Global Warming Issues

The researchers suggest that the results can be used to investigate bovine TB transmission dynamics between and within each species and to extrapolate the implications for spill-over to domestic cattle and wildlife management policies.

The Doñana National Park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve where commercial hunting and artificial wildlife feeding do not take place and traditional cattle husbandry still exists. Deaths of the highly endangered Iberian lynx due to bovine TB have been recorded in this area, and annual cattle bovine TB reactor rates have increased despite compulsory testing and culling.

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Think twice before driving when walking is an option — and the environment will thank you in more ways than one.

According to a new report by the Nature Conservancy and the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the Earth’s ecosystems are in grave danger. The problem? Air pollution caused by emissions from smokestacks, agricultural activities and tailpipes. Thirty-two experts studied four pollutants in the eastern United States — ground-level ozone, nitrogen, sulfur and mercury — and discovered they cause far-reaching harm to wildlife, rivers, forests and humans.

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China’s capital was shrouded in thick gray smog on Sunday, just 12 days before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. One expert warned that drastic measures enacted to cut vehicle and factory emissions in the city were no guarantee skies would be clear during competitions.

The pollution was among the worst seen in Beijing in the past month, despite traffic restrictions enacted a week ago that removed half of the city’s vehicles from roadways.

Visibility was a half mile in some places. During the opening ceremony of the Athletes’ Village on Sunday, the housing complex was invisible from the nearby main Olympic Green.

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Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of the Gulf Coast, a new survey conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security shows that one-third (34%) of those affected by the storm report they are very prepared if a major hurricane were to strike their communities in the next six months. The top worries of respondents threatened or hit by Hurricane Katrina are that they would not have enough fresh water to drink (42% very worried) and that they would not be able to get needed medical care (41% very worried).

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The industry needs large amounts of cerium dioxide (CeO₂) to grind computer components and mobile phone camera lenses or the lasers in CD players. Thousands of tons of this substance are used throughout the world. But what happens when this or other nano-substances get into the environment, especially sewage, and thereby enter sewage works? Is the problem solved because nanoparticles largely agglomerate, i.e. clump together?

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To understand why fuel prices in the United States have soared over the last year, it helps to talk to the captain of a battered wooden freighter here.

He pays just $2.30 a gallon for diesel, the same price Indonesian motorists pay for regular gasoline. His vessel burns diesel by the barrel, so when the government prepared for a limited price increase this spring, he took to the streets to protest.

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