A study of global temperatures over the past 2,000 years has lent fresh weight to the so-called hockey stick graph which suggests that humans caused global warming.

The graph, first published in the late 1990s by US palaeoclimatologist Professor Michael Mann and colleagues, shows temperatures stayed roughly flat for about 900 years, like the handle of the hockey stick laid down, before rising sharply upwards in the 20th century, like the blade, after the industrial revolution prompted a rise in fossil fuel emissions.

New technologies for monitoring biodiversity

Thursday 16 and Friday 17 May 2013 -  ZSL Symposium

Organised by: Jonathan Baillie, Zoological Society of London; Kate Jones, University College London and Zoological Society of London; Margaret Kinnaird, Wildlife Conservation Society; Tim O'Brien, Wildlife Conservation Society and Marcus Rowcliffe, Zoological Society of London

Biodiversity monitoring provides the essential information on which conservation action is based. Consistent, cost-effective implementation of monitoring is a major challenge, but capacity is developing rapidly through innovative use of technology, providing exciting opportunities for better and more affordable information on the best state of the world's wildlife. These technologies are based around the deployment of autonomous sensors to gather information in ways that human observers cannot: at larger scales, over longer periods, and in more inaccessible places, and including satellite, aerial, ground based and underwater applications.

Two May Courses available due to late drop-outs!

1) Wildlife Camera Operator Course 3-5 May 2013

This weekend introduces the latest technology and camera systems for those who may upgrade their equipment in the future or have yet to buy a camcorder. The knowledge gained will help you choose and use the right gear for your purposes and will save you wasting money on unnecessary or inappropriate technology. The Creative Camerawork element will help you improve your techniques under expert instruction. Shoot and process 3D with compact GoPro cameras and get hands on experience of aerial filmmaking with lightweight small unmanned aircraft - we are the only wildlife film-making course taking you to new heights!

The winner of this year's Eco-Comedy Video Competition—and a $1,000 prize from the Sierra Club—is Craig Schattner with his humorous take on A Brief History of the 5-cent Bag Tax.


I invite you to take a look at Craig’s winning video, as well as the runners-up, on the competition's website.

Good news for fans of planet Earth: hole in the ozone layer may be healing.

By Linda Marsa, Discover

Good news for fans of planet Earth: The seasonal hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica was at its second-smallest point in the past 20 years, according to new research from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Could this be the first real sign that the ozone layer is recovering after decades of destruction?

Wild Pages - The Wildlife Film-makers' Resource Guide 2012-13
Edited by Jason Peters and Piers Warren

An essential piece of kit!
All the best bits from a festival directory without the expense of actually going to one, and much more!

• A complete tool-kit of information for all wildlife film-makers - established and newcomers
• Listings of wildlife production companies, footage libraries, distributors, broadcasters, location managers/fixers, film festivals, organisations, publications, freelancers and more, with contact details, web-links and descriptions
• Including answers to those all-important questions such as whether companies take people on work experience or consider co-productions, how to submit proposals etc.
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The climate may be heating up less in response to greenhouse-gas emissions than was once thought. But that does not mean the problem is going away

OVER the past 15 years air temperatures at the Earth's surface have been flat while greenhouse-gas emissions have continued to soar. The world added roughly 100 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2010. That is about a quarter of all the CO₂ put there by humanity since 1750. And yet, as James Hansen, the head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, observes, "the five-year mean global temperature has been flat for a decade."

Temperatures fluctuate over short periods, but this lack of new warming is a surprise. Ed Hawkins, of the University of Reading, in Britain, points out that surface temperatures since 2005 are already at the low end of the range of projections derived from 20 climate models (see chart 1). If they remain flat, they will fall outside the models' range within a few years.