All articles
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Human Repercussion
Whales historically dominated the world's oceans, but they have suffered tremendously in the last hundred years. It is estimated, that, due to harvesting in the last century, nearly 3 million cetaceans have been wiped out by whaling fleets.
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Life choices, and hopes for the future
Blog post by Andreas Widlund on board the Polar Pioneer My name is Andreas Widlund. I am 27 years old, and I grew up in Umeå in the Northern part of Sweden. As you read this, I will have boarded Shell’s oil rig, Polar Pioneer, that is on the way to the Arctic to drill…
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Why do the Marshall Islands serve the oil companies who drown us?
We have just seen the destruction caused by violent cyclone in Vanuatu. This is what climate change will bring us: storm surge, sea-level rise, polluted water supplies, and more extreme weather events such as droughts and tropical cyclones. Majuro Attoll, Marshall islands, affected by sea level rise due to climate change. Accession #: 0.99.481.001.03|Majuro Attoll,…
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Tackling deforestation – it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it
Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) had a history of greenwashing – remember its former Rainforest Realities website? | To address concerns of its stakeholders and customers, APP asked independent auditors Rainforest Alliance to spend several months in the field to see how it was really doing against its Forest Conservation Policy – warts and…
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16 breathtaking photos of wetlands around the world
It's World Wetlands Day! Today marks the 44th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (otherwise known as the Ramsar Convention).
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Tropical deforestation is bad news – the science keeps telling us
Deforestation is very bad news for the environment and for the climate. Deforestation is very bad news for the environment and for the climate. It is bad news for biodiversity and releases greenhouses gases into the atmosphere – we know that. But the science is increasingly certain that deforestation is bad for agriculture too. It…
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Nature does not negotiate: climate catastrophe is with us now!
As Typhoon Hagupit hits the Philippines, one of the biggest peacetime evacuations in history has been launched to prevent a repeat of the massive loss of life which devastated communities when Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the same area just over a year ago. “One of the biggest evacuations in peacetime” strikes a sickening chord.…
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Super seiners vs fishermen: How a nation dependant on fishing is being devastated by boats
We usually refer to them as Pacific Island nations, but calling places like Kiribati ocean nations is more accurate. The people of Kiribati are not just surrounded by oceans – they depend on healthy oceans for survival. Kiribati forms one of the biggest exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the world and boasts one of…
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For the oceans – every week is Shark Week!
‘Shark’: it’s an evocative and symbolic single syllable. Just the sound of the word conjures up a host of associated images, usually to do with menacing fins, teeth, and a certain cinematic soundtrack. Sharks have been around on earth much longer than us, and play vital roles in keeping oceans healthy. There are lots of…