February 2008 Archives

I don't like this story coming out of South Africa:

"South Africa will reverse a 1995 ban on killing elephants to help control their booming population, the country's top environment official said Monday, drawing instant outrage from animal-rights activists."

Quake shakes Britannia....although it was felt all round the country, it was a relatively average shake compared to tremors felt during other quakes around the world.

The tiger exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo officially re-opens for the first time since the Christmas day attack....rest assured new safety tactics have been implemented so future animal escapes will not happen.
Not a video about the San Francisco Zoo, but one about tiger attacks in Russia

The oldest evidence of human existence in the America's was found in Peru....underneath an already important existing archaeological site.

Your hair is your own personal travel log - researchers in Utah have found that water molecules in a person's hair can be used to identify where people have traveled because of a tendency of differing chemical make-up in water supplies in different regions of the country.

A special airing of Triple Cross: Bin Laden's Spy in America begins at 8p et/pt on Tuesday February 26, 2008

For more information, go to the show's offical site by clicking here.

Greetings everyone. Hope you all had a great president's day holiday weekend. I just wanted to give all the readers out there a big THANK YOU! We recently just passed the one-year anniversary of this space and because of the thousands of comments that we have received from you, the viewers, we have been able to find better stories, provide more compelling videos and most importantly hear what you all think.

The blog has come a long way since our first post and look forward to getting better and better. Keep telling us your ideas, concerns and views so we know what you want to see, hear and read!

THANK YOU READERS!

- Greg

Greg just really likes elephants

Inside The Vietnam War premieres Monday, February 18 at 8p et/pt only on the Nat Geo Channel.

Last month I passed along the trailer page for Six Degrees Could Change the World and by the looks of it many of you checked it out. I thought that I would pass along the next of the films that I am looking forward to called Aftermath: Population Zero.

The film chronicles what would happen to the earth if the human race just vanished from existence and all that we built remained. The film essentially is a timeline of how long all of the skyscrapers, nuclear power plants, and community structures last if abandoned? How would wild and domestic animals fare without us? Aftermath: Population Zero gives us a glimpse to see the impact of human beings by seeing how Earth would adapt without us.

What do you think would happen?

All of us here at the NGC blog hope that you are having a great weekend so far and that tonight's premiere of Six Degrees Could Change the World will add to your enjoyment.

Here is the line-up that NGC's Bloggers hand-picked as their "don't miss-es" of the week.
Click on each image above the title and showtime to preview a clip right from the show.

Every switch we flip, every plug we use and every button we push to turn something on inevitably leads back to a power plant most likely running on fossil fuel -- the coal, oil or natural gas that comes from burning the fossilized remains of prehistoric plants and animals.

Nearly 90 percent of the world's energy consumption is through fossil fuel, which produces carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned.

CO2 rises into the atmosphere and, along with water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone, forms the "greenhouse gases" that float like a dome over the planet, retaining just enough of the sun's reflected energy to maintain temperatures that support life.

As the amounts of those gases increase, they trap more heat and can radically affect the climate all over the planet.

For the last 250 years, "greenhouse emissions" have soared as we find more and more ways to use more and more energy. As the amount of CO2 rises, so does the average temperature all over the planet.

In light of the powerful storms that touched down in Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee over the past couple of days, NG.com has a number of photos from each area that was struck.

Want to know what causes these storms? Check this out.

Or watch the video:

Happy Chinese New Year! Although due to powerful winter storms last week in China, millions were left without power and ways of getting home to their families for the extended holiday.

Here are some ideas to have a greener Valentines Day next week.

Our World Plus 6°C

Our World Plus 5°C

Our World Plus 4°C

Our World Plus 3°C

Our World Plus 2°C

What would happen if the earth's temperature increased by 1°C (1.8°F)? There is no clear way to predict what would occur, but scientific research and climate models indicate some serious changes to out climate. Earth's climate has increased less than a degree of warming, but as researcher/author Mark Lynas outlines in his book "Six Degrees", there are some potentially drastic effects in store for earth's climate.

Our World Plus 1°C