Biodiversity is declining more quickly within key protected areas than outside them, according to research that scientists say is a “wake-up call” to global leaders discussing how to stop nature loss at the UN’s Cop16 talks in Colombia. Protecting 30% of land and water for nature by 2030 was one of the key targets settled…
Today the perilous state of the environment is often in the news. Many stories describe how Earth is being damaged by human beings and discuss ways to prevent this. These concerns are not new. Millennia ago, people in ancient Greece and Rome already knew humans were damaging the natural world. Literature from these ancient times…
Tiina Sanila-Aikio cannot remember a summer this warm. The months of midnight sun around Inari, in Finnish Lapland, have been hot and dry. Conifer needles on the branch-tips are orange when they should be a deep green. The moss on the forest floor, usually swollen with water, has withered. “I have spoken with many old…
Exported gas emits far more greenhouse gas emissions than coal, despite fossil-fuel industry claims it is a cleaner alternative, according to a major new research paper that challenges the controversial yet rapid expansion of gas exports from the US to Europe and Asia. Coal is the dirtiest of fossil fuels when combusted for energy, with…
Science It radically shifted the way the world looked at the environment, but created a wave of misinformation we’re still dealing with today. In one of my all-time favorite Parks and Recreation episodes, Leslie Knope excitedly tells the camera that the city of Pawnee will finally get fluoride in their water thanks to a merger…
After nearly a quarter of a century observing one of the world’s most famous sea turtle nesting grounds, Charikleia Minotou is convinced of one thing: nature, she says, has a way of “sending messages”. Along the sandy shores of Sekania, on the Ionian island of Zakynthos, what she has seen both this year and last,…
The paper addresses the extent to which travelers’ relations, local literary sources and scattered journalistic impressions provide information as to the aspect and composition of past landscapes in the island of Lesvos. Vernicos, N. Presentation at a meeting held at the Orthodox Academy, Kolymbari,Crete. on 20-22 April 1990 as part of a European Community project…
Greece could reap some 2 billion euros ($2.21 billion) annually and create 15,000 jobs if it used lands in the European Union’s Natura program for tourism although they are protected by law, a study by the think tank DiaNEOSIS has found. Some 25 percent of the country’s area is included and the report said developing…
Honey production in Greece is expected to fall by up to 90% this year, according to public broadcaster ERT. Reports indicate a 40-50% decrease in production compared to last year, with regions like Crete experiencing reductions of 80-90%. Varieties such as flower and pine honey may become scarce. The shortage is attributed to climate change,…