Central heating system found in Penguins

A heat retaining adaptation in Penguins' wings has ensured their survival in the coldest and most inhospitable places on Earth.

Read more at
http://tinyurl.com/4rx3emu

"Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past"

How times change. The title is from an article, written in March 2000, highlighting the decreasing Snowfall in the UK. It makes interesting reading as it blames Climate Change for the lack of snow, whereas the heavy snow Britain has had over the last two winters has also been blamed by Climate Change. One thing is for sure, forecasting weather is unpredictable.
The article can be found here http://tinyurl.com/yz8urac
The image below was taken by Nasa's Terra Satellite early January 2010. It shows a completely snow covered UK.

Where Icebergs go to die

South Georgia is the place where colossal icebergs go to die.

The huge tabular blocks of ice that frequently break off Antarctica get swept towards the Atlantic and then ground on the shallow continental shelf that surrounds the 170km-long island.

As they crumble and melt, they dump billions of tonnes of freshwater into the local marine environment.

UK scientists say the giants have quite dramatic impacts, even altering the food webs for South Georgia's animals.

For more on this report visit the BBC website

Nevado del Ruiz - 25th anniversary of eruption

Although the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz (or Mount Ruiz) on November 13, 1985, was relatively small, the ensuing mudslides caused by melting ice and snow resulted in the the death of 23,000 people and the destruction of the town of Armero. Most of the residents would have survived had they moved to higher ground. This eruption brought attention to the fact that growing numbers of people live within the danger zones of the world's volcanoes.

Nevado del Ruiz Volcano is located approximately 140 kilometers to the northwest of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá. Covering over 200 square kilometers, Nevado del Ruiz is a large stratovolcano built from successive layers of lava, ash, and pyroclastic flow deposits. The volcano is fed by magma generated above the boundary between the subducting Nazca and overriding South American tectonic plates. The historical record of eruptions at the volcano extends back to 1570, but the most damaging eruption in recent times took place in 1985.

To mark this anniversary, the LRC has put together a display. The following links also provide you with more information about the 1985 eruption and devasting lahar plus information about the volcano and eruptions throughout its history.

BBCNEWS On this Day
How Volcanoes Work (Nevado del Ruiz
Earth Observatory
Nevado del Ruiz eruption history.
Nevado del Ruiz Eruption and Lahar 1985 (USGS)

Mapping future Global water stress

An extremely interesting article about the future of water available to nature and humans.

"About 80% of the world's population lives in areas where the fresh water supply is not secure, according to a new global analysis.

Researchers compiled a composite index of "water threats" that includes issues such as scarcity and pollution.

The most severe threat category encompasses 3.4 billion people.

Writing in the journal Nature, they say that in western countries, conserving water for people through reservoirs and dams works for people, but not nature.

They urge developing countries not to follow the same path.

"What we're able to outline is a planet-wide pattern of threat”
Charles Vorosmarty, City College of New York.

Instead, they say governments should work to invest in water management strategies that combine infrastructure with "natural" options such as safeguarding watersheds, wetlands and flood plains.

for more on the story go to BBC Environment

Gulf oil leak: Biggest ever, but how bad?

Following release of the US government's latest estimate, the Deepwater Horizon disaster is confirmed as the biggest ever accidental release of oil into the oceans.

It exceeds the 1979 Ixtoc I leak - also in the Gulf of Mexico. It's comfortably bigger than tanker releases such as the Torrey Canyon and Amoco Cadiz, and 20 times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill with which it is often compared.

Now that BP finally appears to have the flow under control, an important question - perhaps the most important of all - is being asked: it may have been the biggest, but was it the worst?

BBCNews and environment continues the debate and for more information on the BP Oil Spillage visit this excellent site dealing with all aspects of the impact of the oil spill.

