WWF - An Eye on the Blue Marble

The truth about carbon offset programmes

2009-11-18

In an article today, the New York Times argue that the carbon offset programmes popular with air passengers actually work to keep the guilt down instead of the carbon emissions.

The article explains how carbon-offset programmes have actually worked counter to their original purpose - countering carbon emissions from travel. These programmes encourage people to travel more as they give the false impression that by paying a small extra sum you can travel all you like. There are carbon-offset programmes for private jet companies and helicopter tour operators - services where per passenger emissions are so high that no offset programme can practically make a difference.

The problem is two fold:
- air travel is growing too fast to give offset programmes a chance
- there is no sure way to measure and be certain that the money from carbon-offset programmes is actually yielding the promised results

The outcome is that one of the first companies to offer carbon-offsets - Responsible Travel - has canceled the programme. Many other companies are changing their commitments to existing carbon offset programmes and instead spending it on programmes where they have more direct control and better way of measuring the results.

I have been a skeptic of such programmes but would love to know what you think and what solutions would you offer?

A simple choice

2009-11-18

Albatross remains reveal shocking reality of the polluted oceans

2009-11-02

Photographer Chris Jordan traveled to one of the remotest islands in the North Pacific ocean - Midway Atoll with five other artists.

There he witnessed thousands of dead albatrosses. Cause: Starvation, toxicity and choking from feeding on floating plastic and other trash dumped in the oceans.

In the documentary photographs taken by him, one can see cigarette lighters, plastic vials and bottle caps in the remains of decomposing birds. The shocking thing is Midway Atoll is a remote marine sanctuary 2000 miles away from the nearest continent.

See the slide show below, or see the photographs in HTML here and read the Midway blog.

Maldives cabinet holds underwater meeting

2009-10-17

The cabinet of Maldives government has held a meeting underwater to highlight the threat to the island nation from rising water levels due to climate change.

Watch these Associated Press videos:

President Mohamed Nasheed conducted the half-hour underwater meeting with his cabinet ministers using hand gestures and white boards. Their purpose was to attract attention towards the imminent danger his country faces if ocean levels rise and wipe out the entire nation.

He hopes that the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen will succeed in agreeing to measure for stopping climate change.

For more coverage on this story, please visit:
BBC website: ReadMaldives cabinet makes a splash. The story also has a different video with shots from the actual meeting.

CNN website: Read From underwater, Maldives sends warning on climate change and watch Video

Associated Press: Read Maldives government dives for climate change

Saving the future of food from climate change

2009-09-07

In this TED Talk, the Executive Director of Global Crop Diversity Trust - Cary Fowler - takes us through the state of diversity in the food our farmers are growing. The news is not good but he also shares the project with Norwegian government to create a global seed bank. Known as Svalbard Global Seed Vault, this bank already had 425,000 samples of unique crop varieties and the goal of having at least 500 different varieties of each crop in the world.

Laughing gas is a big threat to ozone layer

2009-08-30

A study published by scientists from US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finds that Nitrous Oxide (N₂O)is now the leading ozone-depleting substance released into the atmosphere by humans.

Nitrous oxide is popularly known as Laughing gas, but with its increasing role in depleting ozone layer this is no laughing matter.
© NOAA

This is the first study to explicitly calculate the role of Nitrous Oxide in depleting ozone layer using the same measures that have been applied to CFCs, halons and other chlorine- and bromine-containing ozone-depleting substances.

Besides natural cause of releasing Nitrous Oxide in the atmosphere, the human activity accounts for at least a third of the total amount of release. The main sources include soil fertilization, livestock manure, sewage treatment, combustion and some industrial processes. It needs another CFC-ban kind of measure to control the effect of Nitrous oxide on Ozone.

Read more about this story in

New Scientist:> A good informative article Laughing gas is biggest threat to ozone layer
The Guardian:> No joke: Scientists call for stricter controls on emissions of laughing gas
Scientific American:> Laughing Gas No Laughing Matter in Atmosphere
TIME magazine:>Laughing Gas: The Latest Threat to the Ozone Layer

Earth from Above and Home: Yann Arthus-Bertrand talks about his projects on our habitat

2009-06-13

Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a French photographer, journalist, reporter and environmentalist.

In this TED talk he talks about three of his projects, two of which are directly relevant to his work in the area of environment.

Earth from Above was a photography project aimed to conduct an aerial survey of the state of earth. Sponsored by UNESCO, it started in 1994. The team travelled to over 150 countries taking thousands of photographs, documentary in style yet stunning to look at. The product of the project was a book by the same title, a travelling exhibition and a DVD.

HOME is a movie that shows human impact on the environment. Full of unique aerial footage from over 50 countries, the movie seeks to inspire the viewers to work together to rebuild the earth we have collectively nearly destroyed.

