http://www.physorg.com/space-news/environment/ en-us PhysOrg Team PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. (AP) -- Gert Ignatiussen returns to this fjord-front Inuit town with the spoils of his hunting trip. Six seals, all killed with a single shot to the head. http://www.physorg.com/news178530519.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-27T08:30:01-07:00 (AP) -- Americans' day-to-day lives won't change noticeably if President Barack Obama achieves his newly announced goal of slashing carbon dioxide pollution by one-sixth in the next decade, experts say. http://www.physorg.com/news178530693.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-27T07:52:01-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- The first-ever Australian benchmark of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and options for adaptation is being released in Brisbane today. http://www.physorg.com/news178529108.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-27T07:50:01-07:00 Deforestation has had a big influence on the increase of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the past three centuries, but its impact is tapering off relatively. Nowadays, the burning of fossil fuels is a more crucial factor. This is the contention of Dutchh professor Rik Leemans of the Environmental Systems Analysis Group. http://www.physorg.com/news178460120.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-26T12:21:21-07:00 (AP) -- President Barack Obama will commit the United States to substantial cuts in greenhouse gas pollution over the next decade - despite resistance in Congress over higher costs - when he travels to a major climate conference in Copenhagen next month. http://www.physorg.com/news178441378.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-26T07:50:02-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Reducing carbon dioxide to safe levels may require extracting carbon from the air, says Cornell climate researcher. http://www.physorg.com/news178392408.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-25T17:40:01-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's remotely piloted Predator B aircraft, named Ikhana, recently conducted post-burn assessments of two Southern California wildfire sites, the Piute Fire in Kern County and the Station Fire in the Angeles National Forest. Ikhana, an unmanned aircraft equipped with an infrared imaging sensor, completed a seven-hour imaging flight on Nov. 19, 2009 from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. http://www.physorg.com/news178384574.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-25T15:17:30-07:00 Soil is the linchpin of the environment, where atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere meet. Despite that, many students see soil as "just dirt" - a place to grow plants, but nothing more. Soil science educators are challenged with the task of helping students and the public recognize the critical importance of soil in the environment. http://www.physorg.com/news178370886.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-25T11:28:38-07:00 Tackling climate change by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions will have major direct health benefits in addition to reducing the risk of climate change, especially in low-income countries, according to a series of six papers appearing today (Wed., Nov. 25) in the British journal The Lancet. http://www.physorg.com/news178370528.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-25T11:25:54-07:00 Food waste contributes to excess consumption of freshwater and fossil fuels which, along with methane and carbon dioxide emissions from decomposing food, impacts global climate change. In a new paper published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE, Kevin Hall and colleagues at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases calculate the energy content of nationwide food waste from the difference between the US food supply and the food eaten by the population. The latter was estimated using a validated mathematical model of human metabolism relating body weight to the amount of food eaten. http://www.physorg.com/news178349112.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-25T05:50:05-07:00 The annual rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels has more than tripled in this decade, compared to the 1990s, reports an international consortium of scientists, who paint a bleak picture of the Earth's future unless "CO2 emissions [are] drastically reduced." http://www.physorg.com/news178308523.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-24T18:40:03-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Electronic devices could create significant environmental and health problems after they are thrown away. UC Irvine researchers are working with engineers, manufacturers and public health officials to find solutions. http://www.physorg.com/news178305162.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-24T17:30:01-07:00 In advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, NASA has released a new multimedia climate change "resource reel" showcasing free downloadable videos, data visualizations, animations, and still images that illustrate key climate change concepts and discoveries. http://www.physorg.com/news178302542.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-24T16:36:46-07:00 Carbon labelling could unfairly disadvantage economies in the developing world, and mislead consumers, according to an interdisciplinary project carried out by the UK Research Councils' Rural Economy and Land Use Programme. http://www.physorg.com/news178299504.