by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Swiss voted Sunday in favor of a massive overhaul of the country’s energy system by gradually replacing the power from its ageing nuclear reactors with renewable sources. A full 58.2 percent of Swiss voters supported the shift, according to a final tally after Sunday’s referendum, with only four of the country’s 26 cantons voting “no”. The move has been in the making since shortly after Japan’s Fukushima […]
Environment
Antarctica is greening due to global warming
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Plant life is growing on Antarctica like never before in modern times, fueled by global warming which is melting ice and transforming the landscape from white to green, researchers said Thursday. Scientists studying moss in an area spanning 400 miles (640 kilometers) have found a sharp increase in growth over the past 50 years, said the report in the journal Current Biology. Plant life exists on only about […]
Rising seas set to double coastal flooding by 2050: study
by Marlowe Hood Agence France Pesse PARIS, France (AFP) — Rising sea levels driven by global warming are on track to dramatically boost the frequency of coastal flooding worldwide by mid-century, especially in tropical regions, researchers said Thursday. A 10-to-20 centimeter (four-to-eight inch) jump in the global ocean watermark by 2050 — a conservative forecast — would double flood risk in high-latitude regions, they reported in the journal Scientific Reports. Major cities along the North […]
Scientists discover coral that could beat climate change
(Reuters) — Coral reefs in the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba are able to tolerate rising sea temperatures, which could mean they could be used to reseed dying reefs elsewhere in the world, according to a new study. As sea temperatures rise as a result of global warming, coral reefs are deteriorating on a massive scale. When the seawater is too warm, coral expels the algae on which it depends, causing calcification and turning the […]
Kenya developers fit homes and buildings with solar technology
MACHAKOS COUNTY, Kenya (Reuters) — Greenpark, a residential estate located about 20 kilometers south of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is one of a handful of housing developments promoting solar powered homes in the country. Founded in 2006 the 150-acre estate has 400 units all fitted with solar panels for water heating. Developers are currently working on the fifth phase of the scheme. The panels are made locally and fitted by Steelstone Kenya, which has been contracted […]
Dutch design breakthrough fast-tracks oceans clean-up plan
by Jo Biddle Agence France Presse UTRECHT, Netherlands (AFP) — A Dutch engineer aiming to clean up vast ocean “garbage patches” of plastic Thursday unveiled a radical design breakthrough, enabling his ambitious project to start two years early. Boyan Slat’s innovative scheme seeks to use ocean currents to help gather up an estimated five trillion pieces of plastic — everything from bottles, to plastic bags, flip-flops and other detritus — from the planet’s waters. After […]
Alaska’s tundra releasing more CO2 than it takes in: study
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Alaskan tundra appears to be emitting more carbon dioxide than it captures, a dynamic that could accelerate climate warming as vast stores of CO2 trapped in Arctic soils are unlocked by rising temperatures. A question scientists have had is whether a warming climate would lead to a greater intake of CO2 through photosynthesis during the summer growing season. But a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National […]
The art of filmmaking
Making a film is a test of talent, team spirit, and requires a lot of patience! The videographic is about making movies, from script to screen. AFP-VIDEOGRAPHIC https://youtu.be/DFxj470xJNQ
Wildlife experts inspect health of rare Galapagos tortoises recently rescued from traffickers
PIURA, Peru (Reuters) — Wildlife experts from Peru and Ecuador inspected the health of 27 baby Galapagos tortoises, a highly endangered species, that were recently rescued from a group of traffickers trying to take them to Europe, according to local media reports. A group of members from Ecuador’s National Forestry and Wildlife Service (Serfor) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said the tortoises were in good health. After a morphological evaluation, specialists concluded the […]
Climate envoys meet in Bonn, but all eyes on Washington
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse BONN, Germany (AFP) — Uncertainty over America’s future in the climate-rescue Paris Agreement loomed large over United Nations talks in Bonn Monday, aimed at working out the nuts and bolts of implementing the hard-fought international deal. US President Donald Trump has yet to announce whether he intends keeping a campaign promise to withdraw Washington from the pact in whose birth his predecessor, Barack Obama, was instrumental. Media reports have […]
Pike to help fight algal bloom in Baltic Sea
VARMDO, Sweden (Reuters) — Swedish wetlands near the capital Stockholm are being kept saturated for longer to increase the numbers of pike coming to spawn in warm, sheltered waters in the spring. The pike “factory” not only helps restore biodiversity in the wetland, it also helps reduce algal bloom in the Baltic Sea as increased numbers of the predator allow smaller organisms to eat the algal bloom. The conservation effort began in 2013, with shrubs […]
Dutch open ‘world’s largest offshore’ wind farm
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Dutch officials on Monday opened what is being billed as one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, with 150 turbines spinning in action far out in the North Sea. Over the next 15 years, the Gemini windpark, which lies some 85 kilometers (53 miles) off the northern coast of The Netherlands, will meet the energy needs of about 1.5 million people. At full winds the windpark has a generating […]