By Bruce Watson 2 May 2012 Over the past few years, high unemployment, the housing market implosion and falling wages have driven many American families closer together — both financially and literally. Parents are supporting their adult children, children are supporting parents, and generations are helping each other to weather the economic storms. In some […]
Study of tree rings, corals, and ice cores find unnatural spike in temperatures that lines up with manmade climate change By Alison Rourke in Sydney, www.guardian.co.uk17 May 2012 The last 60 years have been the hottest in Australasia for a millennium and cannot be explained by natural causes, according to a new report by scientists […]
The nearly 440 nuclear reactors in operation across the world remained virtually constant over the last decade, with 32 reactors shut down and the same number connected to the grid. Overall, nuclear capacity increased by more than 6%, due to installation of larger reactors and power uprates in existing reactors. In 2010, nuclear energy was […]
By Arwyn Rice, Peninsula Daily News14 May 2012 DUNGENESS – Debris apparently from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami is now riding the tides up the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The biggest collection of fishing floats — many bearing Asian writing and logos — has been found on Dungeness Spit, which juts into the Strait […]
Contact: Jason McGeownHead of Media RelationsTel: +44 (0)1225 420000 jason.mcgeown@maplecroft.com 10 May 2012 (Maplecroft) – The viability of water supplies throughout key regions of China, India, Pakistan, South Africa and the US are under threat from unsustainable domestic, agricultural, and industrial demands, according to a new study that maps water use down to 10km² worldwide. […]
By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News Producer13 May 2012 TOKYO, Japan – More than 60 people have committed suicides related to last year’s 9.0 quake and tsunami, which triggered meltdowns at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, the Japanese government says. The data comes as a family prepares to file the first lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric […]
By CORNELIA DEAN14 May 2012 Little by little, Hawaii’s iconic beaches are disappearing. Most beaches on the state’s three largest islands are eroding, and the erosion is likely to accelerate as sea levels rise, the United States Geological Survey is reporting. Though average erosion rates are relatively low — perhaps a few inches per year […]
By Andrew Freedman15 May 2012 Last year at this time, all eyes were on Texas, where drought conditions were intensifying into what became that state’s worst single year drought on record, causing nearly $8 billion in economic losses. Recently, though, Texas has gone from famine to feast in the precipitation department, and drought concerns for […]
[Not a surprise to Desdemona readers.] By Erin Hale, www.guardian.co.uk15 May 2012 Twenty years on from the Rio Earth summit, the environment of the planet is getting worse not better, according to a report from WWF. Swelling population, mass migration to cities, increasing energy use and soaring carbon dioxide emissions mean humanity is putting a […]
By April Yee6 May 2012 In her purse, Ikuko Hebiishi carries a Geiger counter, one of two she owns. Wrapped in a protective plastic bag, it makes her feel safe by telling her exactly where radioactivity is dangerously high. Mrs Hebiishi is a city councillor for Koriyama, a town in the Fukushima prefecture 34 kilometres […]
