THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
CRISIS
DESTROYING THE BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF
LIFE
MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS
FORESTS CHINA
Human beings are currently living in way that is completely unsustainable with the world we live on. A majority of the scientists of our time are unanimous in agreement that climate change is real, and is happening more rapidly than normal because of human activities. As of now, humanity has no concrete plan for how to deal with the growing population of human beings on the planet, along with the massive resource depletion, widespread poverty and pollution. The articles we've highlighted below will discuss this crisis in more detail.
'Could Be a World Record': South Florida Ocean Temperature Hits 101.1°F (Common Dreams, 7-26-23)
South Florida Ocean's temperature could be a new world heat record. This poses an immense threat to coral and other ocean life.
Climate change: Atlantic Ocean circulation is heading for a collapse around mid-century, scientists report (CNN, 7-25-23)
A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse that ‘would affect every person on the planet.’
Nearly Half of the World's Wildlife is in Decline (CNN, 5-22-23) Study
The study’s authors analyzed more than 70,000 species across the globe – spanning mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects – to determine whether their populations have been growing, shrinking or remaining steady over time. They found 48% of these species are declining in population size.
Scientists say planet in midst of sixth mass extinction, Earth's wildlife running out of places to live (CBS Sixty Minutes, 1-1-23)
Red List Calls Out 'Perfect Storm of Unsustainable Human Activity Decimating Marine Life' (Common Dreams, 12-10-22)
'Lights are flashing red': Study finds 69% average drop in animal populations since 1970 (The Real News Network, 10-24-22)
Africa Confronts the Food, Fertilizer, and Climate Crisis (Black Agenda Report, 11-9-22)
Animal populations experience average decline of almost 70% since 1970, report reveals (The Guardian, 10-12-22) READ THE LIVING PLANET REPORT HERE
Costs of climate change far surpass government estimates, study says (The Washington Post, 9-1-22)
Up to 1 in 6 U.S. tree species threatened with extinction (The Washington Post, 8-23-22)
Nearly all marine species face extinction if greenhouse emissions don’t drop (The Hill, 8-22-22)
We are in the process of updating this page. Some of these are older articles but still relevant.
All 20 biodiversity targets missed as pollution, climate change rage on: UN
report (DW, 9-15-20) REPORT
The world has failed to meet any of its biodiversity targets, the UN said in a
landmark report published every five years.
Top scientists warn of 'ghastly future of mass extinction' and
climate disruption
Yale Environment 360 READ SCIENTIFIC REPORT HERE
Sobering new report says world is failing to grasp the extent of threats posed by biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. 17 Experts, including Professor Paul Ehrlich from Stanford University, author of The Population Bomb, and scientists from Mexico, Australia and the US, say the planet is in a much worse state than most people – even scientists – understood. “The scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms – including humanity – is in fact so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts,” they write in a report in Frontiers in Conservation Science which references more than 150 studies detailing the world’s major environmental challenges.
Avoiding a ‘Ghastly Future’: Hard Truths on the State of the Planet (YALE,
1-27-21)
Fossil fuel pollution is killing people in the US and abroad (The Hill,
3-12-21) Millions are being killed.
Google Earth Timelapse
Earth Timelapse is a global, zoomable video that lets you see how the Earth has changed over the past 37 years.
Pesticides Threaten the 'Foundations of the Web of Life,' New Soil Study Warns (Eco Watch, 5-4-21) Frontiers in Environmental Science Report
A study published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science bolsters alarm about the role that agricultural pesticides play in what scientists have dubbed the "bugpocalypse" and led authors to call for stricter regulations across the U.S.
Atlantic Ocean circulation is the weakest in at least 1,600 years, study finds –
here's what that means for the climate (CBS News, 2-26-21)
Cowspiracy Makers To Debut New Documentary On Netflix Exposing Fishing
Industry’s Destruction (Green Queen, 3-5-21) Seaspiracy
Film
The 2018
Living Planet report from the World Wildlife Foundation has found that a
shocking 60% of the earth's mammals, birds, fish and reptiles have been killed
by human activity since 1970.
The findings have led the world’s foremost experts to warn that
the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens all human life
on this planet.