2010: International Year of Biodiversity

The UN has launched the International Year of Biodiversity, warning that the ongoing loss of species around the world is affecting human well-being.
Eight years ago, governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, but the pledge will not be met.
Richard Black(Environment correspondent, BBC News website) reports further on the BBC Environment website

Our Climate in Chaos - an illustrated talk by Dr Tom Rippeth

On Thursday 5th November 2009, Dr Tom Rippeth will be giving an illustrated talk at Yale College Grove Park at 1.30pm.

The talk will include insight about the climate change we are seeing, and particularly some of Tom's work in the High Arctic. His visit to Yale coincides with a road trip of a number of meetings ahead of the December's UN Summit on Climate Change, to help people understand the problems we face with climate change, and the likely action which the UN Summit will call.

Tom Rippeth is a leading Welsh Climate Scientist and is a Reader in Oceanography and climate at the Bangor University's world renown School of Ocean Sciences. Tom is a visiting scientist at the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Liverpool. He has published 50 papers in top international science journals and been invited to speak at many top Oceanography and Climate conferences in the UK and the USA. Tom has a PhD in Physical Oceanography and is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society.

You can read more about Tom's science here

Bangor Scientist's Global Warming Warning

Planet Earth

Warmer Sea slows new Arctic ice

Bangor Scientists head for the North Pole

'Scary' UK climate ad faces probe

A £6m government ad warning about climate change is to be investigated by watchdogs over claims it is misleading and too "scary" for children.
The Advertising Standards Authority has received 357 complaints about the Department of Energy and Climate Change's "bedtime stories" ad.
The ad aims to make adults feel guilty about the impact their carbon emissions are having on their children's future.
It is being used to promote DECC's Act on CO2 carbon reduction initiative.
The minute-long ad, which launched on 9 October, features a father telling his daughter a bedtime story about "a very very strange" world with "horrible consequences" for children.
It then goes on to show streets and houses underwater, with cartoon animals and people drowning and a jagged-tooth monster in the sky, representing global warming.

What do you think? For more on this article go to BBCNews

Deadly tsunami in Pacific Islands

A tsunami triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific has killed at least 65 people in Samoa and more than 20 in American Samoa, say reports.

The Samoan authorities say at least another 145 people have been injured and whole villages destroyed.

American Samoa's delegate to the US Congress said thousands of people had been left homeless in the territory.

An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of the islands.

The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities - the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory - with a total population of about 250,000 people.

A tsunami warning was initially issued for the wider region but cancelled a few hours later.

The general manager of Samoa's National Health Service told the BBC that 65 people had died and 145 people were injured.

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in American Samoa, enabling federal funding to made available to help victims.

For more information visit BBC News or Yahoo! News

Green Day in the LRC

Visit the Learning Resource Centre at Grove Park this Wednesday 8 July as we celebrate Green Day. From 9am to 4pm we will have stalls, information and some great exhibits demonstrating recycling in the war years, the art of paper dresses and tyre sculptures.

From 9am to midday you can come and talk to Sustrans, the European Information Unit, Keep Wales Tidy and more. Find out about FairTrade, local initiatives and the LRCs own Green Pledge.

Talk, chill and on the way out collect some free seeds to grow in your garden.

It's all here!

Recycling 101

More and more places are accepting all sorts of items for recycling these days, but how do you know what to recycle and where to take it. Most local authorities have guidelines to help you and most will have a website detailing what is accepted and what isn't.

Here in Yale College in the LRCs at Grove Park and Bersham Road you can recycle paper, batteries, plastic, CDs, and DVDs. You can easily locate these by the specially marked containers.

The website RecycleNow! lets you enter your postcode and it will show you what recycling centres or other options are available to you.

Freecycle lets you post items you don't want and links you up with people who do want your items. A recycling swap shop.

Food waste is another big area for improvement and we are all being encouraged to compost organic material. A great site for composting tips and more is WigglyWigglers.