Climate crisis is worsening

2009-05-07

In this TED talk, Al Gore presents the evidence for the worsening climate crisis - worse than scientists predicted. He also shows how the Coal Industry is spending massive amounts of money to promote Clean Coal - an oxymoron.

Watch this video and tell me what is your city and country doing about climate change.

Elephant hair study tells a tale of food competition

2009-04-19

The BBC website covers the publication of a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA. The study is called 'History of Animals using Isotope Records (HAIR): A 6-year dietary history of one family of African elephants' and it focused on studying the tail hairs of a single family of African elephants over a period of six years.

The BBC website reports:
The study shows how the elephants lost out to cattle grazing on grasses.

It also shows the rate of conception rising as food and water resources become more abundant each year.
The abstract of the study on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website explains
The dietary and movement history of individual animals can be studied using stable isotope records in animal tissues, providing insight into long-term ecological dynamics and a species niche.

We provide a 6-year history of elephant diet by examining tail hair collected from 4 elephants in the same social family unit in northern Kenya. Sequential measurements of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen isotope rations in hair provide a weekly record of diet and water resources. Carbon isotope ratios were well correlated with satellite-based measurements of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of the region occupied by the elephants as recorded by the global positioning system (GPS) movement record.

The ability to extract time-specific longitudinal records on animal diets, and therefore the ecological history of an organism and its environment, provides an avenue for understanding the impact of climate dynamics and land-use change on animal foraging behavior and habitat relations.

The BBC spoke to Thure Cerling, the University of Utah professor who leads the research
"When the rainy season comes you get this big sprouting of grasses, but they can't access it until it is 30 to 50 centimetres high," Professor Cerling said. "It's got to grow tall enough before they can actually yank it off with their trunks.

"We have this one incident where they apparently missed an entire good season of grass resource; the GPS data shows that they were outside [Samburu National Reserve] in a community area where it appears that they had to compete with cattle.

"They got out-competed in that situation."
This study builds upon a paper published in 2006 by the same team of scientists: Stable isotopes in elephant hair document migration patterns and diet changes.

Read the full article on the BBC website.

Fly kites for clean power

2009-03-27

A very interesting and innovative idea of using kites to harness wind power.

In this TED talk, Saul Griffith

unveils the invention his new company Makani Power has been working on giant kite turbines that create surprising amounts of clean, renewable energyListen to this talk and tell me when do you expect to see the first commercial deployment of a giant kite turbine!

A ray of hope for the Right Whale

2009-03-19

North American Right Whales were hunted to near extinction in the early 1900s. These slow moving whales are rich in oil and baleen, keep close to the shores and float when they die. Perfect catch for the whale hunters of the 18th and 19th century. That's why they were named the 'right' whales.

In a recent article, The New York Times reports that
Researchers are beginning to hope that for the first time in centuries things are looking up for the right whale. They say the species offers proof that simple conservation steps can have a big impact, even for species driven to the edge of oblivion.

© Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

One of the key reasons behind the success have been voluntary or obligatory changes in shipping lanes. Researchers and conservationists have worked with shipping companies to make small changes to the lanes reducing the risks to the whales.

The New York Times quotes Dr. Greg Silbur of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
"The measured economic impact to mariners was minimal," he said. But the changes brought "huge benefits" to the animals.

"Compliance appears to be quite high," he said, adding, "We are optimistic."

Read the full article on The New York Times.

You can also find a great audio slide show as well as a short video of the beautiful Right Whales.

Endangered Squirrel crossing

2009-03-13

This photo taken by a 15-year old caught my eye and made me smile!

© Michael Mallet

A remarkable how-to guide to regenerating rainforests

2009-03-07

It can be done. That's the message Willie Smits brings in this fascinating TED talk. He takes the audience through the devasted stated in which he found the habitat of the Orangutans - the animals he considers the thinkers of the jungle. Troubled by the encroachment of towns and farms into the natural habitat of Orangutans and their decimation, he set out to find ways of balancing the natural habitat with the needs of the people who live adjacent to these areas.

In this talk, he shows step-by-step on how it is possible to restore an almost lost cause. Shortly into the talk, when the audience begins to applaud his achievements, he admonishes them. Watch this talk, and tell me what you think.

The Watermarks Project

2009-02-17

Climate change is a complex subject. Even though it is a much discussed topic, constantly in the media, it is difficult for an average person to understand the concept. Thanks to abstract concepts and long timelines, it is difficult for people to relate how climate change can impact their lives. The urgency to act is not even registered because everything is supposed to happen several decades in the future.

To counter that, a novel public art project was recently run in Bristol, UK - The Watermarks project. It used a series of large-scale projections at sites across the centre of the city to demonstrate how much the water level can rise and how it will affect the city of Bristol.