This report was put together with the involvement of 59
scientists from across the globe. The report found that the vast and growing
consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web
of life, a web of life that humanity depends upon to survive.
Many scientists believe that we are in the midst of a sixth
major mass extinction, one caused solely by human beings. Other recent analyses
have revealed that even if the destruction were to end now, it would still take
5-7 million years for the natural world to recover.
Portrait of Our Planet: A Collection of Charts and Pictures (World Future Fund) (PDF)
Half Of Corals On The Great Barrier Reef Have Died Since 1990s, Study Finds (Huffington
Post, 10-13-20) Report
Half of the corals on Australia’s iconic Great Barrier Reef have died since the
1990s, according to a troubling new study that analyzed just how devastating
years of catastrophic mass bleaching have been for one of the most biodiverse
structures on Earth.
UN Report Sounds Alarm on Humanity's Continued Destruction of Planet Earth (Common
Dreams, 10-13-20) Report
Political and business leaders are being "willfully negligent" as natural
disasters nearly double this century, the world body's special representative
for disaster risk reduction said Monday.
World's biggest Arctic mission reports 'the Arctic Ocean is dying' (The
Hill, 10-13-20)
The longest Arctic expedition in history returned to Germany with data on the
Arctic environment.
New Global Report Warns Nearly 40% of Plants at Risk of Extinction (Common
Dreams, 9-30-20) (The link to the global report PDF is in this article)
"At a time of rapid biodiversity loss, we are failing to access the treasure
chest of incredible diversity on offer and missing a huge opportunity for our
generation."
Coastal flooding could hit nearly 20% of global GDP as climate change
accelerates storms, sea level rise (CNBC, 7-30-20) Report
"Coastal flooding made worse by climate change could damage assets worth up to
$14.2 trillion by 2100 as rising seas inundate coastal homes and infrastructure,
according to new research published on Thursday in Scientific Reports."
Study: We've wiped out half the world's wildlife since 1970 (VOX,
9-30-14) World
Wildlife Fund
Living Planet Report 2014 (WWF Global)
Creative Videos on the State of the Planet (World Future Fund)
2014 UN Scientific Panel On Climate Change Sounds Alarm (Huffington Post, 3-30-14)
This report states that if action is not taken soon, global warming could spiral out of control. The author of the climate report has said, "We're now in an era where climate change isn't some kind of future hypothetical...We live in an area where impacts from climate change are already widespread and consequential." (Read The Report Here)
NASA 2014 Model Shows Possibility That Industrial Civilization Could Experience a Collapse
This new study has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilization could experience a collapse due to unsustainable resource exploitation and unequal wealth distribution. The Roman Empire, The Han Civilization, The Mauryan and Gupta Empires are all a testimony to the fact that advanced and complex civilizations are capable of falling apart. READ THE STUDY HERE (PDF)
OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050 Report (PDF)
Humanity has undergone tremendous growth in the last few decades. The world population has increased by over 3 billion since 1970. Yet this growth has brought climate change, environmental destruction, resource depletion and mass pollution. Will our planet be able to handle this continued growth and consumption? What will the next four decades bring? The outlook for 2050 does not look good. Also see Club of Rome: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years (paperback)
2012 World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report (PDF)
"Our natural capital is declining and our Ecological Footprint is increasing. Urgent action is needed to ensure that we can live in harmony with nature."
'Planetary
Boundaries 2.0' (Stockholm University, 1-15-15) This was
prepared by researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. This study looks
specifically at how "four of nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed as
a result of human activity." Published in the journal Nature on Thursday, the 18
researchers involved with compiling evidence for the report—titled 'Planetary
Boundaries 2.0'—found that when it comes to climate change, species extinction
and biodiversity loss, deforestation and other land-system changes, and altered
biogeochemical cycles (such as changes to how key organic compounds like
phosphorus and nitrogen are operating in the environment), the degradation that
has already take place is driving the Earth System, as a whole, into a new state
of imbalance. The other five boundaries are also under assault from human
activity.
The Great Acceleration (IGBP, 1-15-15) This study used a series of
indicators to show the effects of 12 different socio-economic factors over time.
It uses what it calls a planetary dashboard to show the spread of human activity
and the results on the Earth System.
