The GLOBE Program

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment.

Ecuador's Amazonians sue Chevron over poison waterways

Tens of thousands of Ecuadoreans living in the Amazon rainforest are suing Chevron, the US oil company, for poisoning their waterways in what is billed as one of the biggest environmental lawsuits in history

Department of Crop and Soil Sciences

The Department of Crop and Soil Sciences consists of three major program areas: Crop Science, Soil Science, and Environmental Information Science. Our programmatic focus is on plant and soil systems with the aim of promoting productive and sustainable land use practices on regional, national, and international scales. Our main thematic areas focus on food production systems, sustainable agroecosystem management, and linkages between agriculture and environmental change.

Over 100 icebergs drifting to N.Zealand: official


More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.
More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.
An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and were heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast.
Scientist Neal Young said more than 100 icebergs -- some measuring more than 200 metres (650 feet) across -- were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more....

Cutting greenhouse pollutants could directly save millions of lives worldwide

Analyses show global health benefits from cutting ozone and black carbon
Tackling climate change by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions will have major direct health benefits in addition to reducing the risk of climate change, especially in low-income countries, according to a series of six papers appearing today (Wed., Nov. 25) in the British journal The Lancet.
Two University of California, Berkeley, authors of the papers - Kirk R. Smith, professor of global environmental health, and Michael Jerrett, associate professor of environmental health sciences - will discuss the results today at an 11:30 a.m. EST press conference in Washington, D.C.
The press conference also will include Carol Browner, director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, and Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and National Toxicology Program. United Kingdom coauthors will be patched in via satellite from London, where they also will be holding a press conference.
The studies, three of them coauthored by Smith and one coauthored by Jerrett, use case studies to demonstrate the co-benefits of tackling climate change in four sectors: electricity generation, household energy use, transportation, and food and agriculture.
"Policymakers need to know that if they exert their efforts in certain directions, they can obtain important public health benefits as well as climate benefits," said Smith, who was the principal investigator in the United States for the overall research effort. "Climate change threatens us all, but its impact will likely be greatest on the poorest communities in every country. Thus, it has been called the most regressive tax in human history. Carefully choosing how we reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have the added benefit of reducing global health inequities."...