The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia

Displaying items by tag: bbc environmental reporting

Arctic 3Polar bears on Wrangel Island, Russia. As the sea ice melts each summer, more than 1,000 bears come to Wrangel to wait for the return of the sea ice. It's the largest concentration of polar bears on Earth. BBC Studios via Tennessee Aquarium

Learn how the Arctic still thrives in the face of existential climate threats in new IMAX film

Doug Strickland is a writer for the Tennessee Aquarium.

CHATTANOOGA — At first glance, the Arctic seems an impossibly inhospitable place, a frigid wasteland of extremes in which nothing can survive.

Only one-quarter of this vast polar region at the top of the world is made up of land. The rest is comprised of a glacially cold ocean capped by vast stretches of ice. 

Despite its harsh conditions, life has found a way to endure — and even thrive — in the Arctic. Audiences will meet just a few of the Arctic’s charismatic residents on Jan. 11, 2024 when the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater debuts a new giant-screen film, Arctic 3D: Our Frozen Planet

Published in News

Amazon rainforestNASA

BBC: There are 14 percent more tree species than supposed

Nearly 9,000 global tree species haven’t been identified, based on a database that analyzed millions of trees within 100,000 forest segments around the Earth.

Of the 73,300 estimated tree species, the researchers predict there are 9,200 yet to be discovered. Most of the undiscovered and rare species are believed to be in beleaguered tropical rainforests, such as those in the Amazon or Central Africa.

“The researchers used statistical techniques to predict the likely number of tree species, correcting for gaps in existing data,” the BBC reported.

“The findings suggest more must be done to protect the incredible life forms needed for food, timber and medicine and to fight climate change by sucking carbon dioxide from the air.”

Published in Feedbag