Climate Climate & Energy

Cloud Nein

World’s Cloud Forests Threatened The world’s cloud forests, which strip moisture from clouds and supply millions of poor people in developing nations with fresh water, are in danger of being wiped out by climate change, claims a report released Monday by the U.N. and the World Conservation Union at the Convention on Biological Diversity in […]

Ash Holes

Enviro Groups Ask EPA to Halt Ash Dumping A coalition of 125 environmental groups has filed a petition with the U.S. EPA, asking it to immediately halt the dumping of waste ash from coal-fired power plants. They claim the ash contains a variety of toxins and pollutes ground, surface, and drinking water. The EPA promised […]

One Meeellion Dollars!

Iraq’s Environment Ministry Faces Big Problems and a Small Budget Iraq’s first environment ministry, facing a host of daunting ecological problems and a list of 35 priority projects that would cost more than $200 million, has been allotted a 2004 budget of … $1 million. A report from the United Nations Environment Program presents a […]

Built Ford? Tough.

Environmental Groups Target Bill Ford, Jr. Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford, Jr., once a darling of the eco-friendly set, has come under attack by a coalition of environmental groups led by California-based Bluewater Network. In full-page national newspaper ads that began appearing Wednesday, the group lambasted Ford, Jr., for reneging on his July 2000 […]

Fool Proof

Bubblicious

Scientists Consider Funky Plans to Avert Climate Change Plans to slow global warming once dismissed as, well, loopy need to be taken seriously, concluded scientists at a conference on climate change in Cambridge, U.K. The proposed schemes can be divided into two families — they aim either to capture greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide […]

Hot in Herre

2003 Tied for Second-Warmest Year Ever The year 2003 tied with 2002 for the dubious distinction of being the second-hottest year since 1880 (when such records started being kept), according to federal government data released Thursday. The hottest year ever was 1998, which scientists attribute to the U.S. release of ‘N Sync’s debut album. We’re […]

Flu Dunnit

Enviro Disruptions Will Cause More Animal Diseases to Jump to Humans In coming years, diseases — primarily viruses — passed from animals to human beings pose one of the principal threats to world health, warned a conference of scientists at the Royal Society in London yesterday. Environmental disruptions ranging from deforestation to population migration to […]

Viscous Cycle

In Ironic Twist, Thawing Tundra Causes Trouble for Alaska’s Oil Industry Global warming — brought about in part by the burning of fossil fuels — has raised temperatures in Alaska and reduced the length of the “frozen season” during which oil-prospecting convoys are allowed to traverse the landscape. The past three decades have seen the […]

Salt Water Daffy

Climate Change Alters Salt Levels in Atlantic Ocean, to Europe’s Dismay The Atlantic Ocean seems so vast that it’s almost impossible to imagine fundamentally altering it — and yet, its salt levels have changed so drastically over the last 40 years because of global warming that the whole flow of ocean water is being disrupted, […]