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-24T15:50:01-07:00 Popular thinking about how to improve food systems for the better often misses the point, according to the results of a three-year global study of salmon production systems. Rather than pushing for organic or land-based production, or worrying about simple metrics such as "food miles," the study finds that the world can achieve greater environmental benefits by focusing on improvements to key aspects of production and distribution. http://www.physorg.com/news178297283.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-24T15:16:35-07:00 The Dead Sea may soon shrink to a lifeless pond as Middle East political strife blocks vital measures needed to halt the decay of the world's lowest and saltiest body of water, experts say. http://www.physorg.com/news178296235.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-24T14:47:50-07:00 Humanity would need five Earths to produce the resources needed if everyone lived as profligately as Americans, according to a report issued Tuesday. http://www.physorg.com/news178269435.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-24T08:20:03-07:00 (AP) -- A leading climate change scientist whose private e-mails are included in thousands of documents that were stolen by hackers and posted online said Sunday the leaks may have been aimed at undermining next month's global climate summit in Denmark. http://www.physorg.com/news178199129.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-23T12:00:04-07:00 Sewer overflows are a nasty business, posing dangers to human health and the environment. North Carolina State University is launching a new project with funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that targets the fat and grease that contribute to millions of overflows every year, and will give urban planners new tools to further reduce the risk of sewage spills. http://www.physorg.com/news178198955.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-23T12:00:02-07:00 Seventy percent of households always separate their rubbish for recycling, but only 2 percent buy their energy on a green tariff, according to the early findings of a major new annual household survey, called "Understanding Society," funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. http://www.physorg.com/news178182064.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-23T07:02:51-07:00 In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions - the major cause of global warming - cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day. http://www.physorg.com/news178178343.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-23T05:59:57-07:00 (AP) -- Sixty-five world leaders have said they will attend the Copenhagen climate summit in December, and several more have responded positively to invitations, Danish officials said Sunday. http://www.physorg.com/news178121802.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-22T14:50:03-07:00 Australia has issued "catastrophic" alerts after record-breaking temperatures and wild lightning storms sparked more than 100 fires across the country, officials said Saturday. http://www.physorg.com/news178025073.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-21T11:25:26-07:00 On the beach at Monster, bulldozers painstakingly turn sand dredged from the bottom of the North Sea bed into dunes in an ambitious effort to safeguard the Netherlands from flooding. http://www.physorg.com/news177946209.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-20T14:10:02-07:00 Lehigh University's Energy Research Center (ERC) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop methods of recovering and reusing the heat that would be generated by the carbon-dioxide (CO2) compression process in a carbon capture system. The goal of the research project is to facilitate carbon capture and sequestration, or storage (CCS), and thus limit the amount of CO2, a greenhouse gas, emitted into the atmosphere by coal-fired power plants. http://www.physorg.com/news177940311.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-20T11:54:44-07:00 (AP) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Thursday for all countries to fix binding climate change targets next year at the latest, acknowledging that no such deal is likely at global talks in Copenhagen next month. http://www.physorg.com/news177868179.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-19T16:10:01-07:00 Sustainable farming, initially adopted to preserve soil quality for future generations, may also play a role in maintaining a healthy climate, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge and Los Alamos national laboratories. http://www.physorg.com/news177864926.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-19T15:20:06-07:00 The Dutch government said Wednesday it had approved the experimental below-ground storage of excess CO2 to curb damaging emissions, dismissing concerns of residents who live on top of the project. http://www.physorg.com/news177784093.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-18T16:28:54-07:00 A new generation of "green" automobile tires that can boost fuel efficiency without sacrificing safety and durability is rolling their way through the research pipeline. The new tires could help add an extra mile or two per gallon to a car's fuel economy. That's the topic of the cover story of the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, (C&EN) ACS' weekly newsmagazine. http://www.physorg.com/news177772433.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-18T16:20:01-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- A recently published Pacific Northwest National Laboratory study of a naturally bioreduced sediment sample from a former uranium mill tailings site reveals insights that enhance understanding of the long-term persistence of uranium in groundwater. The study provides the first-ever evidence of a useful pyrite mineral formation within the sample. http://www.physorg.com/news177778022.html Space & Earth - Environment 2009-11-18T14:49:17-07:00