News Mash-up: Humans and the Environment

レアジョブ英会話 Daily News Article Podcast

Humans harming sea life with noise pollution Far beneath the ocean surface, a cacophony of industrial noise is disrupting marine animals’ ability to mate, feed and even evade predators, scientists warn. With rumbling ships, hammering oil drills and booming seismic survey blasts, humans have drastically altered the underwater soundscape — in some cases deafening or disorienting whales, dolphins and other marine mammals that rely on sound to navigate, researchers report in a metastudy published Feb. 5 by the journal Science. These noises and their impacts need more attention from scientists and policymakers, the study says. (Reuters) Only 3% of Earth’s land untouched by humans Very little of today’s world resembles planet Earth from 500 years ago. In fact, only about 3% of land surfaces might be ecologically intact — still home to their full range of native species and unblemished by human activity, according to new research. The finding — published April 15 in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change — is far lower than previous estimates based on satellite images, which suggested around 20% to 40% of land ecosystems were undamaged. For the new study, however, scientists conducted an extensive survey of forest cover and species losses to understand better what was happening beneath the world’s tree canopies. (Reuters) These articles were provided by The Japan Times Alpha.