Travel & Nature

On Friday, April 18 the federal and British Columbia governments announced that they will proceed with a recovery operation of the wreckage that continues to threaten the Robson Bight ecological reserve. The return of the orcas to the area in June makes this salvage operation time sensitive.

Numerous concerned citizens contacted federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn requesting an immediate salvage operation of the equipment. Last week it became clear their voices were heard.

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From Science Blog:

Hurricanes in some areas, including the North Atlantic, are likely to become more intense as a result of global warming even though the number of such storms worldwide may decline, according to a new study by MIT researchers.

Kerry Emanuel, the lead author of the new study, wrote a paper in 2005 reporting an apparent link between a warming climate and an increase in hurricane intensity. That paper attracted worldwide attention because it was published in Nature just three weeks before Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Surface melting fueled by climate warming can trigger dramatic events on the vast Greenland ice sheet such as a lake suddenly vanishing through a crack with force of Niagara Falls, experts said on Thursday.

Rising global temperatures are expected to cause an increase in meltwater in frozen expanses like the Greenland ice sheet, and this meltwater often forms sizable lakes.

Scientists have worried that when this increase in meltwater reaches the base of the Greenland ice sheet, it could further lubricate its slide over bedrock toward the sea, causing it to shrink more quickly than expected.

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“This is just a time bomb,” said hydrologist Wouter Buytaert at a meeting of geoscientists in Vienna. Glaciers and mountain snow are melting earlier in the year than usual. This is going to be a problem when the dry season comes and water won’t be available.

The areas most at risk from a lack of water for drinking and agriculture include parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, the United States, South America and the Mediterranean.

“In some areas where the glaciers are small they could be gone in 30 or 50 years time and a very reliable source of water, especially for the summer months, may be gone.”

Scientists say that with the growing population, there may not always be enough water to drink.

Via: Reuters

A new report released by Greenpeace on the 10th of April 2008 finds that logging in Canada’s Boreal Forest is making global warming worse by releasing greenhouse gases and reducing carbon storage. It also finds that logging makes the forest more susceptible to global warming impacts like wildfires and insect outbreaks, which in turn release more greenhouse gases. Click Here to watch the video.

Research shows that intact areas of the Boreal Forest—those areas that remain in their natural states—will be better able to resist and recover from global warming impacts than those areas fragmented by roads, logging, mining, or other human activity.

A new report released by Greenpeace on the 10th of April 2008 finds that logging in Canada’s Boreal Forest is making global warming worse by releasing greenhouse gases and reducing carbon storage. It also finds that logging makes the forest more susceptible to global warming impacts like wildfires and insect outbreaks, which in turn release more greenhouse gases. Click Here to watch the video.

Research shows that intact areas of the Boreal Forest—those areas that remain in their natural states—will be better able to resist and recover from global warming impacts than those areas fragmented by roads, logging, mining, or other human activity.

MIAMI (Reuters) – The noted Colorado State University hurricane research team on Wednesday raised the number of tropical storms and hurricanes it expects to form in the upcoming Atlantic storm season.

The team founded by forecasting pioneer Bill Gray increased its outlook by two tropical storms to 15, and by one hurricane to eight, compared with a long-term average of around 10 and six, respectively, for a storm season.

“Current oceanic and atmospheric trends indicate that we will likely have an active Atlantic basin hurricane season,” said Gray in a statement.

Of the eight hurricanes predicted by the forecasters for the six-month season starting June 1, four were forecast to become major storms with winds of at least 111 miles per hour (178 kph). Major, or intense, storms, which rank from Category 3 to Category 5 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, are the most destructive.

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