credit: Evadb, Jiron

What’s the most important urgent problem facing whales? Chris Reddy (2006) offers advice to Paul Watson, whose organization, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has been waging a direct action campaign against whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.

Independent experts will review the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to see why factual errors fell through the panel's own review processes. Chris Field (2000), the leader of the panel's next report, expects either "a major scientific society or a coalition of National Academies of Science" to head the review. The IPCC and the U.N. Environment Programme jointly requested the review.

photo: Joseph O'Brien

Planting forests and restoring prairies won't offset carbon dioxide emissions enough to be effective, according to a new study co-authored by Sarah Hobbie (2008). Even in the 11-state Upper Midwest, with its "relatively modest" emissions, converting 10% of croplands to forests and grasslands would offset less than 5% of carbon dioxide emissions for the region. Read the press release for more details.

photo: Mikhail Rogov

The future of coral reefs, the cores of some of the world's richest ecosystems, looks grim, according to findings presented at a symposium entitled "Will coral reefs disappear?" and organized by Joan Kleypas (2008). One study, led by Simon Donner (2009), found that even if emissions stopped rising today, deadly bleaching of coral reefs would still become "dangerously frequent."

Photo courtesy of Roz Naylor

Rosamond Naylor (2000) has been working with the Ocean Conservancy's George Leonard and others to promote a new federal bill for offshore aquaculture that would prevent widespread environmental damage to marine ecosystems, increase producer liability, and provide incentives for responsible aquaculture. Read the Feb. 15 op-ed by Naylor and Leonard in the Los Angeles Times in support of the National Sustainable Offshore Aquaculture Act.

photo: NASA

While previous climate change models haven't taken into account human attempts to address climate change, a report led by Richard Moss (2001) describes a model that would do just that. The processes described by the report would let researchers compare various scenarios integrating human factors, including governmental policies, population and economic growth, and technological change. Read the press release for more details.