Environment

California's coastal fog is decreasing significantly and may endanger redwood trees along the coast dependent on cool, humid summers, according to a new study to be published in PNAS. It is unclear whether this is part of a natural cycle of the result of human activity, but the change could affect the entire redwood ecosystem. The results came from analysis of new records recently made available by the National Climate Data Center. The U.S. Surface Airways data come from airports around the country, which have recorded for more than 60 years hourly information such as cloud cover (cloud…

 A new study of  most of the world's tropical land area indicates that urbanization and globalized agricultural trade have become the primary drivers of tropical deforestation, in stark contrast to the assumptions of some scientists that fast-growing urbanization and the efficiencies of global trade might eventually slow or reverse tropical deforestation. The new study appeared recently in Nature Geoscience. Deforestation has been a rising concern in recent decades, especially with the recognition that it may exacerbate climate change. Studies in the late 20th century generally…

When I was undergraduate student in 1963 the Bharatpur Kevladev Bird Sanctuary, Bhartpur was a reed swap stage ecological formation where some level of water stayed all around the year. Then came one year when for preventing cattle grazers and encroachers firing took place. Then came Panchana dam around one l hundred km upstream that prevented river inflow. Construction of dams, rampant encroachments, greed of tourist agencies who built hotels in the places not to be hotels ( in my openion) caused enormous pressure on ecosystem and it collapsed with some warnings of birds are coming or not…

Renowned Indian Agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan on Wednesday commended the Indian government's decision to defer the cultivation of the genetically modified (GM) egg plant, Bt brinjal in the country and termed its as a “wise and appropriate decision”. Dr. Swaminathan said that studies should be conducted on this new variety of eggplant before giving it a green signal for mass cultivation.

Data collected on speleothem encrustations, a type of mineral deposit, in coastal caves on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca indicate that sea level was about one meter above present-day levels around 81,000 years ago. The finding challenges other data that indicate sea level was as low as 30 meters below present-day levels. Theories about the rates of ice accumulation and melting during the Quaternary Period may need to be revised as a result of the findings, which appear this week in Science. The sea level high stand of 81,000 years ago was preceded by rapid ice melting, on the order of…

Climate Shift Causes Problems In China And Tibet Record temperatures and severe drought in China The worst drought in 60 years that has left millions of people in Yunnan province lacking drinking water has also fueled forest fires and threatened local energy supplies. A local official said late Sunday the drought has inflicted a direct agricultural economic loss of 6.5 billion yuan ($952 million) in Yunnan. The province has earmarked 389 million yuan ($57 million) for drought relief, said Zhou Yunlong, head of the provincial water resources bureau. The efforts have helped temporarily ease…

Will Heaven Will Heaven is a writer who specialises in politics and the internet. He also writes about Catholicism and religion. He can be emailed at will.heaven@telegraph.co.uk and is @WillHeaven on Twitter. India shelves GM food crop plans – while millions remain malnourished By Will Heaven World Last updated: February 9th, 2010 8 Comments Comment on this article India has dropped plans to release the country’s first genetically modified food crop, Dean Nelson reports, because of fears over “the long-term effects on human health”. This appalling decision was taken by the environment…

Sustainable Water - A Lesson From India Anupam Mishra travels across water-challenged India studying rainwater harvesting methods and learning from the people behind them. He presents his findings to NGOs, development agencies and environmental groups, pulling from centuries of indigenous wisdom that has found water for drinking and irrigation even in extremely arid landscapes through wells, filter ponds and other catchment systems...."In [him] lives a spirit, of quiet service, that once existed freely in our politics and our activism, a spirit that has been completely excised from one sphere…

As Others See Us O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!".(I wish that some Power would give us the little gift of seeing ourselves as other see us.)Robert_Burns Let's be honest, both poles of the American political spectrum fear the same thing about each other; that if the other gets control a lot of oppressive weird stuff will happen.Hank Campbell The phrase 'rational politics' is so often an oxymoron.  Political wrangling is all too often about each side denying the truth of anything and everything that the other side says.  It is very refreshing to…

A new study conducted by researchers from UC Davis and the John Innes Center in Norwich, England, suggests that it is harder than previously thought to predict when sudden shifts in Earth's natural systems will occur. The finding is troubling for scientists who are trying to identify the tipping points that could push climate change into an irreparable global disaster. The study was published recently in Ecology Letters. Scientists widely agree that global climate change is already causing major environmental effects, such as changes in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, droughts,…