EarthScape

Global banks, investment houses and pension funds are gobbling up farmland in poor countries for food and biofuels production. GRAIN, winners of the 2011 Right Livelihood Award, says this secretive and unjust practice needs to stop.

So while climate change delegates haggle over deadlines, binding targets and finance, some of the world’s poorest states are warning that rising sea levels and storms will sweep them away unless the world agrees to tackle global warning. “We will be one of the first countries to go under water,” said Foua Toloa, a senior…

On Monday, the UN released the results of the first ever global study on the state of Earth’s land. The main finding: 25 percent of all land is highly degraded making it unsuitable for agriculture. The implications of this finding are enormous; the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that farm output must increase…

Huge wind turbine erupts in flames as 165mph winds strike Scotland These amazing pictures show the moment a huge wind turbine erupted in flames after it was struck by hurricane-force winds in Scotland. Local photographer Stuart McMahon from Ardossan, North Ayrshire, snapped the fireball as it wrecked the turbine earlier this afternoon. Stuart told ClickGreen…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing changes to Clean Air Act standards for boilers and certain incinerators based on extensive analysis, review and consideration of data and input from states, environmental groups, industry, lawmakers and the public. The proposed reconsideration would achieve extensive public health protections through significant reductions in toxic air pollutants,…

Deforestation and forest degradation are down moderately from August through October 2011 relative to the same period a year ago, reports a satellite-based assessment released today by Imazon, a Brazilian group. Imazon’s near-real time system, which tracks change in forest plots 25 hectares (62 acres) or larger, found that 512 square kilometers of rainforest were…

Eat all the walnut treats you can this holiday season. They might not be so plentiful in coming years. Commercially grown walnut trees (Juglans nigra and Juglans regia) are very particular about their growing conditions and drought or untimely frosts can crack the walnut tree’s defenses.

A team of scientists have used the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite to confirm major reductions in the levels of a key air pollutant generated by coal power plants in the eastern United States. The pollutant, sulphur dioxide, contributes to the formation of acid rain and can cause serious health problems.

The Arctic zone has moved into a warmer, greener “new normal” phase, which means less habitat for polar bears and more access for development, an international scientific team reported on Thursday. Arctic air temperatures were higher – about 2.5 degrees F (1.5 degrees C) higher in 2011 than the baseline number for the previous 30…

Rising global energy demand and the need to drastically cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions require a transformation in the way nations produce, deliver and consume energy, according to a new joint report from the OECD and IEA. The Green Growth Studies: Energy report says governments need to increase energy efficiency and lower the carbon-intensity of…