PLANET IN PERIL

CBC news Smoke could cause issue for people living with asthma, irritate eyes. Story here.

by Larry Powell Did you hear them interview Walt Cobb on CBC Radio this week about the BC wildfires?  They asked him if he thought, as the world's leading climate scientists do, that wildfires have become "the new normal." Here's his response. “I don’t necessarily agree with that. There’s always been changes…Like my wife said the other morning…this is in somebody else’s hands… God has lined up what’s going to happen. And we’ll have to live with that." So who is Walt Cobb, you ask? Some ordinary guy off the street? Not exactly. He is the Mayor of Williams Lake, B.C. (l.) That's a city of 10 thousand - now almost a ghost town. It was ordered evacuated due to unprecedented fires burning in the region. Does he strike you as a guy who has a clue about the science? I can't really see him being on the front lines of efforts to wean ourselves off fossil fuels toward more sustainable, renewable energy sources. Can you? If that is the most h

Environmental Research Letters Reindeer photo by  Arild Vågen Reindeer may be best known for pulling Santa’s sleigh, but a new study suggests they may have a part to play in slowing down climate change too. Story here.

CBC news A rufus hummingbird, one of the kinds in decline. Dean E. Biggins 'No one has ever measured pesticides in hummingbirds before. So we decided to try it,' says scientist. Story here. RELATED:  "Will New Research Nudge Canada Toward a 'Neonic" Ban?" " Environmental groups back in court over pollinator-killing pesticides "

Science Daily Governments and schools are not communicating the most effective ways for individuals to reduce their carbon footprints, according to new research. Story here.

ScienceDaily Wikimedia Commons Researchers find that bees fed with thiacloprid  (a neonic) significantly reduces their social interactions,  suggesting that foraging bees that encounter  high  doses of insecticide in the field may be less likely  to recruit others to nectar sources.  Story here. RELATED:  Will New Research From Europe Nudge Canada Toward a "Neonic" Ban? New research suggests “Neonics,” the world’s most widely-used family of insecticides, can decimate bee populations.

World Health Organization Some 3 in 10 people worldwide, or 2.1 billion, lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 6 in 10, or 4.5 billion, lack safely managed sanitation, according to a new report by WHO and UNICEF.  Story here.

Common Dreams Daunting new report shows coastal communities are at-risk and unprepared for flooding caused by climate change. Story here. RELATED: "Angry Oceans - Pt. #1" and "Pt. #2."

Nature Human activity has been a major source of mercury pollution in  the Arctic, and a new  study   has identified the form most often  taken by the pollutant: gaseous elemental  mercury  (GEM). The  present  News & Views  article discusses how the Arctic tundra  acts as a major sink for mercury, as the local plants uptake GEM  from  the atmosphere; and  what this means for the global mercury  cycle as  global temperatures warm. Isotopic data  collected in the  original study  by Obrist  et al.  reveal that GEM accounts for 90% of  the  mercury in plants,  and the uptake of GEM by plants is  especially  high in the summer. Since  plant matter decomposes  into the soil,  the Arctic soil may soon become  a substantial  mercury sink. ======== Editor's summary Anthropogenic activities have led to large-scale mercury pollution in the Arctic, but it remains uncertain whether wet deposition of oxidized mercury via precipitation and sea-salt-induced ch

theguardian Satellite data confirms ‘calving’ of trillion-tonne, 5,800 sq km iceberg from the Larsen C ice shelf, dramatically altering the landscape. Story here. The Larsen ice shelf as it was in 2004. NASA photo.

Royal Society Open Science  We're only beginning to find out all the ways in which industrial activity disrupts the ecosystem, and a new bird study gives yet another example of the unexpected ways in which human activity affects the local fauna. Researchers at the University of Manitoba have found that the presence of oil and natural gas infrastructure—such as fences, power lines, and transmitters around oil wells—in Canada's Northern Great Plains helped boost the number of brown-headed cowbirds by four times. Cowbirds are a parasitic species who lay their eggs in other birds' nests, forcing others to raise their brood. The parasitic species uses oil and gas infrastructures as perches, and the availability of perches makes it easier for these birds to find their brood hosts.  Savannah sparrow. Photo by  D. Gordon E. Robertson Cowbirds' abundance in the area could hurt another grassland bird species, the Savannah sparrow, which often falls victim to the parasitic