COVID 19 CRISIS
New Study Estimates More Than 900,000 People Have Died Of COVID-19 In U.S. (NPR, 5-6-21) Health Data Report
A new study estimates that the number of people who have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. is more than 900,000, a number 57% higher than official figures.
Coronavirus Pandemic to Cost Americans $16 trillion, Study Finds (CBS News,
10-13-20) Study
According to this study, the economic loss for Americans caused by the
Coronavirus will total $16 trillion.
TOTAL COST OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION
Invasive species are costing society more than $423 billion a year (The Hill, 9-4-23) Read the Report from IPBES
Costs of climate change far surpass government estimates, study says (The Washington Post, 9-1-22)
None of the world’s top industries would be profitable if they paid for the natural capital they use (Grist, 4-17-13)
Businesses create costs for the public that they themselves do not pay for. For example, a business will put pollution into the air, but the public has to pay the price for that pollution. If the public was not forced to pick up the tab for the world's most profitable businesses via tax payer funded subsidies, a majority of these businesses would not actually be profitable.
Read the Report: Natural Capital at Risk (PDF)
The
staggering annual financial cost of environmental destruction. (BBC
10/10/2008)
An EU study shows that annual cost of environmental destruction is greater
than current credit crisis.
See Study Here: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
Humans are currently causing a level of extinction in the natural world that has not been seen since the Permian Extinction, which killed the dinosaurs 250 million years ago. Throughout history there have been 5 major extinctions. Yet scientists today agree that the world is currently undergoing a sixth massive era of extinction, an extinction caused by human beings. This will not only be a disaster for non-human life. This is going to be a crisis for human beings if we cannot get our act together, since we rely on other life forms to live. The following articles detail the severity of these extinctions.
Nearly Half of the World's Wildlife is in Decline (CNN, 5-22-23) Study
The study’s authors analyzed more than 70,000 species across the globe – spanning mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects – to determine whether their populations have been growing, shrinking or remaining steady over time. They found 48% of these species are declining in population size.
Up to 1 in 6 U.S. tree species threatened with extinction (The Washington Post, 8-23-22)
Nearly all marine species face extinction if greenhouse emissions don’t drop (The Hill, 8-22-22)
The IUCN Red List of Endangered Species
The International Union for Conservation Red List is widely recognized as one of the most comprehensive sources on the conservation status of plant and animal species. Currently the list has data on 45,000 different species.
Extinction Threat, A Call to World Leaders at Rio Earth Summit: (CNN World News, 6-20-12)
According to the article above: 41% of amphibians, 25% of mammals, 13% of birds, 30% of conifers and 20% of all plants are all threatened with extinction.
Read IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species 2012.
One in Five Mammals Threatened With Extinction (Common Dreams, 11-3-09)
The survival of 17,921 species is in jeopardy.
(Article gathered information from Red List of Threatened Species)
Almost 50% Of The World's Primates Are In Danger Of Extinction (CNN, 8-5-08)
Habitat destruction as well as hunting are the greatest threats to primates today.
Read 48% of All Primates Now Threatened from IUCN's Primate Specialist Group.
Humans
Spur Worst Extinctions Since Dinosaurs (Planet Ark, 3-21-06)
A report released in
March 2006 by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity concluded that "the current pace of [animal
and plant] extinctions was 1,000 times faster than historical rate] thanks
to the activities of human beings.
Read the "Global Biodiversity
Outlook 2 Report"
The
State of the World? A Grim Warning from 1,300 Leading Scientists (By The Independent posted on Information Clearing House, 3-30-05)
This is
the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries, who
conclude that environmental degradation, if continued at its current pace
will irreparably damage the global ecosystem to such an extent that it
will not recover for thousands of years.
Read the "Millennium Assessment
Reports"
DEATH OF THE WORLD'S FISH
World's
Fish Supply Will Run Out by 2048
A recent scientific study
concluded that unless changes are made, current fishing practices and
ecological destruction caused by pollution of the world's oceans will
result in the extinction of fish caught to provide food. This will
provoke a crisis among the world's population as a critical source of food
for human beings disappears.
(Washington Post, 11-3-06)
Read the report "Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services"
Only
10 Percent of Big Ocean Fish Remain
According to a study
published in Nature in 2003, 90% of the world's largest species of
fish have already been killed by humans.