© The Watermarks project

The project website explains

Flood level marks will be projected on to the sides of buildings, showing how high water levels could potentially rise as the sea inundates the central, low lying areas of Bristol. By displaying these levels in real space, the project aims to help us to imagine the depth and extent of this potential future flooding - allowing us to measure them against ourselves in familiar environments.

Although the message is stark, the flood levels shown are as if the city is undefended and adaption measures have not been put in place. As the waters gradually rise over the coming century, there is much we can do to adapt and defend!

I found it an interesting concept and something that is likely to help common people understand the enormous problem that we are facing. However, this is at a very local city level and even if effective difficult to replicate. How do you feel about it? What other creative ways can be used to spread the message more widely and effectively?

Every British home to get a Green refurbish by 2030

2009-02-12

The Guardian reported today that Energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband has announced an ambitious plan to cut down household carbon emmissions by a third by refurbishing every home in Britain by 2030.

The Guardian quoted Secretary Miliband: "We know the scale of the challenge: wasted energy is costing families on average £300 a year, and more than a quarter of all our emissions are from our homes. Energy efficiency and low-carbon energy are the fairest routes to curbing emissions, saving money for families, improving our energy security and insulating us from volatile fossil fuel prices."

According to Greenpeace UK, a programme to upgrade the housing stock alone would require £3.5-£6.5bn per year until 2050.

The Energy Secretary does not want the consumers to pay any upfront costs. Instead, the UK government is looking at options to finance the plan - by including energy companies, local authorities and private companies.

It seems a tough ask. What do you think, how can the UK government fund this initiative?

Rare film of Narwhal - the arctic unicorns

2009-02-10

A BBC team has filmed, what it believes to be the first, aerial footage of the narwhal whales. During their summer migration, as these arctic whales made their way through cracks in the melting Arctic sea ice, the BBC team used a special mount to film from the helicopter.

"Arctic unicorn" in icy display. Click on the image to go to watch the video on BBC website

According to Wikipedia
"the narwhal males are distinguished by a characteristic long, straight tusk extending from their upper left jaw. Found primarily in Canadian Arctic and Greenlandic waters."

The BBC website mentions:
Narwhal are sometimes called "Arctic unicorns" because of the long, spiral tusk that protrudes from their jaws.

The appendages can reach more than 2m (7ft) in length; scientists believe males use them to attract potential mates.

Justin Anderson, who produced the programme for a new series Nature's Great Events, said
"This is the first time the narwhal migration has been filmed this way. It has been filmed from the ice, but this is the first time it has been filmed from the air.

"It was an amazing sight. These animals are just so completely unreal - they are like something from mythology - and we were all just completely gobsmacked when we saw them."

Watch the short video on the BBC news website.

Nature's Great Events: The Great Melt is on Wednesday 11 February on BBC One at 2100 GMT

The last Emperors of the Antarctic?

2009-01-30

According to research from the respected Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, by 2100, due to meting ice by global warming, the penguins are likely to see their numbers plummet by 95% by 2100.

The funny thing about the Emperor penguin is not just the way it looks, or the way it walks, but the fact that, uniquely, it breeds during the Antarctic winter.

Why?

The ice it seems plays a crucial role in their overall breeding success. Less predators perhaps in the harsh cold of winter? More food of certain type in the frigid waters?

So if the climate gets warmer, and the ice melts, and the winters are not so harsh, this will have dramatic effects on the survival rate not just of emperor penguins, but on the whole Antarctic food chain - which serves as a biological larder for whales, seals, and a whole host of other marine life.

How did they come up with such a catastrophic prediction?

The team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute ran 10 scenarios that fit best with existing satellite data on sea ice.
On top of this they ran 1,000 simulations on penguin population growth or decline under each of those 10 climate scenarios.

The prediction: by the year 2100, emperor penguins in the region are likely to experience a reduction in their numbers by 95% or more!

OK - so it is still prediction, and not a certainty.

But the scientists at Woods Hole also gave odds on this happening. Depending on the scenario chosen (from not-so-bad to very-bad) the chances of the penguins disappearing was

1-in-3 chance (not-so-bad scenario) to
8-out-of-10 chance (very-bad scenario).

...and has any one ever heard of the precautionary principle?

Can't the penguins adapt?

To quote directly from the BBC article:

"Though the penguins could avert disaster by shifting their breeding patterns with the climate, the study's lead author Stephanie Jenouvrier said that was unlikely.

Unlike some other Antarctic bird species that have altered their life cycles, penguins don't catch on so quickly, she said.

They are long-lived organisms, so they adapt slowly. This is a problem because the climate is changing very fast."

So what can be done?

We can all turn off our lights on Earth Hour day for a start - send a strong signal to our respective governments that they must put in place the policies that will keep the climate below a 2 degrees rise in temperature.

