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Penguins, Study finds Climate Change is another danger

Life has never been easy for just-hatched Magellanic penguins, but climate change is making it worse, according to a decades-long study of the largest breeding colony of the birds. The chicks are already vulnerable to predation and starvation. Now, the study at Punta Tombo, Argentina, found that intense storms and warmer temperatures are increasingly taking a toll. “Rainfall is killing a lot of penguins, and so is heat,” said P. Dee Boersma, a University of Washington scientist and lead author of thestudy. “And those are two new causes.”

The Globalization of Pollution

Emissions from Chinese factories that make goods for the American market are contributing to smog on the West Coast of the United States, according to a new study that shows the complexities of determining who is ultimately responsible for pollution that affects the entire planet. China has become essentially the world’s factory floor, producing clothes, electronics and other goods for the United States and others. That generally beneficial trade has also generated huge emissions of pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that are swiftly transported elsewhere by global winds — in addition, of course, to adding significantly to carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

A united call for action on climate change

Kofi Annan is chair of The Elders, a group of independent leaders who work for peace, justice and human rights worldwide. When Nelson Mandela formed the Elders in 2007 to promote peace and human rights across the world, he challenged us to be bold and to give a voice to those who have none. No issue demands these qualities more than our collective failure to tackle climate change.

Commissione Ue: taglio del 40% ai gas serra, 27% di rinnovabil

Emissioni di CO2 ridotte del 40% e rinnovabili al 27% a livello Ue. Questi i nuovi obiettivi fissati dalla Commissione europea. La decisione spetta ora ai capi di Stato e di governo che dovranno pronunciarsi durante il vertice del 20 e 21 marzo a Bruxelles. “Un taglio del 40% nelle emissioni di gas serra rappresenta un obiettivo particolarmente ambizioso, ma è la pietra miliare più efficace in termini di costi nel nostro percorso verso un’economia a basse emissioni”, ha affermato il presidente della Commissione, José Manuel Barroso, secondo cui “anche l’obiettivo di raggiungere il 27% di energie rinnovabili è un segnale importante: rappresenta stabilità per gli investitori, stimola l’occupazione verde e rende più sicure le nostre forniture energetiche”.

Texas Company, Alone in U.S., Cashes In on Nuclear Waste

Standing at the lip of what might be America’s most valuable hole in the ground, Rodney A. Baltzer cataloged the features that he said would isolate the radioactive waste to be buried here for thousands of years. First, Mr. Baltzer said, there is a base layer of nearly waterproof clay, then a layer of concrete reinforced with steel and then three layers of plastic. When the waste, loaded into concrete containers, fills the pit, he said, it will be topped by a 40-foot-thick covering cap that includes more concrete, then more clay and finally a “bio-intrusion cap” to keep out burrowing prairie dogs.

A Schönau, en Allemagne, l’électricité est verte et citoyenne

La presse allemande continue de la surnommer « la rebelle de l’électricité ». Pourtant, en entrant dans les locaux d’EWS, l’entreprise qu’Ursula Sladek dirige, à Schönau, c’est l’impression inverse qui domine. On voit dans des vitrines d’innombrables distinctions, signes d’une indéniable reconnaissance. Le Monde.fr a le plaisir de vous offrir la lecture de cet article habituellement réservé aux abonnés du Monde.fr. Profitez de tous les articles réservés du Monde.fr en vous abonnant à partir de 1€ / mois | Découvrez l’édition abonnés