Owls replace pesticides in Israel

Owls and kestrels are being employed as agricultural pest controllers in the Middle East.
Many farmers are installing nest boxes to encourage the birds, which hunt the crop-damaging rodents.
In Israel, where there is a drive to reduce the use of toxic chemical pesticides, this has been turned into a government-funded national programme.
Scientists and conservation charities from Jordan and Palestine have joined the scheme. To read this story in full visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8004426.stm

New Sea Creature to Harness the Power of the Seas

A new wave energy device known as "Anaconda" is the latest idea to harness the power of the seas.
Its inventors claim the key to its success lies in its simplicity: Anaconda is little more than a length of rubber tubing filled with water.
Waves in the water create bulges along the tubing that travel along its length gathering energy.
At the end of the tube, the surge of energy drives a turbine and generates electricity.
The device is being developed by Checkmate Seaenergy Ltd, which has been testing a small-scale 8m-long prototype in a wave tank in Gosport, Hampshire, owned by the science and technology company Qinetiq.
Paul Auston, chairman of Checkmate, says the tests have proved the concept works.
The company is now looking to raise £7m from investors to build a larger version to test at sea.
"We've seen excellent results in scale-model testing, and now we are gearing up to attract the necessary investment to develop Anaconda and begin producing the first full-sized units for ocean testing within the next three years," he told BBC News.
"The UK is known for its engineering excellence and politicians from all parties have been keen to challenge companies to come up with renewable energy projects that can be sold around the world.
"With Anaconda, we have an invention that changes conventional thinking and it can help to meet government targets for cutting CO2 by providing renewable wave energy from our coastal waters.
"It will also help cement the UK's world-leading position in this technology."
For the full story visit BBC Environment. or The Guardian Enviroment.

'Safe' climate means 'no to coal'

"To avoid dangerous climate change, we will have to limit the total amount of carbon we inject into the atmosphere, not just the emission rate in any given year," said Myles Allen from the physics department at Oxford University.
"Climate policy needs an exit strategy; as well as reducing carbon emissions now, we need a plan for phasing out net emissions entirely."

For the full story by Richard Black go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8023072.stm

Ocean Acidification

The UK government has launched an £11m ($16m) five-year research programme into ocean acidification.
Researchers say seas are becoming more acidic as a result of CO2 from human activities being absorbed by seawater, which alters the oceans' chemistry.
Ministers say acidification of the oceans will be one of the major environmental concerns of this century.
The study will focus on the Atlantic, Antarctic and Arctic oceans and assess how marine ecosystems are affected.

See the whole report by Roger Harrabin, BBC Environment News Reporter at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8021459.stm

75 ways to reduce your carbon emissions

Bloom - part of the BBC environment website looking ways to tackle carbon emissions and climate change. Register, find some actions you can do, like using more reusable shopping bags, changing to more efficient light bulbs, switching to diesel cars and for each action you can grow a digital flower. The more actions you sign up to, the more beautiful your flower garden will look. Go on, sign up and see how you can help in the smallest of ways and keep our blue marble looking just as beautiful.

Gray Whales granted rare reprieve

Gray whales are one of the most critically endangered species on the planet. Conservation groups are celebrating a victory as some oil and gas companies have agreed to suspend seismic work to give the whales chance to breed. It is thought that only 35 of the 130 whales left are breeding females. For the full story and background visit BBC Science & Environment.

Earth Day: The Best of the Web

The Guardian rounds up the best from the web.
http://tinyurl.com/dhqeef

Mission: Planet Earth

Welcome to The Blue Marble. A Yale College Learning Resource Centre Blog all about the Environment and the issues that affect Planet Earth.

Type Environment into Google search and you get 380,000,000 hits! And that will probably increase by tomorrow. We aim to narrow that down and get you to informative sites quicker than it will take to search Google.

Some links to sites and blogs have already been put in place and over the coming months we will be recommending more for you to visit. We also aim to bring you breaking news items and to look at how we in the Yale community can help in local issues.

We hope you like the site and if you have any suggestions for links or comments please feel free to do so.

The LRC has other interesting blogs for you to view, these can be accessed by clicking on View my complete profile.