(CNN News, 5-14-03)
Read the report "Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities"
THE HOLOCAUST ON THE BEES
In the United States, Beekeepers around the nation say that they've lost 40-50 percent of their hives on average. Honey bees are necessary for replenishing our food systems, about one third of our food depends upon bees for pollination. Without the bees, there could be a drastic collapse of the world's food supply. Many of these bee deaths are linked to a pesticide group called Neonicotinoids. This chemical was introduced to the global market place in the 1990's. Farmers no longer spray their crops with chemicals, they infuse their plants with neonicotinoids instead. While the chemical has been very successful in killing pests, it has also succeeded in killing off large numbers of bees.
The following study connects low doses of exposure to Neonicitinoids to a damaged immunity in Honey Bees:
Interactions between Nosema microspores and a neonicotinoid weaken honeybees (Apis Mellifera) PDF
Pesticide blamed for declining bee population (CBS News, 4-9-13)
An interview with a beekeeper who describes how beekeepers around the nation have been losing half of their hives due to pesticides.
Insanity: US Approves Bee Death Pesticide as EU Bans It (Natural Society, 5-12-13)
The EU has already taken the necessary steps to ban the pesticides responsible for bee deaths, yet America lags behind.
Pesticide Lobby Spends Millions To Defend Chemicals Tied To Bee Deaths (Huffington Post, 3-29-13)
Bat, Bee, Frog Deaths May Be Linked (News Discover, 6-1-12)
POISONING OF THE BATS
Bat Disease, White-Nose Syndrome, May Increase U.S. Farm Pesticide Use: Study (Huffington Post, 4-13-11)
POISONING OF THE FROGS
Frog Deaths Are A Harbinger of "Sixth Mass Extinction" on Earth (iO9, 8-12-08)
MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS FORESTS CHINA
'Could Be a World Record': South Florida Ocean Temperature Hits 101.1°F (Common Dreams, 7-26-23)
South Florida Ocean's temperature could be a new world heat record. This poses an immense threat to coral and other ocean life.
Climate change: Atlantic Ocean circulation is heading for a collapse around mid-century, scientists report (CNN, 7-25-23)
A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse that ‘would affect every person on the planet.’
The wood industry releases more carbon than Russia — and we’re mostly not counting its emissions: (7-12-23) Read the study here
A trash heap 62 meters high shows the scale of India’s climate challenge (CNN, 12-11-22)
US Industrial Sites Pose New Climate Risk (Consortium News, 8-4-22)
New UN Report Highlights 'Absolutely Critical' Need to Dramatically Slash Global Methane Emissions (Common Dreams, 5-6-21) UN Environment Program Report PDF
Reducing human-caused methane emissions is one of the most cost-effective strategies to rapidly reduce the rate of warming and contribute significantly to global efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.
The critical importance of reducing global methane emissions, including those generated by the fossil fuel industry, is more significant than previously understood, according to a report published by the United Nations Environment Program.
A Carbon Tax Would Cut The Deficit By $1 Trillion (Climate Progress, 11-14-13)
The 10 Cities Most At Risk Of Being Hit By Natural Disasters (Business Insider, 3-28-14) There are many high population cities around the world that are a sitting duck for a natural disaster. Tehran for example is a city with 15 million people and it sits on one of the most dangerous fault lines in the world. Many of the other cities mentioned are also situated on top of dangerous fault lines or are right next to large rivers, which makes them a potential target for heavy floods.
14 U.S. Cities That Could Disappear Over The Next Century, Thanks to Global Warming (Huffington Post, 8-27-13)
Thanks to Climate Change, sea levels are rising. Many populated cities like Miami may not make it over the next century due to rising tides.
300,000 People a Year Are Already Being Killed by Climate Change
In May of 2009 the
Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum launched a report intended to document
the impact of climate change on human society. Its conclusions: More than
300,000 people die annually due to the deteriorating environmental situation.
The report further found that over 500 million people live at extreme risk,
their existence threatened daily by climate change. The report also found that
more than 20 million people are currently climate refugees and that climate
change itself costs the world economy more than 100 billion dollars annually.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report or visit its website.
