Video: Some U.S. neighborhoods dangerously contaminated by lead fallout

By Alison Young and Peter Eisler, USA TODAY22 April 2012 Kathleen Marshall used to think the fenced backyard of her Philadelphia home was a safe place for her five children to play. Not anymore. Marshall was horrified to learn that a long-forgotten factory once melted lead just across the street and that soil tests by […]

Is this village in Alaska home to first climate change migrants in U.S.?

25 April 2012 (RTCC) – The villagers of Newtok in Alaska could have gained the undesirable title of America’s first climate change refugees. The community in the west of the state has undergone drastic changes as melting permafrost has literally shifted the ground beneath them and the loss of sea ice has removed a vital […]

‘Gaia’ scientist James Lovelock: I was ‘alarmist’ about climate change

[Sadly, it appears that Lovelock has gone emeritus – Desdemona saw video of him at a book signing last year, claiming that there were no effects from Chernobyl fallout. One person pointed out that there have been a lot of sick children in Ukraine, to which he replied dismissively, “They’re fine.” Seeing him trot out […]

Engineer first to face criminal charges in 2010 BP spill

By Miguel Llanos and Pete Williams24 April 2012 The first criminal charges in the 2010 BP gulf spill were filed on Tuesday against a former BP engineer accused of intentionally deleting hundreds of text messages about the size of the spill. It’s clear from the court document unsealed with the case that the Justice Department’s […]

Sugar daddies: The 25 corporate persons who are buying this election

By Frank Rich 22 April 2012 […] Sugar daddies—whom I’ll define here as private donors or their privately held companies writing checks totaling $1 million or more (sometimes much more) in this election cycle—are largely a Republican phenomenon, most of them one degree of separation from Karl Rove and his unofficial partners in erecting a […]

New climate threat as methane rises from cracks in Arctic ice

By Steve Connor23 April 2012 A new source of methane – a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than carbon dioxide – has been identified by scientists flying over areas in the Arctic where the sea ice has melted. The researchers found significant amounts of methane being released from the ocean into the atmosphere through […]

Limits of development: Interview with Habib Ayeb, co-director of ‘Green Mirages’

By Louise Sarant3 April 2012  Habib Ayeb is a Tunisian geographer and professor at the American University in Cairo’s Social Research Center. His domain of research includes social-geography, governance, poverty, marginality, hydro-politics and geopolitics. He shares his work between Tunisia and Egypt, where he has spent 15 years of his life, studying Egyptian farmers and […]

Scientists call for Arctic fishing moratorium – Loss of permanent sea ice makes industrial fishing viable for first time

22 April 2012 (Canadian Press) – A group of more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries has called for a moratorium on commercial fishing in the Arctic until more research can be completed on waters that were once covered by ice year-round. The scientists said the loss of permanent sea ice has opened up as […]

Graph of the Day: 1000-year Records of Southern Hemisphere Background Concentrations of CO2, N2O, and CH4

1000-year records of southern hemisphere background concentrations of CO2 parts per million (ppm – orange), N2O parts per billion (ppb – blue) and CH4 (ppb – green) measured at Cape Grim Tasmania and in air extracted from Antarctic ice and near surface levels of ice known as firn. Global CO2, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide […]

Heavy April rain ‘not enough to end drought’ in England

By Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk20 April 2012 Heavy rain over much of the country, provoking flash floods in some areas and severe weather warnings from the Met Office, is set to continue through the weekend but is unlikely to ease the drought gripping most of England. Flash floods closed the centre of Pocklington in […]

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