2010 2011 By Matt Dietrichson16 February 2012 About 5.6 million trees in cities and towns across Texas were killed by last year’s record-setting drought, the Texas Forest Service has estimated after studying before-and-after satellite imagery. This “dramatic” toll on the state’s urban forest is “a slow-moving disaster, not like a hurricane or ice storm,” […]
By Barry Bickmore 22 February 2012 The Wall Street Journal posted yet another op-ed by 16 scientists and engineers, which even include a few climate scientists(!). Here is the editor’s note to explain the context. Editor’s Note: The authors of the following letter, listed below, are also the signatories of “No Need to Panic About […]
By Brad Plumer23 February 2012 One revelation from the recent Heartland Institute document leak is that the group is crafting a K-12 curriculum to teach kids that global warming is “controversial.” Heartland officials have confirmed this. So is climate change set to join evolution as the next big classroom controversy? Things do seem to be […]
By Jake Adelstein21 February 201 On 11 March 2011, at 2:46pm, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan. The earthquake, followed by a colossal tsunami, devastated the nation, together killing over 10,000 people. The earthquake also triggered the start of a triple nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power Company […]
By Matthew Tresaugue and Mike Glenn23 February 2012 Rice growers have come to expect certain things from the coastal plain near Matagorda Bay: sun, rich soil and abundant water. But after the driest year on record in Texas, the farmers might be without water for the first time. The Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages […]
Media Contacts: Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov Greg Hand, University of Cincinnati, (513) 556-1822, handgl@ucmail.uc.edu 3 February 2012 The deadliest mass extinction of all took a long time to kill 90 percent of Earth’s marine life–and it killed in stages–according to a newly published report. It shows that mass extinctions need not be sudden […]
23 February 2012 (AFP) – The collapse of the Mayan civilization was likely due to a relatively mild drought, much like the drier conditions expected in the coming years due to climate change, scientists said Thursday. Scholars have long believed that a major drought caused severe dry conditions that killed off the ancient culture known […]
There’s a common saying in Appalachia: what we do to the land, we do to the people. Recently, 21 peer-reviewed scientific studies have confirmed the truth of those words. Not only has mountaintop removal permanently destroyed more than 500 Appalachian mountains, but people living near the destruction are 50% more likely to die of cancer […]
By Chris Meyers and Elaine Lies; Editing by Robert Birsel22 February 2012 RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (Reuters) – Very little was left standing in the Japanese city of Rikuzentakata after a huge tsunami tore through nearly a year ago. Even the centuries-old pine forest by the sea that had long been a symbol of the city was […]
By Mark Lobel, BBC News22 February 2012 A gas-fuelled fire, with flames as high as 5m, may burn for months in waters off the Niger Delta in south-east Nigeria, Chevron has told the BBC. Two workers died after January’s explosion at the KS Endeavour exploration rig, owned by the US firm. Friends of the Earth […]
