Overfishing Causes Pacific Bluefin Tuna Numbers to Drop 96% – January 10, 2013

Conservationists also warned that the vast majority caught were juveniles and had never reproduced

The bluefin tuna, which has been endangered for several years and has the misfortune to be prized by Japanese sushi lovers, has suffered a catastrophic decline in stocks in the Northern Pacific Ocean, of more than 96 percent, according to research published on Wednesday.

Photo Wikimedia CommonsIf current trends continue, the bluefin tuna will soon be functionally extinct in the Pacific.

Equally concerning is the fact that about 90 percent of specimens currently fished are young fish that have not yet reproduced.

Last week, one fish sold in Japan for more than £1million ($1.6 million), reflecting the rarity of the bluefin tuna… more

by: The Guardian UK

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On the 12th Day of Christmas ... Your Gift Will Just be Junk – December 14, 2012

Every year we splurge on pointless, planet-trashing products, most of which are not wanted. Why not just bake them a cake?

There's nothing they need, nothing they don't own already, nothing they even want. So you buy them a solar-powered waving queen; a belly-button brush; a silver-plated ice cream tub-holder; a "hilarious" inflatable Zimmer frame; a confection of plastic and electronics called Terry the Swearing Turtle; or – and somehow I find this significant – a Scratch Off World Map.

Photo by Rachel KnickermeyerOf the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1 percent remain in use six months
after sale.

They seem amusing on the first day of Christmas, daft on the second, embarrassing on the third. By the twelfth… more

by: The Guardian UK

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Yellowstone’s Popular Alpha Female Wolf Shot Dead by Hunters Outside Park – December 10, 2012

Known only as 832F, wolf was a favorite among visitors and researchers trying to understand the species' movements

A wolf beloved by visitors and tracked by scientists at Yellowstone national park has been shot dead by hunters, reigniting debate over the targeting of the animal.

Photo by William Campbell/USFWSOver the last few weeks, eight wolves that had been fitted with $4,000 GPS collars to help researchers
track their movement have been killed. It has led to complaints by animal rights groups and calls for
fresh limits to be put in place ahead of the inaugural wolf trapping season, due to start on 15 December.

The alpha female, known as 832F and described by wildlife enthusiasts as a "rock star" due to her popularity,… more

by: The Guardian UK

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Climate Change is Happening Now — a Carbon Price Must Follow – November 29, 2012

The extreme weather events of 2012 are what we have been warning of for 25 years, but the answer is plain to see

Will our short attention span be the end of us? Just a month after the second "storm of a century" in two years, the media moves on to the latest scandal with barely a retrospective glance at the implications of the extreme climate anomalies we have seen.

Photo by NASA GOES ProjectA NASA satellite image of Hurricane Sandy moving over Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern US. The
chances of getting a late October hurricane in New York without the help of global warming are
extremely small.

Hurricane Sandy was not just a storm. It was a stark illustration of the power that climate change can deliver… more

by: The Guardian UK

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Climate Change Adaptation Cash for Poor Countries Fails to Materialize – November 26, 2012

As the COP18 Doha climate talks begin, Oxfam and IIED warn that green climate fund risks being left 'as an empty shell'

Wealthy countries have not only failed to provide cash to help poor people adapt to climate change, but much of what they have agreed to give so far has come out of existing aid budgets or in the form of loans that will need to be repaid, new research by two international agencies shows.

Photo by MarcShipping containers at Oakland port in California. A levy on international shipping could provide cash
for the Green Climate Fund.

The EU and nine countries including the US, Canada and Australia agreed at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009 to make a downpayment of $30bn (£18.7bn)… more

by: The Guardian UK

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