Tag: Environment
Run for the Earth
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
RUNNING enthusiasts and “eco warriors” are once again being summoned to the Nat Geo Earth Day Run 2017 which will...
Tiny plastic particles from clothing, tires clogging oceans: report
GENEVA -- Invisible particles washed off products like synthetic clothing and car tires account for up to a third of the plastic polluting oceans,...
Small ponds have outsized impact on global warming
PARIS -- Tiny natural ponds pose an overlooked danger for speeding up global warming, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature...
Amazon forest was transformed by ancient people: study
MIAMI — Long before European settlers arrived in the Americas in 1492, the Amazon rainforest was transformed for thousands of years by indigenous people...
Study forecasts balmier England, even hotter Mumbai
PARIS — Northern Europe, Canada and Russia will enjoy balmier winters by century’s end even as the average number of mild days per year...
China tells local meteorological bureaus to stop smog alerts
BEIJING — China is suspending local meteorological bureaus from issuing smog alerts, media reported Wednesday, raising suspicions the government is attempting to suppress information...
Nature’s tradeoffs: brawn vs. brains, looks vs. loyalty
PARIS -- Biologists assessing the natural world sometimes sound like hard-nosed executives weighing the costs and benefits of an investment opportunity.
Species, they reason, can’t...
Some dino eggs took months to hatch, perhaps leading to extinction:...
WASHINGTON — The eggs of nonavian dinosaurs took three to six months to hatch, a long incubation period that could help explain dinosaurs’ mass...
Sea of Galilee draws faithful despite receding waters
SEA OF GALILEE, ISRAEL — On the shimmering Sea of Galilee, where the Christian gospels say Jesus walked on water, 150 Nigerian pilgrims aboard...
Kenya’s Maasai break with coming-of-age tradition to save the lion
KIMANA, KENYA -- Under the shadow of a snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, hundreds of Maasai boys brave the morning chill to take part in a...
Whales in the wild: rare gem amid Thailand mass tourism
GULF OF THAILAND — Piercing the water’s surface with its almond-shaped mouth, a giant Bryde’s whale opens wide for one, two, three seconds, gulping...
A reindeer’s perilous journey in Swedish Lapland
DIKANÄS, SWEDEN — A herd of reindeer moves silently down the mountain, their silver coats and majestic antlers blending into the Swedish tundra as...
Ukraine moves giant new safety dome over Chernobyl
CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE — Ukraine on Tuesday unveiled the world’s largest moveable metal structure over the Chernobyl nuclear power plant’s doomed fourth reactor to ensure...
China to burn, not bury, as it tackles trash challenge
WUJIANG, CHINA — Thousands of tons of urban waste are hidden behind scrubbed white walls at a new power plant on the outskirts of...
Indonesia, Vietnam look to blaze trail for solar in Southeast Asia
SINGAPORE/JAKARTA -- Indonesia and Vietnam are looking to join Thailand in blazing a trail for solar power in Southeast Asia, introducing targets to fire...
Dolphin born at Ocean Adventure
ON AUG. 7 at around 12:55 p.m., one of Ocean Adventure’s resident dolphins, 14-year-old Hali, gave birth to the park’s newest resident.
A little over...
Antarctic glacier thinning more rapidly than thought: study
PARIS — A large glacier in West Antarctica lost up to half a kilometer in thickness in seven years, thinning more quickly than scientists...
10,000 endangered frogs die in Peru
LIMA, PERU — Peru is investigating what killed some 10,000 Titicaca water frogs, a critically endangered species affectionately known as the “scrotum frog,” in...
David Attenborough calls for peepholes in zoos
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — Veteran British naturalist David Attenborough called Monday for gorillas in zoos to be kept behind walls with peepholes rather than...
August shatters global heat records for 16th month in a row
MIAMI -- Last month was the hottest August in modern times and marked the 16th month in a row when global records for heat...
Sexploits of Diego the Tortoise save Galapagos species
PUERTO AYORA, ECUADOR — He’s over 100 years old, but his sex life is the stuff of legend. Diego the Tortoise is quite the...
Warming oceans are ‘sick,’ global scientists warn
HONOLULU — Global warming is making the oceans sicker than ever before, spreading disease among animals and humans and threatening food security across the...