World on Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (Lester R. Brown, Book)
Lester Brown's solution for dealing with an imminent climate change and the resulting economic collapse. Can we go in the right direction before we go over the edge? Lester Brown is also the author of Plan B.
INFORMATIVE SITES ON CLIMATE CHANGE
IPCC - Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change
Gateway to the United Nations System's Work on Climate Change
Pictures of Impact of Climate Change BBC Version
Inconvenient Truth Web
Site Al Gore 2007 Nobel Prize Speech and Video (Official Nobel Prize Site) Official Transcript Al Gore Official Web Site
NEWS FROM THE ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC
Ice in Antarctica and Greenland Melting at Alarming Rate (NBC Report)
Most people around the world live in coastal cities. Even most Americans live within 50 miles of the coastline. Enough ice is melting to raise ocean levels to dangerous levels - dangerous enough to cause constant storms for those who live on the coastline. We are living through climate chance in real time and massive storms like Katrina and Sandy are about to become a regular part of life.
Greenland and Antarctica ' May be Vulnerable to Rapid Ice Loss Through Catastrophic Disintegration' (Think Progress, 7-30-13)
Why Greenland’s melting could be the biggest climate disaster of all (Grist, 2-24-13)
Read the report: "Greenland ice sheet albedo feedback: thermodynamics and atmospheric drivers" (PDF)
Arctic Death Spiral Bombshell: CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed (Think Progress, 12-14-13)
Read the report: "Geophysical Research Letters"
Greenland's Ice
Cap is Melting Three Times Faster than Five Years Ago
Citing
evidence accumulated by a University of Texas at Austin team of
scientists, the article demonstrates that the Greenland ice cap, which
holds an estimated 2.85 cubic kilometers of fresh water ice (See New
Scientist), is melting away more rapidly than scientists had
previously thought. This melting process is raising sea levels
around the world, which will in turn place coastal areas underwater within
50 years. (By San Francisco Chronicle posted on Common Dreams,
8-11-06)
GLOBAL WARMING
Ocean Acidification: A Critical Emerging Problem For the Ocean Sciences (PDF Report)
Ocean acidification is a change in seawater chemistry due to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide in the air transforms into carbonic acid in the sea. These changes have dire effects on ocean life. According to this report, "the current rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 is as much as 30 times faster than natural rates in the geological past, and present levels are higher than at anytime in at least 850,00 years and likely several million years."
METHANE IN THE ARCTIC
Scientists estimate that there are hundreds of millions of tons of methane gas locked away beneath the Arctic permafrost. Methane is a greenhouse gas much more powerful than carbon dioxide - 23 times more powerful. One of the greatest fears that many scientists have is that when the Arctic sea ice disappears (due to global warming), the trapped methane will be released into the atmosphere leading to severe and rapid climate change.
Arctic Methane: Why The Sea Ice Matters (Envisionation VIDEO)
The ice in the Arctic now is half of what it was 30 years ago. So far it hasn't collapsed, but it will.
Arctic Ocean Leaking Methane At Alarming Rate, Researchers Say (The Seattle Times, 11-29-13)
More Arctic Methane Bubbles into Atmosphere (Scientific American, 11-25-13)
Vast methane 'plumes' seen in Arctic ocean as sea ice retreats (Independent, 12-13-11)
See International Arctic Research Center
Scientists Find
New Global Warming "Time Bomb"
"Global warming gases trapped in
the soil are bubbling out of the thawing permafrost in amounts far higher
than previously thought and may trigger what researchers warn is a climate
time bomb. Methane - a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than
carbon dioxide - is being released from the permafrost at a rate five
times faster than thought, according to a study being published today
in the journal Nature." (By The Associated Press posted on
Common Dreams, 9-7-06)
FRACKING AND METHANE
U.S. Methane Study Says Emissions 50 Percent Higher Than EPA Estimates (Huffington Post, 11-25-13)
This means that Methane may be a greater environmental threat than formerly thought. Much of this methane comes from the keeping of livestock in factory farms as well as the release of gas from the practice of hydraulic fracking.
