Valid excuse
even small increases in the levels of air pollutant ozone may have an adverse effect on the health of children, causing them to miss school, a new report suggests. "We detected ill health effects in school children because of levels well below the current air quality standard for allowable …
Boiling point
for the first time, in an unequivocal verdict, scientists have held human activities responsible for most of the warming of the Earth's atmosphere over the last 50 years. Latest assessment of scientific studies of climate change by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) predicts that such actions …
Meltdown!
ice in the Pine Island Glacier, which lies in the Antarctic Ice sheet is melting and raising the sea level. This is the first evidence of glacial melting raising the sea levels. "In terms of ice discharge, this is nothing like anyone has seen before,' says Andrew Shepherd, researcher at …
CHEAP DEAL
Two Norwegian companiesTree Farms and Norwegian Afforestation Groupare leasing several thousand hectares of land in east Africa from the respective governments to plant trees and make profits through sale of credits based on carbon dioxide stored in the plantations to industrialised countries.
The companies lease the areas for a 50-year …
The companies lease the areas for a 50-year …
Never again
China's Haicheng earthquake on February 5, 1975 is the only earthquake that was accurately predicted. The earthquake measuring 7.3 on Richter scale was predicted on the basis of observations of change in land elevation and groundwater levels. Study of animal behaviours prior to the earthquake was a part of the …
Capital shock
Delhi will be flattened within a few seconds, even if an earthquake strikes the Himalaya. Being on the Delhi-Haridwar ridge and in seismic IV zone, earthquakes of the magnitude 5-6 on the Richter scale can visit the region often and those with the magnitude of 6-8, can happen occasionally. According …
Republic quaked
There cannot be a bigger irony. As the nation was preparing to smugly display its military might and scientific prowess on Republic Day, a mighty earthquake flattened a large part of Gujarat. The quake, however, did not quite shake the ruling elite, who till afternoon participated in the long …
Declared arrival
| Stage | How an earthquake develops | What symptoms does it leave behind for study and observation |
| I | In the first stage of an earthquake, the two sides of a fault move. Elastic strain slowly builds up in the rocks as a result … |
Science of sinks
The science governing the complex issue of sinks is quite simple. Any system that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is a sink. The oceans and terrestrial ecosystems like vegetation and soils form two different types of natural sinks. The processes of photosynthesisrespiration and decomposition control the carbon cycle in …
Articles of contention
The Kyoto Protocol obliges industrialised countries to cut their overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 5 per cent below 1990 levels in the period 2008-2012. Several provisions are laid out to achieve these reductions.
Article 3.3 of the protocol allows countries to get credits for reducing carbon dioxide concentrations …