Moon is key to when jellyfish hit beach: Israeli study
JERUSALEM -- Swimmers wanting to avoid being stung by jellyfish may want to watch the sky as much as the sea after Israeli researchers...
Giant cruise ship heads to Arctic on pioneering journey
LOS ANGELES -- It is a voyage explorers only dreamed of not so long ago.
But thanks to climate change, a luxury cruise ship has...
July was Earth’s hottest month in modern times
MIAMI — Soaring temperatures worldwide made July the Earth’s hottest month in modern times, setting a new high mark for global heat in 137...
Moss boosted Earth’s oxygen 400 million years ago: study
MIAMI — Scientists have long wondered what gave Earth enough oxygen to support the rise of animals and people, and researchers said Monday they...
Alaskan woolly mammoths died of thirst
MIAMI — One of the world’s last surviving groups of woolly mammoths likely died of thirst as the salty seas rose around these iconic...
Some fish tackle ocean global warming by pretending it’s night
OSLO — Some fish may cope with the changing chemistry of the oceans linked to global warming by permanently setting their body defenses to...
Pesticides diminish bee sperm: study
PARIS -- Neonicotinoid pesticides, already blamed for short-circuiting honeybee brains, also diminish their sperm, possibly contributing to the pollinators’ worrying global decline, researchers said...
Coal dust kills 23,000 per year in EU: report
PARIS — Lung-penetrating dust from coal-fired power plants in the European Union (EU) claims some 23,000 lives a year and racks up tens of...
36 bird species make a home in Davao park
THIRTY-SIX bird species — several of which are considered endangered — were recently identified as living at the Aboitiz Cleanergy Park in Davao City,...
May goes down as Earth’s hottest on record: NASA
WASHINGTON — May’s temperatures broke global records yet again, as the northern hemisphere finishes its hottest spring on record, statistics released Tuesday by NASA...
Hairy future for Australia’s beloved koala
PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA -- A sweet, sickly smell filled the air as Sherwood Robyn, a 12-year-old koala, was brought into a small examination room...
Indonesia plans tougher punishments for poachers
JAKARTA, INDONESIA -- Indonesia plans to quadruple maximum jail terms for animal poachers and traffickers in a major overhaul of wildlife crime laws, but...
China says important glacier is melting due to climate change
A GLACIER that is one of the largest at the source of China’s Yangtze River is fast retreating because of climate change, state media...
Using art to raise environmental awareness
By Camille Anne M. Arcilla
WATER is supposed to be clear. But when it gets dirty, it becomes a medium of art.
Nine Filipino artists created...
Savvy squid, octopuses on rise despite warming oceans
MIAMI — The oceans are warming and coral reefs are dying, but octopuses, squids and cuttlefish appear to be thriving, with their numbers steadily...
Drugs and dung a bad mix for climate
PARIS — Scientists have discovered a potential threat to Earth’s climate lurking in a dark and smelly place: the dung of cattle treated with...
Poland begins logging primeval forest despite activist pleas
WARSAW, POLAND — Poland on Tuesday began a logging project aimed at protecting the Bialowieza forest, which includes some of Europe’s last primeval woodland,...
Construction is bustling at Florida’s first ‘sustainable town’
PUNTA GORDA, UNITED STATES -- With deep pockets and an environmentalist’s zeal, retired American football player Syd Kitson dreamed up a plan to build...
Climate: half-a-degree makes a huge difference
PARIS -- A jump in global temperature of two degrees Celsius would double the severity of crop failures, water shortages and heatwaves in many...
‘Once-a-century’ climate hazards will hit Europe yearly: study
VIENNA -- By mid-century, pockets of southern Europe will face at least one severe climate hazard every year of the scale now occurring only...
Industry threatens nearly half of natural heritage sites: WWF
PARIS — Almost half of all natural World Heritage Sites, including the Great Barrier Reef and Machu Picchu, are threatened by industrial activities such...
Seagull poo posing problem at Dublin beach
DUBLIN — A surge in seagull droppings is fouling up the water at a popular Dublin beach, Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on...
Stone Age humans brought deer to Scotland by sea
PARIS — Stone Age humans populated the Scottish islands with red deer transported “considerable distances” by boat, said researchers on Wednesday who admitted surprise...