Fracking Flares in North Dakota Bakken Shale Equal 1 Million Cars Each Year (Popular Resistance, 8-31-13)
Former Mobil VP Warns of Fracking and Climate Change (Truth Out, 7-19-13)
Oil scholar Michael Klare calls fracking the "race for what is left." Louis Alstadt, the former VP of Mobil himself, states "The fracking that's going on right now is the real wake-up call on just what extreme lengths are required to pull oil or gas out of the ground now that most of the conventional reservoirs have been exploited - at least those that are easy to access." He goes on to discuss the reality that fracking releases Methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
RISING USE OF COAL AROUND THE WORLD
IEA predicts coal will grow by as a share of world energy between
2005 and 2030. This means the world's worst form of energy will grow
in demand by 73%. (International Energy Agency) (Click here for
report.)
Coal consumption is expected to return to 2013′s record levels: IEA (CNBC, 8-2-22)
Europe consuming more coal (The Washington Post, 2-7-13)
Coal set to rival oil as world’s primary energy source by 2017 (Deep Green Resistance, 12-18-12)
Why
Hydropower is Not Clean Energy (Alternet)
Not-so-Clean Hydropower is Damming Us All
MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS FORESTS CHINA
DANGEROUS EFFECTS OF CHEMICALS ON ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH
In America, many of the chemical companies have very lose regulations about what kinds of chemicals they can release into the public. As a result, hundreds of untested or low tested chemicals have been released into the environment that have questionable effects on human health, as well as the health of other life forms. Many of these chemicals, such as some of the newer pesticides used for farming, have killed millions of other life forms, such as bees and bats. Check out the World Future Fund Site links below for more on this chemical crisis.
Failure of U.S. Chemical Testing: Poison in The Blood(World Future Fund)
America's track record on testing poisonous chemicals has been one of complete neglect to public health and safety. Most Americans assume that chemicals in everyday products such as shampoos and detergents have been tested. In this assumption, they are dead wrong. In its entire history, the Environmental Protection Agency has only succeeded in banning five substances (New York Times). America clearly does not take the regulation of hazardous chemicals very seriously.
EPA and EU Sites Concerning Chemicals and Human Health (World Future Fund)
Chemicals and Health Organizations (World Future Fund)
Green Revolution (World Future Fund)
Indoor Air Report (World Future Fund)
A LACK OF EPA REGULATION
The Huge Drop in America's Commitment to a Safe Environment: EPA Budget as a Percent of Total Federal Budget (World Future Fund Report)
America's commitment to a safe and clean environment has declined drastically since the 1980's. There has been a 75% spending drop (as a percent of the federal budget) for the EPA in the last 3 decades. In Obama's recent budget proposal for 2014, funding for the EPA has been decreased 5% below 2013 levels. Clean air, water and the management of hazardous chemicals are a serious matter that deserve real funding. Not pocket change.
U.S. Methane Study Says Emissions 50 Percent Higher Than EPA Estimates (Huffington Post, 11-25-13)
Methane is a potent heat trapping gas that is 20 times more potent than Carbon Dioxide. It ends up that the United States is spewing 50% more methane than the federal government estimates. Much of this methane is coming from three states: Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Much of this methane is coming from oil and gas extraction as well as livestock. (Read the Study Here)
White House Looks To Trim EPA's Budget In FY2014 Request (GHGNews, 4-10-13)
Information from Official White House Budget Historical Tables. See table 4.1 for projected spending on different agencies (including the EPA). Or Read entire budget here (PDF).
POLLUTION
Indoor Air, Human Health and Chemicals: The Missing 90% of America's Air Pollution Problems (World Future Fund)
Water, Air and Soil Pollution Causes 40% of Deaths World Wide (Cornell University)
7 Million people die of air pollution in 2012. Air pollution was responsible for one in eight deaths (CNN, 3-24-14)
The Air We Breathe Definitely and Scientifically Linked to Cancer (Alternet, 10-17-13)
Newly Discovered 'Plastic Island' Shows Global Epidemic Worsening (Common Dreams, 1-18-13)
An entire island of human trash now exists in the Pacific Ocean. The large mass of garbage accumulating in the ocean has large implications on fisheries, tourism, marine ecosystems and human health.
