Air quality is a major challenge globally and is the single greatest environmental risk to human health. More than 90 per cent of the world’s population lives in areas that exceed the World Health Organization guideline for healthy air. In North America, Canada and the United States of America have …
Canada, heavily criticized for its environmental record, unveiled long-delayed regulations on Friday that aim to make big trucks and buses up to 23 percent less polluting by 2018. The greenhouse-gas emissions rules - designed to fit with measures already set in the United States - will come into effect starting …
Although Canada's output of greenhouse gases was almost unchanged in 2010 from 2009, the major oil producer will find it tough to meet its 2020 emissions-cut target, government figures signaled on Wednesday. Conservative government officials hailed the data, which showed emissions in Canada rose by just 0.25 percent in 2010 …
Symptoms of a mysterious disease that has killed scores of seals off Alaska and infected walruses are now showing up in polar bears, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said on Friday. Nine polar bears from the Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found with patchy hair loss and oozing sores …
Countries of the Far North are set to be the new players in the emerging Arctic frontier. The polar ice cap is melting at much faster rates than previously predicted, and may be completely ice free by the summer of 2040 or sooner. There are vast untapped resources in the …
Dutch elm disease is a terrible affliction that destroyed elm trees throughout North America and Europe. It is a fungal infection that is spread by the elm bark beetle. It is believed to originate from feline feces in Asia. Unequipped to handle the invading pathogen, the disease devastated massive populations …
A disease that has killed millions of bats across 16 states and Canada has been found in Missouri, marking its advent west of the Mississippi River and spelling possible trouble for agriculture in the region, officials said Monday. The disease, white nose syndrome has, been confirmed in three bats in …
Increases in thermal variability elevate metabolic rate due to Jensen's inequality, and increased metabolic rate decreases the fitness of dormant ectotherms by increasing consumption of stored energy reserves. Theory predicts that ectotherms should respond to increased thermal variability by lowering the thermal sensitivity of metabolism, which will reduce the impact …
Expanding cities threaten to eat up a swath of land the size of France, Germany and Spain combined in less than 20 years, putting the world under even more environmental pressure, experts said at a climate conference on Tuesday. Cities are growing to accommodate a rising global population and as …
We quantified the wholesale transformation of the boreal landscape by open-pit oil sands mining in Alberta, Canada to evaluate its effect on carbon storage and sequestration. Contrary to claims made in the media, peatland destroyed by open-pit mining will not be restored. Current plans dictate its replacement with upland forest …
New Delhi For the first time, New Delhi is looking to the North American continent to secure its energy needs. India has started talks to import natural gas from Canada, the world’s third-largest producer which is facing falling demand from the US, where a shale gas bounty has brought self …
The hill state of Himachal Pradesh known for its scenic beauty has emerged as one of the popular destination to foreign tourists, mainly form the US, UK, France and Australia with the state recording the arrival of nearly five lakh tourists from these countries last year. Since foreigners love adventure …
India is the second largest source of global migrants after Mexico and is the ninth top destination for all migrants, a new report said today. According to a study released by the Pew Research Center, over 77 million migrants, or about 36 per cent of the worldwide total, have come …
Canada heaves sigh of relief. The European Union’s plan to rank oil extracted from tar sands as highly polluting hit a roadblock as its fuel quality directive committee (a group of experts) could not reach a unanimous decision in the voting held on February 23. The oil extracted from tar …
Keystone XL is becoming the project that refuses to die: TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline, has said it plans to build the southern half of the pipeline while it waits to determine a new route for the northern section. The company does not need approval from the State Department, …
With his re-election fate increasingly tied to the price Americans are paying at the gas pump, President Obama asked Congress on Thursday to end $4 billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies and vowed to tackle the country’s long-term energy issues while shunning “phony election-year promises about lower gas …
A controversial EU plan to label oil originating from oil sands deposits, like those found in the Canadian province of Alberta, as “highly polluting” has been temporarily put on hold, after an EU committee failed to make a definite decision on the matter.
India has made rapid strides in cotton production ever since adopting the genetically modified technology 10 years ago. It has also helped the country emerge as a key supplier of the natural fibre to the global market, especially China. However, the large-scale adoption of genetically modified technology is causing concern …
Smokers can greatly cut down the risk of disease and death by replacing cigarettes with their smokeless version. They provide a much safer alternative to smokers, because they continue to deliver nicotine without the harmful effect of smoking, says Brad Rodu, professor of medicine from the University of Louisville (UofL), …
The House of Representatives passed an energy bill on Thursday that would wrest control of a permit for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline away from President Barack Obama, who has put the project on hold. The bill, part of a broader House Republican effort to fund highways and infrastructure …
