habitat loss

Loss of summer ice in the Arctic will threaten polar bear survival

We've seen the USGS predict that two-thirds of the polar bear population will be wiped out by 2050. But that analysis assumes the Arctic will still have summer ice then. The USGS acknowledges (PDF) their projection is "conservative" since it is based upon an average of existing climate models and "the observed trajectory of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models."

In fact, the Arctic now is poised to lose all its ice by 2030 -- and possibly by 2020, as I discuss below. What will happen to the polar bears?

Biofuels subsidies will only lead to increased food costs and habitat destruction

This, courtesy of the Financial Times, is a welcome development. Hopefully, the Doha Round of the GATT will get restarted, and this can be addressed in addition to the more general discussion of agricultural subsidies.

Grass Backwards

Carbon dioxide contributing to un-grassing of grassland, says new study Thanks in part to rising levels of carbon dioxide, the world’s grasslands are turning into woody shrublands, says a new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When researchers artificially doubled CO2 levels over sections of the Colorado plains, they observed a fortyfold increase in […]

Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sink

Wilderness is pretty much a thing of the past, says report Regardless of whether humankind was given dominion over the earth, we’ve most certainly taken it. A new report in Science calculates that only 17 percent of global land mass has been untainted by human dwellings, agriculture, or roads. And that was as of 1995; […]

Vader, Cheney, same same

The brilliant series of pieces on Dick (Vader) Cheney continues with the latest installment about destroying salmon runs for partisan purposes, making the western U.S. look like a pincushion punctured with drilling rigs, and unleashing the hounds of hell (snowmobiles) throughout Yosemite.

Dick Cheney -- truly an execrable almost-human being.

North Pacific Fishery Management Council protects seafloor habitat areas in Bering Sea

It's official -- and unanimous. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to ban bottom trawling of some 180,000 square miles of previously unexploited ocean floor in the Bering Sea, particularly in the North.

The area is home to 26 species of marine mammals, including whales and walruses, as well as 450 species of fish and million of seabirds that flock to the region from all seven continents.

Raptor ‘Round Their Fingers

U.S. suggests saving imperiled owls by shooting other owls Despite 17 years of conservation measures, the northern spotted owl is still in trouble. So the Bush administration has issued a cease-and-desist order on logging in the owl’s Pacific Northwest habitat. Ha ha ha! No, the feds’ recent draft spotted-owl protection plan instead vilifies the barred […]

Humans spur worst extinctions since dinosaurs

Humans are responsible for the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs and must make unprecedented extra efforts to reach a goal of slowing losses by 2010, a U.N. report said on Monday.

Habitats ranging from coral reefs to tropical rainforests face mounting threats, the Secretariat of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity said in the report, issued at the start of a March 20-31 U.N. meeting in Curitiba, Brazil.

"In effect, we are currently responsible for the sixth major extinction event in the history of earth, and the greatest since the dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago," said the 92-page Global Biodiversity Outlook 2 report.

Keep reading (if you can). Or go straight to the report.

Umbra on skiing

Dear Umbra, With winter fast approaching, I was thinking of learning to ski. I was wondering how skiing ranks among recreational activities in terms of its environmental impact. What are all the effects of clearing ski trails, making snow, and operating ski lifts? Not to mention all the resorts and roads that sprout up to […]