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Swimmers who dive into any number of Canadian lakes might not emerge clean and refreshed, but dripping with globs that resemble slimy fish eggs. A legacy of industrial pollution has caused great changes in the country's water chemistry, creating a boom in tiny organisms that transform lakes into "jelly." That's the gooey news from scientists behind a new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, who say that populations of this particular organism have doubled since the 1980s in many of Ontario's lakes. The reasons involve a complex dance of species, but here's the short version: Acid rain caused...

It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed. Life was nearly wiped out 250 million years ago, with only 10 per cent of plants and animals surviving. It is currently much debated how life recovered from this cataclysm, whether quickly or slowly. Recent evidence for a rapid bounce-back is evaluated in a new review article by Dr Zhong-Qiang Chen, from the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, and Professor Michael Benton from the University of Bristol. They find that recovery from the crisis lasted some 10...

Interview of the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney in Palm Beach, Fla., conducted by Tasha Kheiriddin on Feb 1, 2011. ---- Q: By 1984, the year you were elected, the relationship between Canada and the United States had become frosty, to put it politely. How did you set about to change that? The first time I met Ronald Reagan was in June 1984, when I was leader of the opposition. I met him for 45 minutes in the Oval Office, and he was very impressive. He had a very good command of the Canadian files that I raised, everything from acid...

While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president. In 2000 and 2001, while Barack Obama served as a board member for a Chicago-based charitable foundation, he helped to fund a pioneering carbon trading exchange that is likely to fill a critical role in the controversial cap-and-trade carbon reduction scheme that President Obama is now trying to push rapidly through Congress. During those two years, the Joyce Foundation gave nearly...

STONY POINT, N.Y., May 10 — Four years ago, a company that owns two local power plants settled a lawsuit with New York State by agreeing to install $100 million worth of pollution control technology at one of them, its coal-fired plant here, or shut it down. At the time, the company, Mirant New York, said it would move forward with the upgrades at its Lovett plant. But on Thursday, state officials announced a different outcome. In a news conference here, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo said the state was forcing the plant to close after Mirant failed to reduce...

When did "Climate Change" replace "Global Warming"?So the Democrats in Congress are taking up "climate change". I must've heard that phrase "climate change" a dozen times in the news reports, but I don't think I heard the phrase "global warming" a single time. Are the liberals so afraid of the reaction to the phrase "global warming" that they are now shying away from it? When did this happen? Did I miss the memo?

One-third of China's vast landmass is suffering from acid rain caused by rapid industrial growth and the failure of local governments to enforce environmental standards for fear of hurting business, a new report shows. China's factories last year spewed out 25.5 million tons of sulfur dioxide - the chemical that causes acid rain - a 27 percent increase from 2000, said Sheng Huaren, deputy chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

One of China's lesser-known exports is a dangerous brew of soot, toxic chemicals and climate-changing gases from the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants.In early April, a dense cloud of pollutants over Northern China sailed to nearby Seoul, sweeping along dust and desert sand before wafting across the Pacific.The increase in global-warming gases from China's coal use will probably exceed that for all industrialized countries combined over the next 25 years, surpassing by five times the reduction in such emissions that the Kyoto Protocol seeks.Already, China uses more coal than the United States, the European Union and Japan combined. And it...

Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA) December 22, 1983, Thursday, The Midwestern Edition SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 4 LENGTH: 679 words HEADLINE: Dialogue, but not much action, ahead on acid-rain issue BYLINE: By Robert Kilbom Jr., Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor DATELINE: Boston BODY: It seemed fitting that a light drizzle fell on already sodden Boston as environmental activists staged a decoration ceremony for the "national acid rain Christmas tree" at the Massachusetts State House last week. The tree, a dead 20-foot spruce taken from a New Hampshire forest, was on its way to Washington, where its sponsors hoped it...

Acid rain restricts global warming by reducing methane emissions from natural wetland areas, suggests a global climate study. Acid rain is the result of industrial pollution, which causes rainwater to carry small quantities of acidic compounds such as sulphuric and nitric acid. Contaminated rainwater can upset rivers and lakes, killing fish and other organisms and also damage plants, trees and buildings. But the new study shows that sulphur in acid rain, may have benefits, limiting global warming by counteracting the natural production of methane gases by microbes in wetland areas. Methane is thought to account for 22 percent of the...

Goofy Movie Is No Concern For Conservatives 2004-06-04 By Mark Green WASHINGTON -- Conservatives are a nervous bunch. When they get together to talk issues, often there's a sky-is-falling quality to the discussion. That's the way it was a couple of weeks ago at a gathering of red-meat, grass-roots types. Along with discussion of the goings-on in Congress and United States policy in Iraq, there was alarm over the summer blockbuster disaster film, "The Day After Tomorrow." The movie stars Dennis Quaid as an eccentric scientist whose global warming warnings get blown off by government officials -- most notably the...

Electrical outlets had barely cooled Thursday night when New York Sen. Hillary Clinton took to the airwaves to blame the Bush administration for causing the nation's worst blackout ever. Given her outraged tones, however, one would never know that she's been a leader in opposing energy independence for New York State, preferring instead to champion environmental cause celebs like fighting acid rain and closing the Indian Point nuclear plant. At times Sen. Clinton's rhetoric bordered on the hysterical as she fought to make it more difficult for energy suppliers to meet New Yorkers' growing demand for their product. Last year,...

Acid Rain Program Brings Improvements WASHINGTON, DC, February 3, 2003 (ENS) - The federal Clean Air Act of 1990 appears to be successful in reducing two major types of air pollutants that contribute to acid rain. Acid rain includes both wet deposition through rain, snow and fog, and dry deposition through gases and particles of sulfate. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a report documenting the success of the agency's Acid Rain Program in reducing acid rain in sensitive ecosystems of the United States. The Acid Rain Program is a market based cap and trade program that...