Earth ChangesS

Alarm Clock

Zimbabwe Conservationists Predict "Catastrophe" Over Upsurge in Poaching

Kholwani Nyathi
The Standard
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 00:30 UTC
"Hungry ZANU PF Militias Poach Wildlife To Survive"

An environmental catastrophe is looming in most wildlife protected areas in Matabeleland North due to an upsurge in poaching activities by ZANU-PF [Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front] militias camped at bases throughout the province, it has been learnt.
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Cloud Lightning

UK: Lancashire hit by freak weather


Lancashire Evening Post
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:13 UTC


funnel cload
Shaun Kearns was fishing at Bickerstaffe when he took this picture

Evening Post readers were quick to capture dramatic pictures of freak weather in the sky above Merseyside and Lancashire.

Violent downpours resulted in the formation of a funnel cloud - a tornado which does not touch the ground - which was spotted at around 2.30pm on Sunday.
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Hourglass

Solving The Mystery Of The Disappearing Honey Bee

James Smith
eworldvu.com
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:10 UTC
Albert Einstein once predicted that if bees were to disappear, man would follow only a few years later. Indeed, researchers need to find a solution to this worldwide bee problem very soon to insure that his theory is not put to a test.
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Cloud Lightning

First Hurricane of 2008 forms in distant Atlantic


Reuters
Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:48 UTC
Miami - The first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season formed on Monday, hundreds of miles (kilometers) away from the United States and the Caribbean islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The Miami-based center said it was still too early to determine whether Hurricane Bertha would hit any land, as computer models showed it would eventually start curving to the northwest and then to the north, possibly taking it near Bermuda.

Image
©NOAA
Bertha
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Magnify

US: On Plum Island, scientists track a tiny sparrow in hopes of saving the marshes

Kay Lazar
Boston.com
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:36 UTC
An elusive, palm-sized bird that spends its entire life in marshlands may help scientists unravel a mystery that, they say, could have profound implications for a lot of other creatures.
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Bizarro Earth

Australian climate report like 'disaster novel': minister


AFP
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:28 UTC
SYDNEY - Heatwaves, less rain and increased drought are the likely prospect for Australia, according to a new report on climate change which the agriculture minister said read like a "disaster novel".
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Alarm Clock

US: Fewer bees buzzing in Iowa

Andrea Kemp
Associated Press
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:53 UTC
SIBLEY -- Honey bees are dying in Iowa and throughout the nation, and no one understands why.

Researchers are scrambling to understand the mystery but no solution seems imminent, leaving fruit growers and beekeepers unsure what to do.
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Alarm Clock

Focus on elk as disease persists near Yellowstone


Associated Press
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:42 UTC
BILLINGS, Montana - Federal officials are considering a tentative proposal that calls for capturing or killing infected elk in Yellowstone National Park to eliminate a serious livestock disease carried by animals in the area.
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Better Earth

Acidifying Oceans Adds Urgency To Carbon Dioxide Cuts


Science Daily
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:13 UTC
It's not just about climate change anymore. Besides loading the atmosphere with heat-trapping greenhouse gases, human emissions of carbon dioxide have also begun to alter the chemistry of the ocean--often called the cradle of life on Earth.

Great Barrier Reef off Australia
©iStockphoto
Great Barrier Reef off Australia.

The ecological and economic consequences are difficult to predict but possibly calamitous, warn a team of chemical oceanographers in the July 4 issue of Science, and halting the changes already underway will likely require even steeper cuts in carbon emissions than those currently proposed to curb climate change.
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Info

US: Mississippi River reopens as flooding wanes

Bob Burgdorfer
Reuters
Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:08 UTC
CHICAGO - The Mississippi River, the most important U.S. commercial waterway, reopened to water navigation on Saturday after much of it was closed for nearly a month due to the worst flooding in 15 years.

"As far as navigation, the river is open," said Steve Farkas, an engineer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' St. Louis office.

Lock 25 near Winfield, Missouri, north of St. Louis, was the final lock to reopen and it reopened Saturday morning, Farkas said.

Taller river traffic will continue to be impeded until a railroad drawbridge, which spans the river about 60 miles (97 km) upriver of St. Louis, is repaired later on Saturday, the Kansas City Southern railroad said.

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