Zooplankton under serious threat from climate change
Reading Time: 3 minutesBY DR NURUL HUDA AHMAD ISHAK RISING temperatures pose a high risk to marine and coastal ecosystems. This is a well-recognised fact. More than half of the world’s marine species may be now standing on the brink of extinction by 2100. The climate and ocean are closely linked. When oceans get hotter, they can hold more […]
Higher temperatures make it difficult for fig tree pollinators
Reading Time: 2 minutesRESEARCHERS from Uppsala University and elsewhere have been studying the effect of rising temperatures on the lifespan of pollinating fig wasps. The findings show that the wasps lived much shorter lives at high temperatures, which would make it difficult for them to travel the long distances between the trees they pollinate. Fig trees are very important […]
Risk of multiple climate tipping points escalates above 1.5°C global warming
Reading Time: 3 minutesMULTIPLE climate tipping points could be triggered if global temperature rises beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to a major new analysis published in the journal Science. Even at current levels of global heating the world is already at risk of passing five dangerous climate tipping points, and risks increase with each tenth of a degree […]
Heat and humidity, the life-threatening twins
Reading Time: 2 minutesWITH the rising effects of climate change, heat waves have become more severe and intolerable around the world, posing dangerous health issues such as heat exhaustion, heat strokes, severe dehydration, and heat cramps which could even be fatal. Many places around the world have registered record-breaking high temperatures this year such as India, the UK, […]
From food scraps to fine dining cuisines
Reading Time: 3 minutesAT a recent US Soybean Export Council (USSEC) conference in Singapore, international delegates were feasting on “food scraps” during one of the official dinners. Eggshells, soy by-products from tofu processing, coconut chaff, and fruit peels were just some of the “food scraps”. None complained, cringed, or were even skeptical. In fact, everyone was full of […]
Upfront with BBC’s Frozen Planet II
Reading Time: 8 minutes Life on thin ice with a mix of wonder, fun, and a blunt lesson on climate change FOR people living remotely away from the large expanses of land in the Arctic and Antarctica, the tundra regions may seem nothing more than bare white plains and peaks, so unvaried and humdrum. But Frozen Planet II […]
Reducing emissions in Malaysia – Methane as a Policy Priority?
Reading Time: 3 minutesReducing emissions in Malaysia – Methane as a Policy Priority? BY YONG JIE WONG, MATTHEW ASHFOLD & HELENA VARKKEY THE climate clock is ticking, and our time is running out. Failure to take the steps needed in the next few years to limit global warming to 1.5°C will push the world further into cascading and irreversible climate effects on the […]
Soil – the neglected gold
Reading Time: 4 minutes“IT takes close to 200 years to form one cm of soil in the tropics and the process is even slower in the temperate regions,” says Dr Jeyanny Vijayanathan, a soil scientist at Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). Jeyanny who advocates environmental awareness says: “We cannot reverse soil erosion that is happening for centuries now, […]
Climate change vs air pollution: Two sides of a coin
Reading Time: 3 minutesAIR POLLUTION is considered to be one of the largest factors contributing to climate change. We are unenlightened that conversely – as climate change also causes air pollution and both can be portrayed as two sides of a coin. Associate Professor Dr Yusri Yusup, an atmospheric physicist from the field of Environmental Technology based in […]
Why Methane Matters?
Reading Time: 2 minutesTWO new signs of large natural methane gas leakages, which scientists on the spot are ascribing to warming conditions, underline the urgency of ensuring that human activity does not further increase the problem by pushing average global temperatures even higher. Researchers from Stockholm University on the icebreaker Oden in the Arctic Ocean reported from the site that “vast […]