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More than halfway through the games, a rarity for Beijing: a breath of fresh air
Jim Yardley, New York Times
BEIJING – Days before the opening ceremony, the Olympic Games seemed beset with problems, none potentially more worrisome than air quality. Pollution levels remained high, despite government edicts that had removed two million vehicles from city streets and shut down factories.
But now, more than halfway through, the Games are operating smoothly and pollution levels have remained low. Friday and Saturday brought two of the clearest summer days in recent memory in Beijing, with minuscule pollution levels for a city where air quality often ranks among the worst in the world.
(17 August 2008)
Coal’s toxic legacy to the Arctic
Richard Black, BBC Online
Coal burning in western Europe and North America has been a prime source of heavy metal pollution in the Arctic.
Scientists plotted levels of thallium, cadmium and lead in a Greenland ice core and linked them to other chemicals indicating coal as the main origin.
Clean air legislation has reduced the heavy metal load in recent years.
But writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the team says increased coal burning in Asia may see levels of the metals rise.
These substances accumulate in the bodies of plants and animals living in the region, including whales, polar bears and caribou.
Some Arctic people also carry high levels of the heavy metals, which can cause a number of medical conditions, in their bodies.
(18 August 2008)
Birds can’t keep up with climate change: study
Agence France Presse
The habitats of wild bird species are shifting in response to global warming, but not fast enough to keep pace with rising temperatures, according to a study released Wednesday.
Researchers in France also found that the delicate balance of wildlife in different ecosystems is changing up to eight times more quickly than previously suspected, with potentially severe consequences for some species.
“The flora and fauna around us are shifting over time due to climate change,” said lead author Victor Devictor, a researcher at the French National Museum of Natural History.
“The result is desynchronisation. If birds and the insects upon which they depend do not react in the same way, we are headed for an upheaval in the interaction between species,” he explained in a telephone interview.
(19 August 2008)
