Month: November 2010

  • Israeli Electric Cars on the Fast Track – Says Company’s Power Supplier

    Contrary to reservations being made about the Better Place electric car company being a monopoly in Israel’s upcoming electric car market, it now appears that the head of one of the country’s largest holding companies, the Israel Corporation, is very positive concerning the future of electric cars in Israel and other countries. Favorable remarks in…

  • Seoul: on course to be one of the world’s greenest cities?

    Seoul, host of this year’s G20, is well on the way to achieving its goal of becoming one of the world’s most eco-friendly cities. But, as Anna Sheldrick reports, there may be room for improvement elsewhere in South Korea.

  • Hurricane Season 2010

    There were no reported hurricane disasters like Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005. So it is somewhat surprising to hear that according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,) the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, was one of the busiest on record. In contrast, the eastern North Pacific season had the fewest storms on record…

  • Four degree rise ‘would scupper African farming’

    A widespread farming catastrophe could hit Africa if global temperatures rose by four degrees Celsius or more, according to a study that calls for urgent planning for a much warmer future and investment in technology to avert disaster.

  • Cancun climate talks update: US on track to meet emission reduction goals

    he United States will keep a pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions made last year perhaps with help from a domestic boom in cleaner-burning natural gas, Washington’s lead negotiator said at the U.N. climate talks. At last year’s climate talks in Copenhagen, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged the United States would cut emissions in a…

  • Peat. Climate and Fires

    Peat, or turf, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world. Peat has a high carbon content and can burn under low moisture conditions. Once ignited by the presence of…

  • Study Shows Over-Cleanliness Negatively Affects Immune System

    In a never-ending quest to eliminate human contact with germs, science has given society a number of hygienic chemicals. Among these chemicals are Triclosan, found commonly in anti-bacterial soaps, toothpaste, and many other products, and Bisphenol A (BPA), found in the protective lining of food cans. A new study from researchers at the University of…

  • Hairy enigma of the Serengeti photographed again

    A mysterious—and extremely hairy—animal has been photographed again in the Serengeti. Robert Berntsen, a frequent traveler to East Africa, photographed the creature, almost certainly a gazelle, in Kenya’s Masai Mara Reserve. It was earlier photographed by Paolo Torchio in the same reserve.

  • Unprecedented tundra fire likely linked to climate change

    A thousand square kilometers of the Alaskan tundra burned in September 2007, a single fire that doubled the area burned in the region since 1950. However, a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research finds that the fire was even more unprecedented than imagined: sediment cores found that it was the most destructive fire…

  • Worst case study: global temp up 7.2F degrees by 2060s

    World temperatures could soar by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the 2060s in the worst case of global climate change and require an annual investment of $270 billion just to contain rising sea levels, studies suggested on Sunday. Such a rapid rise, within the lifetimes of many young people today, is double the…