to move up and down
One solution to the melting ice cap: Refreeze it. It wouldn’t even cost that much
A record loss of Arctic sea ice and faster-than-expected melting of Greenland’s ice cap made worldwide headlines in 2012, but research published in major science journals in the fall suggest warming in the North doesn’t have to continue.
We could refreeze the Arctic, proposed a paper in Nature Climate Change. It wouldn’t even cost that much, said an affiliated study in Environmental Research Letters. The question is should we? (AP Photo/Ian Joughin; NASA)
‘I used to wear a pink skirt to work’: The backbreaking inside scoop on tree planting
I used to wear a pink skirt to work. It was polyester, cost me two bucks at a thrift store, did not require regular washing, had a slit up the side and swished and swayed in the breeze.
I spent seven summers planting trees in northeastern Ontario, a time in the wild that taught me many things including a lesson about polyester skirts: on baking hot days they are cooler than pants.
Another thing I learned is that tree planting sucks. It is a backbreaking, foot aching, knee rattling, elbow-jarring hellhole of a way to spend eight weeks. Imagine being dropped in the middle of a clear cut, a blasted and, in some cases, control-burn-blackened landscape, passing your days two steps at a time.
Planting sucks. Oh Lord, how it sucks. But I loved it.
Canadian Sea Shepherd founder arrested in Germany
The Canadian founder of an environmental activist group known for its confrontations with whalers and fishermen has been arrested in Germany for extradition to Costa Rica, where he is wanted for allegedly endangering a fishing boat in 2002, German prosecutors said Monday.
Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was arrested Sunday at Frankfurt Airport on an international arrest warrant issued by Costa Rica, a spokesman for the local prosecutors’ office said.
“He is alleged to have used a ship to intimidate another vessel and put its crew at risk in 2002,” said the spokesman, Guenter Wittig. (Photos: Sea Shepherd Conservation Societ/AFP/Getty Images; Jeff Christensen/The Canadian Press/AP)
![Ex-NASA employees accuse agency of ‘extreme position’ on climate changeA coalition of 49 ex-NASA employees, including seven Apollo astronauts, have accused the U.S. space agency of sullying its reputation by taking the “extreme position” of concluding that carbon dioxide is a major cause of climate change.“We believe the claims by NASA and [the Goddard Institute of Space Science], that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated, especially when considering thousands of years of empirical data,” reads the letter, addressed to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Jr. “We request that NASA refrain from including unproven and unsupported remarks in its future releases and websites on this subject.” (Photo: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/Reuters)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2dbxueEFQ1qze0z6o1_1280.jpg)
Ex-NASA employees accuse agency of ‘extreme position’ on climate change
A coalition of 49 ex-NASA employees, including seven Apollo astronauts, have accused the U.S. space agency of sullying its reputation by taking the “extreme position” of concluding that carbon dioxide is a major cause of climate change.
“We believe the claims by NASA and [the Goddard Institute of Space Science], that man-made carbon dioxide is having a catastrophic impact on global climate change are not substantiated, especially when considering thousands of years of empirical data,” reads the letter, addressed to NASA administrator Charles Bolden, Jr. “We request that NASA refrain from including unproven and unsupported remarks in its future releases and websites on this subject.” (Photo: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/Reuters)
Gary Clement’s Week in Review for Jan. 8 to 14, 2012
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First Lady Michelle Obama : Not an ‘angry black woman’
Canada pulling out of Kyoto accord
“It’s now clear that Kyoto is not the path forward for a global solution to climate change. If anything, it’s an impediment.” Canada will formally withdraw from the Kyoto accord on climate change, Environment Minister Peter Kent said Monday.
Meanwhile NMA-TV, a Taiwan-based company that produces animation based on current news events, put together a different view on Canada’s decision.
