The Aral Sea - A Microcosm of Environmental Action

Along the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is a desert like no other. Amongst the archetypal sand dunes lies a graveyard of ships; a bizarre sight that epitomises the rapid degeneration of an ecosystem. 

The Aral 'Sea' - if it can still be called that - was once the fourth largest lake in the world and of great economic and ecological importance to the area. Its fishing industry employed 40,000 people and its waters were a sanctuary of life amongst the surrounding desert. It was an oasis in ancient times and formed an important point along the Silk Road – the great connecting route between Europe and Asia.  

A Timelapse of Deforestation

The world's first satellite, Sputnik 1, marked the beginning of the space age when it was successfully launched in October 1957. More than 56 years later, there are now over 1000 functioning satellites, collecting and providing a myriad of information and data.

The Landsat Program represents just a few of those satellites but has collected millions of images of Earth in its 40 years of operations. Launched in 1972 by the US, the program has been a continuous eye-in-the-sky ever since, recording and photographing almost every corner of Earth at resolutions of at least 30 metres every 16 days. If you've ever used Google Earth, you've accessed Landsat's vast dataset.

The North Dakota Problem

North Dakota does not have a good environmental record at the moment. Its fossil fuel industry has been established since the 1950s, but recent geological surveys have revealed the vast scale of its oil reserves -  a conservative estimate puts the amount of recoverable oil at 7.4 billion barrels.

The vast Bakken formation in the western part of the US state has seen a significant oil boom in recent years. The rush to tap into this gold mine has left inevitable corner cutting on the part of the oil companies and the environmental cost is quickly becoming apparent.

Humanities Great Carbon Binge

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this week made minor revisions to the amount of CO₂ it believes humans are responsible for emitting since the industrial revolution.

The main changes revise the total amount of carbon emitted since the mid 19th Century down

Could Typhoon Haiyan be the Catalyst for Progress at the UN Climate Talks?

Representatives from every corner of the globe descended on Warsaw today to continue the debate on global climate change. Although no major announcements are expected, the talks begin the long process of agreeing to a new emissions deal expected to be completed in 2015.

Carbon Dioxide - An Essential Ingredient of Life

Life on Earth formed a staggering 3.6 billion years ago. Conditions back then would have been pretty inhospitable to anything composed of more than just a few cells. In fact, that's so long ago that the crust had barely formed, asteroids were still pelting the Earth at an alarming rate and the atmosphere probably had upwards of 250 times more CO₂ than it does today.

Welcome to ClimateReach

Welcome to ClimateReach - a blog dedicated to approaching climate change, the environment and sustainability in an informative and approachable way.