Earth, Environment & Endangered Species 02 (Apr 11 - Sep 15)

[winston]

Hong Kong-sized iceberg to break off AntarcticMetro

The Pine Island glacier is 'calving' off an 880sq km (340sq mile) chunk of ice from its unstable west coast, which in size terms lies somewhere between Singapore and Hong Kong.

http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=h ... =en&geo=us

[winston]

Hong Kong hotel group strikes shark fin off menuMontreal Gazette

HONG KONG - One of Asia's most prestigious hotel chains said Monday it would stop selling shark fin from January, in a move hailed as a historic breakthrough by campaigners to protect the threatened predators.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/H ... story.html

[winston]

7 new natural wonders

http://travel.malaysia.msn.com/photovie ... 12#image=1

[winston]

Hmmm.... we are in 2012

Ice melting across globe at accelerating rate, NASA says

• About 2 trillion tons of ice have melted in Greenland, Antarctica, Alaska since 2003

• Lost amount of water could fill up Chesapeake Bay 21 times, NASA scientist says

• Most came from Greenland, where losses raised global sea levels .5 mm annually

• Scientist says sea levels rising 50 percent faster than 15 years ago

By Emanuella Grinberg


(CNN) -- Between 1.5 trillion and 2 trillion tons of ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted at an accelerating rate since 2003, according to NASA scientists, in the latest signs of what they say is global warming.

This image shows the changing rate of mass in mountain glaciers on the Gulf of Alaska.

Using new satellite technology that measures changes in mass in mountain glaciers and ice sheets, NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke concluded that the losses amounted to enough water to fill the Chesapeake Bay 21 times.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/scienc ... index.html

[winston]

Earth's GPS out of order ? And this is 2012 ....

Hundreds of Dolphins Stranded on Cape Cod Beach

Rescuers are struggling to save more than 100 dolphins that have beached themselves on the shores of Cape Cod, Mass., over the past two weeks in what could be the largest single-species stranding ever in the northeast.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2 ... cod-beach/

[winston]

The World Heritage-Listed Great Barrier Reef Remains at Serious Threat of Climate Change

Scientists have warned that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could be killed by global warming within decades.

Source: AFP

[winston]

Himalayan Sherpas lament climate change devastation by Frankie Taggart

Climate change is altering the face of the Himalayas, devastating farming communities and making Mount Everest increasingly treacherous to climb, some of the world's top mountaineers have warned.

Apa Sherpa, the Nepali climber who has conquered Mount Everest a record 21 times, said he was disturbed by the lack of snow on the world's highest peak, caused by rising temperatures.

"In 1989 when I first climbed Everest there was a lot of snow and ice but now most of it has just become bare rock. That, as a result, is causing more rockfalls which is a danger to the climbers," he told AFP.

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

The Earth is Alive

A new theory asserts that the Earth is alive - including purportedly inanimate, non-living objects like water, proteins and DNA.

Source: AstroBiology Magazine

The Earth is alive, asserts a new scientific theory of life emerging from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The trans-disciplinary theory demonstrates that purportedly inanimate, non-living objects — for example,planets, water, proteins, and DNA — are animate, that is, alive.

Erik Andrulis, PhD, assistant professor of molecular biology and microbiology, advanced his controversial framework in his manuscript "Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life," published in the peer-reviewed journal, Life.

His theory explains not only the evolutionary emergence of life on Earth and in the Universe but also the structure and function of existing cells and biospheres.

http://www.mindpowernews.com/EarthIsAlive.htm

[winston]

Oceans' acidic shift may be fastest in 300 million years by Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The world's oceans are turning acidic at what could be the fastest pace of any time in the past 300 million years, even more rapidly than during a monster emission of planet-warming carbon 56 million years ago, scientists said on Thursday.

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281

[winston]

Loss of Arctic sea ice may lead to mercury deposits: NASA study by Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Significant declines in perennial Arctic sea ice over the past decade may be intensifying a chemical reaction, that leads to deposits of toxic mercury, a NASA-led study showed on Thursday.

The study found that thick, perennial Arctic sea ice was being replaced by a thinner and saltier ice that releases bromine into the air when it interacts with sunlight and cold, said Son Nghiem, a NASA researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

That in turn triggers a chemical reaction called a "bromine explosion" that turns gaseous mercury in the atmosphere into a toxic pollutant that falls on snow, land and ice and can accumulate in fish, said Nghiem, lead author of the study.

"Shrinking summer sea ice has drawn much attention to exploiting Arctic resources and improving maritime trading routes," Nghiem said.

"But the change in sea ice composition also has impacts on the environment," he said. "Changing conditions in the Arctic might increase bromine explosions in the future.

Nghiem said the released bromine can also remove ozone from the lowest level of the atmosphere, the troposphere.

http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?a ... &buid=3281