Some 'Healthy' Vegetable Oils May Actually Increase Risk of Heart Disease

After 4 years of Health Canada’s Food Directorate claiming that polyunsaturated vegetable oils can help prevent heart disease, scientists in Toronto have now discovered that, unlike omega-3 linolenic acids, the omega-6 linolenic acids dominant in vegetable oils do not promote beneficial health effects. In addition, tests have indicated that there is an increase in the risk of death due to this acid. Scientists have thus concluded that people should reduce their intake of vegetable oil, and try to increase the amount of omega-3 linolenic acid in their diet.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131111122105.htm

A Jolt to Complacency on Food Supply

There is nothing more threatening to the world’s supply of food than climate change. A leaked report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a UN committee, stressed a concern of warnings about the risk of food supply due to an increase in temperatures and in carbon dioxide. At first, many of these studies have indicated the rise in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is a main component of climate change, would be offset by the crops that intake the gas. However, new studies have shown that the plant intake of carbon dioxide is not enough to offset the high concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Further, studies in Stanford and Columbia have shown that the rising heat is slowing down production, questioning the future of crop growth. A dearth of vital food could put the world at risk of a dangerous famine, and lead to uncontrollable riots.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/science/earth/warning-on-global-food-supply.html?ref=science

Do dams bring more harm or more good?

In efforts to generate cleaner and more environmentally friendly energy, China has been constructing multiple dams on its rivers. While China believes this will limit pollution, control floods, and minimize climate change, scientists beg to differ. These environmentalists argue that the dams are blocking the free flow of rivers, and destroying the ecology. However, China continues to build an excessive amount of dams despite protests from environmentalists, and these dams could lead to higher risks of earthquakes due to the dam’s flow through the geologically unstable region off the Tibetan Plateau.

Source: http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/46634