Read the report: "Plastic pollution in the South Pacific subtropical gyre"
Not-so-Clean Hydropower is Damming Us All Dam building in developing countries is occurring at an alarming rate. The public needs to know the truth about large dams. Large dams are a societal hazard, pollutants, non-renewable and economically unsound.
PESTICIDES
The Green Revolution: A New Debt Against The Future: (World Future Fund)
A report on harmful practices from the modern world of agriculture. This includes the modern use of pesticides that is launching a holocaust against the populations of bees, bats and frogs.
Pesticides Are Killing Our Sperm (Grist, 3-5-13)
THE HOLOCAUST ON THE BEES
In the United States, Beekeepers around the nation say that they've lost 40-50 percent of their hives on average. Honey bees are necessary for replenishing our food systems, about one third of our food depends upon bees for pollination. Without the bees, there could be a drastic collapse of the world's food supply. Many of these bee deaths are linked to a pesticide group called Neonicotinoids. This chemical was introduced to the global market place in the 1990's. Farmers no longer spray their crops with chemicals, they infuse their plants with neonicotinoids instead. While the chemical has been very successful in killing pests, it has also succeeded in killing off large numbers of bees.
The following study connects low doses of exposure to Neonicitinoids to a damaged immunity in Honey Bees:
Interactions between Nosema microspores and a neonicotinoid weaken honeybees (Apis Mellifera) PDF
Pesticide blamed for declining bee population (CBS News, 4-9-13)
An interview with a beekeeper who describes how beekeepers around the nation have been losing half of their hives due to pesticides.
Insanity: US Approves Bee Death Pesticide as EU Bans It (Natural Society, 5-12-13)
The EU has already taken the necessary steps to ban the pesticides responsible for bee deaths, yet America lags behind.
Pesticide Lobby Spends Millions To Defend Chemicals Tied To Bee Deaths (Huffington Post, 3-29-13)
Bat, Bee, Frog Deaths May Be Linked (News Discover, 6-1-12)
POISONING OF THE BATS
Bat Disease, White-Nose Syndrome, May Increase U.S. Farm Pesticide Use: Study (Huffington Post, 4-13-11)
POISONING OF THE FROGS
Frog Deaths Are A Harbinger of "Sixth Mass Extinction" on Earth (iO9, 8-12-08)
POISONING OF THE FROGS
$528 Billion Nuclear Cleanup Plan at Hanford Site in Jeopardy (The New York Times, 5-31-23)
A $528 billion plan to clean up 54 million gallons of radioactive bomb-making waste may never be achieved.
MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS FORESTS CHINA
'Could Be a World Record': South Florida Ocean Temperature Hits 101.1°F (Common Dreams, 7-26-23)
South Florida Ocean's temperature could be a new world heat record. This poses an immense threat to coral and other ocean life.
Climate change: Atlantic Ocean circulation is heading for a collapse around mid-century, scientists report (CNN, 7-25-23)
A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse that ‘would affect every person on the planet.’
UN Ocean Treaty Talks on Verge of Collapse Due to Rich Nations' Greed, Greenpeace Warns (Common Dreams, 8-25-22)
Human Assault Pushes Ocean to Limit Unseen in 300 Million Years (Common Dreams, 10-3-13)
Midway (World Future Fund):
There is a garbage island in The Pacific Ocean that is now one of the world's largest continents. Birds and other forms of life are being killed by mountains of plastic, human trash in the ocean. Chris Jordan has made a poignant film about this recent level of human destruction.
Newly Discovered 'Plastic Island' Shows Global Epidemic Worsening (Common Dreams, 1-18-13)
An entire island of human trash now exists in the Pacific Ocean. The large mass of garbage accumulating in the ocean has large implications on fisheries, tourism, marine ecosystems and human health.
Read the report: "Plastic pollution in the South Pacific subtropical gyre"
First-Ever Global Map Of Total Human Effects On Oceans (Science Daily, 2-15-08)
Human impacts on the ocean can now be studied by a bird's eye view by using satellites to study ocean images.
A 'Dead Zone' Appears In The Gulf of Mexico At Record Size (Washington Post,
7-31-08)
Information from study: "Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia, AKA 'The Dead Zone'"
Ocean Acidification: A Critical Emerging Problem For the Ocean Sciences (PDF Report)
Ocean acidification is a change in seawater chemistry due to rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide in the air transforms into carbonic acid in the sea. These changes have dire effects on ocean life. According to this report, "the current rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 is as much as 30 times faster than natural rates in the geological past, and present levels are higher than at anytime in at least 850,00 years and likely several million years."
