tropical storm. If this were …
NOAA Confirms: There’s Oil Underwater
Back in mid-May, a team of scientists announced that they had discovered enormous underwater plumes of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, presumably due to the BP oil spill. While BP steadfastly maintained that almost all of the oil spewing from a partially blown well was flowing directly to the surface, where it showed up as massive slicks, the …
Oil Spill: The Industry Looks to Clean Up
While the rest of us wait to see whether a brewing storm will bring oil spill containment and cleanup on BP’s spill to a halt—just when the endgame had begun—the oil industry is moving on. Yesterday four of the biggest oil companies announced they were committing $1 billion to build a rapid-response system to cleanup deepwater oil …
Oil Spill: Is the Well Damaged? (Update)
Going into the integrity test being performed on BP’s blown well in the Gulf of Mexico, we were told that the longer the test was carried out, the better it would be for the wellbore—and for the chances of putting an early end to the oil spill. If the test—which began on July 15, after BP managed to stop the flow of oil from its new …
In Hong Kong, One Paradise Lost
From the Department of Gripes:
You might not think of Hong Kong as a trove of natural serenity, but actually, the seven million people living here are squished into a remarkably small area. We all live piled on top of each other and jockey for space on impossibly narrow sidewalks while about 75% of the land of the Special …
The Oil Has Stopped—for Now
The numbers tell the story better than anything else could: after 85 days, 16 hours and 25 minutes, oil at last stopped flowing from BP’s busted well in the Gulf of Mexico. Since the evening of April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, between 93.5 million and 184.3 million gallons of crude have been spilled—blowing the …
Whither the Pangolin? Wildlife Smuggling Alive and Well in Asia
Pity the pangolin. The nearly blind anteater, with only its keen sense of smell and razor-sharp plates of armor to rely on, doesn’t look like it has much of chance at making it in our modern world, and illegal wildlife smugglers seem to be doing their best to seal that fate.
Last week, customs officials in Guangzhou, southern …