Environment on Earth

Both Antarctica and the Arctic are getting less icy because of global warming, scientists said in a study that extends evidence of man-made climate change to every continent.
Detection of a human cause of warming at both ends of the earth also strengthens a need to understand ice sheets on Antarctica and Greenland that would raise world […]

Researchers were astounded when, in the fall of 2007, they discovered that the year-round ice pack in the Arctic Ocean had lost some 20 percent of its mass in just two years, setting a new record low since satellite imagery began documenting the terrain in 1978. Without action to stave off climate change, some scientists […]

Environmental damage such as desertification or flooding caused by climate change could force millions of peoples from their homes in the next few decades, experts said.
“All indicators show we are dealing with a major emerging global problem,” said Janos Bogardi, director of the U.N. University`s Institute on the Environment and Human Security in Bonn, Germany.
“Experts […]

Bird flu is just one of 11 diseases that may worsen with global warming, scientists are warning.
Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society have nicknamed 12 diseases the “deadly dozen” and say they are spreading across the globe and becoming increasingly dangerous to wildlife and humans.
William Karesh, of the WCS, told the International Union for the […]

Climate change threatens Australia’s A$2.1 billion (US$1.6 billion) commercial fishing and aquaculture industry, but may create new wild fisheries as tropical marine species move south as sea temperatures rise.Changes in sea temperatures, currents, winds, rainfall, sea levels and extreme weather events threaten to adversely affect fish and shellfish numbers, said a report by the Commonwealth […]

Global climate change, as experienced during the past century and anticipated during the next, is largely due to human activities. The number of people on the Earth has risen from about one billion in 1800 AD, 2 in 1925, 3 in 1959, and 5.4 in 1996. The number is currently estimated to reach 7 to […]

 
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has challenged many members of his party to take climate change seriously, said that he plans to invite lawmakers and governmental executives from around the globe to California this fall to address solutions to the problem.
The governor said he will invite officials from Europe, as well as from Australia, China, […]

The World Health Organization warned Asia Pacific countries that they could be vulnerable to health risks and food shortages as a result of climate change.
Climate change is among the topics being discussed in a regional WHO conference being held in Manila, and governments are being pushed to put health issues in their national climate change mitigation […]

Declining ice thickness and what is looking like the second lowest coverage on record means that Arctic sea ice may well have reached its lowest levels ever in terms of total volume.
Final figures on minimum ice coverage for 2008 are expected in a matter of days, but they are already flirting with last year’s record […]

Forests in Vermont’s Green Mountains transition abruptly from a heat-loving mix of sugar maple, American beech, and yellow birch on the lower slopes to a cold-adapted mix of red spruce, balsam fir, and paper birch higher up.
A new study shows that the altitude of that transition zone rose as much as 400 feet between 1962 […]