Environment
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012 , by
Paul Portelli
The things you didn’t know about wildlife and colour
Carnival is over, bringing an end to five days of colour that added some cheer to life after weeks of dull, cloudy weather. As in previous years, many float designers were inspired by the most colourful species in nature, particularly parr...
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Wednesday, February 22, 2012 , by
Michael Mathes
30,000-year-old plants are brought back to life
Fruit seeds stored by squirrels more than 30,000 years ago have been found in Siberian permafrost and regenerated into full flowering plants by scientists in Russia. The seeds of the herbaceous Silene stenophylla are the oldest plant tissu...
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Trends in public attitudes
What is the trend in Maltese public attitudes towards the environment? Mepa’s 2008 Public Attitude Survey identified changes in public environmental perceptions when compared with results from similar surveys carried out in 1991 and...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
Anne Zammit
Networking for change
Networking has carved out a stronghold in activism worldwide in the social and environmental sphere. Very often the two spheres overlap. Revolutions continue to be sustained and important battles won in a world where increasingly...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
AFP
Japan firms plan wind farm near Fukushima
A group of Japanese firms led by trading house Marubeni Corp. plans to build a large floating experimental wind farm off the coast of Fukushima prefecture, which was hit by a nuclear disaster last year, a report said last Tuesday. The proj...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
AFP
Tens of billions at stake in Mexico oil spill trial
Tens of billions of dollars will be at stake when BP heads to a US court this month to determine how much it owes for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill and how much it can shift to subcontractors. Several government probes have castigat...
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Sunday, February 19, 2012 , by
PA
Evolution proves ‘good guys’ do win
Group co-operation beats being selfish, according to a biologist who believes his evolutionary theory has impacts for businesses and communities. David Sloan Wilson champions the idea that, rather than evolution being driven just by indivi...
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Saturday, February 18, 2012
Take-up of voluntary environmental schemes
How many organisations in Malta are certified under voluntary environment schemes? Voluntary environmental schemes are an effective tool through which companies voluntarily improve their environmental performance and apply for certi...
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Municipal waste generated per capita
What is the trend in municipal waste generation? Municipal waste is composed of waste collected from households and other waste similar in nature and composition to waste from households. This waste stream provides the best indicato...
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Tiny but mighty
A tiny songbird weighing just two tablespoons of sugar migrates from the Arctic to Africa and back, a distance of up to 29,000 kilometres, scientists reported yesterday. The size of an undernourished sparrow, the northern wheatear...
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
New York’s ‘once-a-century’ storms to become common
Massive storm surges that statistically threaten New York City once a century could occur at intervals from three to 20 years by 2100, according to estimates by US scientists. Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technol...
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012 , by
Paul Portelli
Surviving the bitter cold
Last Sunday’s sunshine and the relatively warmer temperature were very welcome, especially after the cold wet days we have been experiencing throughout most of this month. As I do on most Sundays, I spent the morning taking photographs of...
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sufficiency of designations for terrestrial Natura 2000 areas
How sufficient are Malta’s designations for terrestrial Natura 2000 sites? A number of Malta’s protected sites form part of the EU network of protected areas, known as the Natura 2000 network, covering 13.3 per cent of the land area...
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Monday, February 13, 2012 , by
Ivan Couronne
Attack of the giant snails!
No one knows how they got there. But an invasion of African giant snails has southern Florida in a panic over potential crop damage, disease and general yuckiness surrounding the slimy gastropods. The US and Florida departments of...
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Monday, February 13, 2012 , by
Michel Viatteau
Lions adapt to winter at Canada safari park
A white lion slips on ice while playing with a plastic drum like a kitten with a ball of yarn, but the big cat quickly regains its footing. The African carnivore has adapted well to Canada’s cold winters. In a neighbouring...
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Monday, February 13, 2012
€2.5m aid for threatened species
Snow leopards, gorillas, cockatoos and frogs are among a list of threatened species to benefit from a €2.4 million aid award, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said. The conservation fund Save Our Species, set up by the IU...
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Monday, February 13, 2012 , by
Nicholas Randall
Microchipping for all dogs
The British government is set to propose a scheme of compulsory microchipping for dogs. Environment minister Lord Taylor said the government would be announcing a package of measures to tackle irresponsible owners “very shortly”. He...
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Sunday, February 12, 2012 , by
Alan Deidun
Slashing through Balzan’s gardens
Hortibus undique septa, Latin for ‘surrounded by gardens’, is the motto proudly emblazoned on Balzan’s insignia. The local council’s website also refers to this legacy, saying “Balzan is well-known for its typical beautiful gardens...
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Saturday, February 11, 2012 , by
Marlowe Hood
Glacier warming is slowing at last
Himalayan glaciers and ice caps that supply water to more than a billion people in Asia are losing mass up to 10 times less quickly than once feared, a study reports. Based on an improved analysis of satellite data from 2003 to 2010, the f...
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Saturday, February 11, 2012
2˚C warming goal is optimistic
French scientists unveiling new estimates for global warming said the 2˚C goal enshrined by the United Nations was the most optimistic scenario left for greenhouse-gas emissions. The estimates, compiled by five scientific institutes, will...
