More rainmaking launched as drought bites North Thailand after record floods

3 May 2012 (The Nation) – Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra presided over a meeting yesterday on water policies to speedily distribute water and launch the rainmaking operations and declared the Mae Wong Dam in Nakhon Sawan was necessary. Kitti Thupsri, technical specialist at the Phitsanulok rainmaking operation centre, said yesterday that since March the centre […]

For chronically unemployed, more bad news in California

By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press 6 May 2012 MERCED, California (AP) – With her anti-poverty budget stretched beyond its limits, Brenda Callahan-Johnson is braced for next Saturday: the day California’s chronically unemployed will be cut off from the nation’s jobless benefits. A drop in the state’s unemployment rate to 11 percent — its lowest mark […]

As Japan swings away from nuclear power, higher oil dependency erases greenhouse-gas gains

By Associated Press TOKYO – The Fukushima crisis is eroding years of Japanese efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, as power plants running on oil and natural gas fill the electricity gap left by now-shuttered nuclear reactors. Before last year’s devastating tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan had […]

Report points to decline in ability to monitor Earth

By RACHEL NUWER2 May 2012 Earth-observing systems operated by the United States have entered a steep decline, imperiling the nation’s monitoring of weather, natural disasters and climate change, a report from the National Research Council warned Wednesday. Long-running and new missions are frequently delayed, lost or canceled because of budget cuts, launching failures, disorganization and […]

Bangkok heatwave stokes debate over mega-city planning as climate warms

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre, with additional reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz and Manuel Mogato in Manila, David Fogarty in Singapore and Stuart Grudgings in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Alan Raybould and Jeremy Laurence4 May 2012 BANGKOK (Reuters) – Five months after the worst floods in half a century, the Thai capital is facing a heat […]

Greenland deglaciation slower than worst-case scenarios, ‘but the glaciers are speeding up and we see no sign of that stopping’

By Damian Carrington, www.guardian.co.uk 3 May 2012 Sea-level rises are unlikely to be as high as worst-case scenarios have forecasted, suggests new research which shows that Greenland‘s glaciers are slipping into the sea more slowly than was previously thought. But the scientists warned that ice loss still sped up by 30% and is driving rises […]

Japan leaders fret over today’s nuclear shutdown – No nukes for first time in 42 years – Thousands march against nuclear power

By MARTIN FACKLER3 May 2012 OSAKA, Japan – Barring an unexpected turnaround, Japan on Saturday will become a nuclear-free nation for the first time in more than four decades, at least temporarily. Japan’s leaders have made increasingly desperate attempts in recent months to avoid just such a scenario, trying to restart plants shut for routine […]

Brazil sending more troops to guard Amazon borders

By SIMON ROMERO3 May 2012 RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil is deploying more than 8,500 troops to the far reaches of the Amazon rain forest this month in an operation aimed at cracking down on drug smuggling, gold mining and illegal deforestation, officials said. The troop mobilization sends a clear message ahead of the United […]

Graph of the Day: Observed and Experimental Sensitivity of Plants to Global Warming

This trend is seen in the observational studies (blue) but not in the experimental studies (red). The numbers correspond to those in Fig. 1 and to site information given in the Supplementary Information. ABSTRACT: Warming experiments are increasingly relied on to estimate plant responses to global climate change1, 2. For experiments to provide meaningful predictions […]

Heartland Institute billboards compare belief in global warming to mass murder

[Update: Heartland Institute President and CEO Joe Bast has issued the following statement: “We will stop running [the billboard] at 4:00 p.m. CST today. (It’s a digital billboard, so a simple phone call is all it takes.) “The Heartland Institute knew this was a risk when deciding to test it, but decided it was a necessary […]

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