Russia
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IKEA subsidiary accused of cutting down centuries-old trees
Shoppers might pay next to nothing for those cheapy cheap tables and chairs and bookshelves at IKEA, but the planet pays a much higher price, Environmental Leader reports. According to a forest conservation nonprofit, an IKEA subsidiary is clear-cutting forests that are hundreds of years old. [The Global Forest Coalition] — an alliance of NGOs […]
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Critical List: Nigeria oil spill 60 times bigger than reported; Arctic Ocean methane
Amnesty International found documents showing that a 2008 Shell oil spill in Nigeria was 60 times bigger than the company claimed. And in Russia, 2,000 tons of oil spilled from a well over two days. But, really, who knows how much oil it was? The thawing Arctic Ocean is releasing gobs of methane into the atmosphere. Figuring out how […]
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Moscow looks awesome from space
NASA’s image of the day today is a night shot of Moscow, seen framed by the Aurora Borealis and the solar panels of the International Space Station.
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Scientists resurrect 30,000-year-old plants — and they can still bear fruit
Man, I can barely raise a plant from a seedling without killing it, and scientists have managed to grow viable plants out of seeds from 29,000 B.C.? So unfair.
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Russia spills as much oil as Deepwater Horizon every two months
Russian oil spills come in drips and trickles, instead of dramatic explosions. But the Associated Press reports that oil companies there spill at least 1 percent of all oil produced every year — "equivalent to one Deepwater Horizon-scale leak about every two months," the AP says. Why have you never heard about this? Well, for […]
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Cloning a mammoth: Totally gonna happen
Back in August, a team of scientists uncovered a woolly mammoth's thigh bone, which had been so well preserved in Siberian permafrost that it offered the possibility of creating a mammoth clone. And this weekend, a team of Japanese and Russian scientist announced that, yes, they are going to do this thing. Mammoth clones. They're […]
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Critical List: EPA comments on Keystone XL coming soon; Moscow catches the green bug
The EPA is going to release its comments on Keystone XL soon. Also, John Kerry's on the case. America at last launched a NASA satellite to observe the weather and climate of all the earth. And Al Gore rejoiced. No pesto for you! Pine nuts are the latest food to carry salmonella. Environmental laws aren't […]
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Critical List: Climate change officially caused an extreme weather event; climate denier smackdown
Climate change caused the Russian heat wave, according to statistics and science (if you believe that sort of thing). Nebraska could reroute the Keystone XL pipeline. Eugene Robinson smacks down climate deniers. Money quote: "It is the know-nothing politicians — not scientists — who are committing an unforgivable fraud." This German transportation system is a […]
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Global warming makes Russia militarize the Arctic
There has not traditionally been a lot of military presence in the Arctic, given as how it's mostly ice and seals. But now that the ice is melting, it's just mostly seals, and those little buggers are shifty. So Russia is sending in the troops.