U.S. National Research Council predicts higher rates of sea level rise

22 June 2012 (AFP) – Global sea levels could rise two to three times higher over the next century than previous UN estimates, according to a study released Friday by the US National Research Council. A committee of experts evaluated the latest UN data and updated those projections with new data on polar ice-cap melting […]

Denver poised for more record heat Saturday as record wildfire surpasses 100-square-mile mark

23 June 2012 (The Denver Post) – Denver’s record-breaking heat Friday sets the stage for a potentially hotter day today, warns the National Weather Service. The city beat the record of 98 degrees just after 1 p.m., then climbed to 102 degrees before 4 p.m. Friday, eclipsing the high mark for June 22 set in […]

680,000 wells across U.S. hold more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid waste

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica21 June 2012 Over the past several decades, U.S. industries have injected more than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad expanses of the nation’s geology as an invisible dumping ground. No company would be allowed to pour such dangerous chemicals into the rivers or onto the […]

Past periodic warmth in Arctic may be related to melting Antarctic ice sheets

Contact: Janet Lathrop, 413-545-044421 June 2012 AMHERST, Massachusetts – First analyses of the longest sediment core ever collected on land in the terrestrial Arctic, published this week in Science, provide documentation that intense warm intervals, warmer than scientists thought possible, occurred there over the past 2.8 million years. (“2.8 Million Years of Arctic Climate Change […]

DNA evidence of Asian carp above electric barrier grows

[It’s been awhile since Desdemona has had an update on this story; here are previous posts on the Asian carp invasion.] By Dan Egan of the Journal Sentinel18 June 2012 While it’s been nearly two years since crews landed the only live Asian carp specimen above an electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship […]

Rising cities in Asia may sink into the sea

By NEAL PEIRCE, Times-Dispatch 17 June 2012 HONOLULU – An Asian century, an urban century — the rise of the East and the role of such expansive urban giants as Shanghai are emblematic of popular assessments of where the world’s economy is heading. But talk with Roland Fuchs of the East-West Center in Honolulu and […]

1.5 million children in imminent danger of starvation in West Africa due to climate change, conflict, and poverty

By Rohit Kachroo, NBC News in Niger, West Africa19 June 2012 One-and-a-half-million children are in imminent danger of starvation in West Africa, according to The United Nations Children’s Fund, despite recent pledges of international aid. As world leaders gathered for the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, aid workers warned there were only four weeks left […]

Is global warming responsible for the decline of chinstrap penguins?

By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor19 June 2012 A population of chinstrap penguins is feeling the heat, with more than one-third of a breeding colony lost in the past 20 years, new research finds. A warming planet, which is causing sea ice in Antarctica (and elsewhere) to melt, may ultimately be to blame for the […]

Japan officials failed to use U.S. data tracking radiation after Fukushima meltdown

By HIROKO TABUCHI19 June 2012 TOKYO – The United States shared detailed radiation measurements with Japan in the early days of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that the Japanese government did not make public or use in conducting evacuations, officials acknowledged on Tuesday. Lacking information about the direction of airborne particles, some evacuees fled, […]

China warns decline of its rare earth reserves is ‘accelerating’

20 June 2012 (BBC) – China has warned that the decline in its rare earth reserves in major mining areas is “accelerating”, as most of the original resources are depleted. In a policy paper, China’s cabinet blamed excessive exploitation and illegal mining for the decline. China accounts for more than 90% of the world’s rare […]

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