And then we do what little we can in our ordinary lives. The environment doesn't need martyrs. It doesn't exactly need your money (though every little bit helps). It just needs your changes.

Sometimes small things as not leaving the TCV on standby may seem futile in the face of such catastrophic planet changing events - but in that mode of thinking lies the crux of the problem... if we all did some little things, together it will become a big thing.

We must see that our protestations that we can do nothing on our own, are simply a transparent blanket of excuses.

Are we all the real Emperors? But with no clothes? Already taking the title from the waddling waiters at the bottom of our world?

First two complete genome sequences of extinct Tasmanian Tiger reported

2009-01-14

Yesterday, the BBC published a news item covering a report in Genome Research journal that an international group of scientists have detailed a significant proportion of the genes found in the extinct Tasmanian "tiger". In the news article, the BBC reports:

The information has allowed scientists to confirm the tiger's evolutionary relationship to other marsupials.

The two tigers examined had near-identical DNA, suggesting there was very little genetic diversity in the species when it went over the edge.

"Looking at the genetic diversity in a population is a key marker for endangerment and it should be used to assess the urgency of preservation," Professor Stephan Schuster from Penn State University told BBC News.

"Our goal is to learn how to prevent endangered species from going extinct," said Webb Miller, another Penn State professor and a member of the research team that includes scientists from the US, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, the UK, and Germany.

The report is freely available on the Genome Research website (PDF | 9 pages | 1302 KB).

The abstract of the paper mentions:
Our data sample each mitochondrial nucleotide an average of 50 times, thereby providing the first high-fidelity reference sequence for thylacine population genetics. Our two sequences differ in only five nucleotides out of 15,452, hinting at a very low genetic diversity shortly before extinction. Despite the samples’ heavy contamination with bacterial and human DNA and their temperate storage history, we estimate that as much as one-third of the total DNA in each sample is from the thylacine. The microbial content of the two thylacine samples was subjected to metagenomic analysis, and showed striking differences between a wild-captured individual and a born-in-captivity one. This study therefore adds to the growing evidence that extensive sequencing of museum collections is both feasible and desirable, and can yield complete genomes.

Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas

2009-01-13

Ocean: An Illustrated Atlas is co-authored by Dr. Sylvia A. Earle and marine scientist Linda K. Glover in consultation with experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This fascinating book is pubished by National Geographic.

National geographic explains that this is
An unequaled resource for both education and entertainment, Ocean also explores the progress of fascinating technologies that will help scientists discover uncharted regions and life-forms. This rich informative, and timely atlas, encourages understanding of how the ocean correlates with these happenings—and how human maintenance of its waters and creatures will keep the planet going.

In a feature, the New York Times reports
Its maps and graphs, prose and pictures detail how discoveries like the surprising ubiquity of Prochlorococcus are illuminating the sea, its immense impact on the planet and its habitability.

This barrel sponge is part of an ancient clan of animals that have distinctive calcareous or siliceous spines held within a spongy or soft matrix. © Sylvia Earle/National Geographic

New York Times also interviewed Dr. Sylvia Earle for the feature. She is a deep-sea pioneer and National Geographic's Explorer-in-residence.
"What’s astonishing to me is how fast the insights are coming," she said in the interview. "It’s the greatest era of planetary exploration in all of human history. And we’ve tried to cram it between two covers."

"So many things have been discovered," she mused. "But then you turn around and — there’s another breakthrough. We’ll probably have to update the atlas in five years."

In the atlas, she reports that some 90 percent of deep-sea creatures use bioluminescence in their life strategies and that the eerie glows may turn out to constitute the planet’s most common form of communication.

This fascinating book is available on National Geographic store at its cover price and at a hefty discount on Amazon.

Only 10% wilderness?

2009-01-06

World Bank's World Development Report 2009 reveals that only 10% of earth's land area remains as wilderness.

This finding is based on the calculation of travel time to major cities. A major city is taken to be any city with 50,000 or more people in year 2000. According to the finding only 10% of the land area is remote, i.e., requiring more than 48 hours from a large city to reach there.

European Commission's Global Environment Monitoring unit website explains:

A new map of Travel Time to Major Cities - developed by the European Commission and the World Bank - captures connectivity and the concentration of economic activity and also highlights that there is little wilderness left.

Travel time to major cities: A global map of Accessibility

The global map of travel time to major cities is a useful dataset on its own, but it is also a component of the Agglomeration Index (AI). The World Development Report 2009 uses Agglomeration Index to measure the concentration of economic activity. Agglomeration Index is based on three factors: population density, the population of a "large" urban center, and travel time to that large urban center. This allows for a more consistent measure resulting in better understanding of country to country comparisons.

Further links:
World Development Report 2009
Agglomeration index PDF | 284 KB
Travel time to major cities: A global map of Accessibility