Biggest Living Things on Earth
The General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park is thought to be the most massive sequoia in the world. These trees live in their own “villages”.
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Climate Change: from War to Brain Damage
As climate change accelerates, our warming planet is driving crises that range from war on one side of the globe to brain-damaged babies on the other. A few reports from recent…
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Climate News to Make Your Blood Boil
What a week for climate change. A blizzard of new studies and reports. Let’s start in the Middle East – you know, that place where we dig up more oil than anywhere else in…
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Ocean Circulation May Be Shutting Down
Remember the 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow, where fresh water from melting polar ice pours into the North Atlantic, pushing down the warm salt water and causing ocean currents…
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Almost Toast
You might reasonably assume that the red line in this diagram illustrates what happens if humankind takes no action at all on climate change. But no, what the red line actually…
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What Really Sparked the War in Syria
Satellite image showing Syria at focal point of Middle East drought. It’s horrific, intractable, seemingly endless … and quite possibly the shape of other wars to come.…
Anything Missing from This Word Cloud?
Climate Change for Dummies
Global Warming As Sung by a Violin
Move Over, H7N9 – Here Comes MERS
The Storm on Saturn
A storm raging on Saturn is eight times the surface area of Earth and has been raging for eight months. It’s 500 times bigger than anything previously seen on Saturn.
The Dust Monster that Swallowed Phoenix
The dust storm, known locally as a “haboob”, was 50 miles wide and as high as a mountain as it swept up from the south and enveloped the city.
Skip the Plastic, Save the Turtles
A new study from Earthwatch in Queensland looked at the guts of over 120 dead turtles found in Moreton Bay. Dr. Kathy Townsend found plastic rubbish in over 30 per cent of them.
The End of the Economy?
Forty years ago, a ground-breaking publication called The Limits to Growth concluded that by the middle of the 21st Century the Earth would no longer be able to sustain our escalating obsession with growth.
Summer Snowstorm at Cedar Breaks
I was expecting fields of spring flowers. Instead, the entire national monument at Cedar Breaks was covered in several feet of snow, and it was 32 degrees and actually snowing.
Serengeti Animals Saved from Highway
Plans to construct a major highway through the middle of the Serengeti National Park have been scrapped. This is very good news for millions of the…
New Conversation about Climate Change
How can we combat climate change deniers who stand to lose the most when we all wake up to serious damage they’re doing to the planet?
In Fires, Wildlife Do Better than Humans
While the huge fire in Arizona has devastated an area greater than Rhode Island, there have been surprisingly few animal deaths. How come?
Caution: Do Not Watch This Video!
When you see pictures of rubble from the tornadoes that ravaged Joplin, Missouri, you should not wonder:
Is this somehow related to the huge tornado outbreak in Alabama …
When the Sun Sneezes
A giant explosion! Solar flare, from NASA When the sun sneezed on Tuesday, it was big. In this case, more than a billion tons of material…
Where Snow Leopards Meet Tourists
In areas like Ladakh, whose intact ecology makes them habitable for animals such as snow leopards, a lot of wildlife conservation work is occurring.
A Day on a Changing Planet
The tornado in Massachusetts only adds to the concern as to what’s happening to the weather and other things that affect us all at home and abroad.
Is the Current Weather Just a Warm-Up?
“Even those who deny the existence of global climate change are having trouble dismissing the evidence of the last year,” writes Sharon Begley.
California to Ban Shark Finning
CA State Assembly has voted 62 to 8 to ban the sale and distribution of shark fins, thus effectively taking shark fin soup off the menu in that state.
Celebrate Endangered Species Day!
Every year, on the third Friday of May and throughout the weekend, people across the country celebrate Endangered Species Day.
Exploding Melons Are No Joke
It sounds almost comic: Fields full of watermelons blowing up … seeds flying like shrapnel. In fact, it’s just the latest serious example of dangerous farming in China.
Sea Levels to Rise Over 5 Feet by 2100
Arctic ice is now melting so fast that sea levels around the planet can be expected to rise by more than 5 feet by the end of this century.
Among Natural Disasters, a Very Greek Tragedy
April was a record-breaker for tornadoes, including 160 reported in one day last week, breaking the previous “super outbreak” of 148 one day in 1974.
Why Earth Day Needs to Be Animal Day
For many of us, maybe most of us, our relationship to the planet is inseparable from our relationship to the animals. So on this Earth Day, let’s not forget the animals.