DEATH OF THE WORLD'S FISH
World's
Fish Supply Will Run Out by 2048
A recent scientific study
concluded that unless changes are made, current fishing practices and
ecological destruction caused by pollution of the world's oceans will
result in the extinction of fish caught to provide food. This will
provoke a crisis among the world's population as a critical source of food
for human beings disappears.
(Washington Post, 11-3-06)
Read the report "Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services"
Only
10 Percent of Big Ocean Fish Remain
According to a study
published in Nature in 2003, 90% of the world's largest species of
fish have already been killed by humans.
(CNN News, 5-14-03)
Read the report "Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities"
MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS FORESTS CHINA
Water Facts - Water Crisis Official Website
Desalination can make saltwater drinkable — but it won’t solve the U.S. water crisis (The Washington Post, 9-28-21)
Water Demand for Energy to Double by 2035 (National Geographic, 1-30-13)
Water, Air and Soil Pollution Causes 40% of Deaths World Wide (Cornell University)
The Global Drinking Water Crisis That is Hitting Close to Your Home (Huffington Post, 2-21-14)
Why Global Water Shortages Pose Threat of War and Terror (The Guardian, 2-8-14)
The Price of Fracking: Earthquakes, Explosions and Water Contamination Included (Progressive Democrats of America, 1-26-14)
The world's rivers are drying up in drought and heat (CNN, 8-20-22)
8 Mighty Rivers Run Dry From Overuse (National Geographic)
28,000 Rivers Disappeared in China: No Clear Answer About What Happened. (The Atlantic, 4-29-13)
Rivers: A Drying Shame (The Independent, 3-12-06)
Why
Hydropower is Not Clean Energy (Alternet)
Not-so-Clean Hydropower is Damming Us All
MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS
FORESTS CHINA
WFF
Map on Global Forest Destruction
Our map on the total destruction of forests that has taken place around the world.
Amazon Deforestation Video in Google Earth (Earth Outreach)
Google Earth's historical imagery animation of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon state of Rodonia, between 1975 and 2009.
Coming Soon: Global Forest Watch (World Resources Institute)
A powerful near real-time forest monitoring system that unites satellite technology, data sharing and human networks around the world to fight deforestation.
Forest fires burn twice as many trees today than two decades ago (The Washington Post, 8-24-22)
Half the Amazon Rainforest to be Lost by 2030 (Natural News, 7-22-08)
Read the report "Amazon's Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire (World Wildlife Fund)," Note: Clicking the link will download a PDF onto your computer.
Forests
Face Global Extinction (By Toronto Globe & Mail posted on Common Dreams,
8-21-01)
A UN report released in 2001 stated it would
"take a miracle -- and concerted
international effort -- to save the healthy forests left in the world from
obliteration".
Read UNEP Publications.
Grim news about the destruction of the world's forests
"Worldwide, one-half of
all forests we've lost in the last 10,000 years has occurred in the last
80 years. Half of that was destroyed in the last 30 years," says
Scott Paul, Forest Campaign Coordinator for Greenpeace
Cambodia, for example, lost nearly 30 percent of its primary forests
from 2000 to 2005, according to FAO. Vietnam lost close to 55
percent of its primary forests, FAO found. And Nigeria lost nearly
56 percent of its primary forests over the same period, the worst rate of
forest loss in the world, according to FAO. The destruction of the
Earth's oldest and richest forests is not a new phenomenon, but the rate
of destruction has increased in recent decades. (CNN News, 7-12-07)
China's massive industrialization and population growth over the last decade have been an environmental death sentence. Many Chinese lack access to clean drinking water and the industrial sector is producing record air pollution that can be seen from space.
28,000 Rivers Disappeared in China: No Clear Answer About What Happened. (The Atlantic, 4-29-13)
China's environment: An economic death sentence (CNN Money, 1-28-13)
China's record-level air pollution, as seen from space (The Verge, 1-14-13)
Article pictures from NASA's Earth Observatory
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