Gary Clement’s Week in Review for Dec. 4 to 10, 2011
Peter Kent ‘cautiously optimistic’ about climate deal
New on the market: ‘Casa Kadafi’
EU pact fails to calm investors
Border deal challenge? Convincing Canadians their privacy won’t be invaded, U.S. ambassador says
U.S. drone penetrated 250 km into Islamic-republic airspace: Iran
NASA telescope finds first inhabitable ‘super-Earth’ planet outside our solar system
Daryl Hannah arrested for protesting proposed Canadian oilsands pipeline
Actress Daryl Hannah, famous for her movie roles in Splash and Wall Street, was among dozens of anti-oilsands activists arrested Tuesday at the White House in ongoing “sit in” protests against TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
“Stop the Keystone pipeline,” Hannah shouted as she was being handcuffed by SWAT team officers. “No to the Keystone pipeline.” (Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Photos: Mammals caught in camera traps
The first Global Camera Trap Mammal study done by The Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network (TEAM) has documented 105 species in nearly 52,000 images from seven protected areas across the Americas, Africa and Asia. Time is running out to craft a global plan that will save the world’s rich biodiversity of mammals, a quarter of whose species could be wiped out by habitat loss, hunting, climate change and other threats, biologists warn on August 16, 2011.
Dandelions finally get their day in the sun
After decades of digging up, poisoning, burning and cursing the dandelion, Canada is slowly giving up its struggle against the ubiquitous weeds.
The latest sign the much-maligned yellow flower is regaining respect: Calgarians can now let their front-yard dandelions flourish without fear of getting ticketed.
“There’s no toxicity, there’s no impact on people, pets or ecology and the plants are edible,” says Zella Johnson, store supervisor at GardenWorks, a Victoria, B.C., garden centre. “People just don’t like the look of them.” Plenty of lawns are overrun with non-grass species such as moss or clover, but bright yellow dandelions are simply the most noticeable, says Ms. Johnson. (Philipp Guelland/AFP/Getty Images)
![UN resolution looks to give “Mother Earth” same rights as humansUNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to “dominate and exploit” — to the point that the “wellbeing and existence of many beings” is now threatened.It also establishes a Ministry of Mother Earth, and provides the planet with an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature’s complaints as voiced by activist and other groups, including the state.“If you want to have balance, and you think that the only [entities] who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance?” said Pablo Salon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the UN. “But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and [if you provide] legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance.” (Photo: Getty Images/ThinkStock)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljjvwhTJ0b1qze0z6o1_1280.jpg)
UN resolution looks to give “Mother Earth” same rights as humans
UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.
The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to “dominate and exploit” — to the point that the “wellbeing and existence of many beings” is now threatened.
It also establishes a Ministry of Mother Earth, and provides the planet with an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature’s complaints as voiced by activist and other groups, including the state.
“If you want to have balance, and you think that the only [entities] who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance?” said Pablo Salon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the UN. “But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and [if you provide] legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance.” (Photo: Getty Images/ThinkStock)
Proposed highway could devastate Serengeti National Park
A Canadian scientist who probed controversial plans to build a highway through one of Africa’s ecological jewels — Serengeti National Park — is sounding alarms that the project could devastate the area’s signature wildebeest population and threaten other iconic species in the Tanzanian and Kenyan wilderness.
The proposed 53-kilometre highway, backed by Tanzania’s government, would cut across the northern part of the world-famous nature reserve, potentially isolating about one-third of the vast grassland ecosystem that’s a staple of wildlife documentaries, and which inspired the animated film classic and hit musical The Lion King.
Check out our full visual archive.
Sandwich bag gets boy excluded from class contest
A couple in Laval, Que. has sparked a fierce debate over how far schools should go to teach children about environmental responsibility after their six-year-old son was shut out of a kindergarten draw to win a stuffed animal because he had an environmentally unfriendly sandwich bag in his lunchbox.
Marc-André Lanciault said he hadn’t heard of the school’s draw or any environmental policy until his wife, Isabel Théorêt, was making their son Félix a sandwich and he begged them not to put it in a plastic bag.
“He said, ‘No mommy, you can’t do that. Not a Ziploc,’ ” Mr. Lanciault said.
See all of Gary Clement’s cartoons, check out our full visual archive and, if you like what we do, please recommend us in the news directory.
The week in dead animals: From dead fish in Arkansas to deceased jackdaws in Sweden, there’s been a spate of stories about mass animal deaths.
Updated: Now with crabs!
Updated Jan. 6: More dead fish and birds.
