Climate scientist Ralph Keeling in crowdfunding plea to back key research as government funding for global warming research dries up

[University of California at San Diego, home of the Scripps program, is accepting donations here.] By John H. Cushman Jr.2 January 2014 (InsideClimate News) – Ralph Keeling, the director of an acclaimed Scripps program that keeps track of the amounts of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, has renewed his plea for public support […]

‘Libricide’ in Canada: What’s driving chaotic dismantling of Canada’s science libraries?

By Andrew Nikiforuk23 December 2013 (TheTyee.ca) – Scientists say the closure of some of the world’s finest fishery, ocean and environmental libraries by the Harper government has been so chaotic that irreplaceable collections of intellectual capital built by Canadian taxpayers for future generations has been lost forever. Many collections such as the Maurice Lamontagne Institute […]

Record tides and floods as severe storms lash Ireland, with more on the way – ‘Black Swell’ to hit UK, Ireland, and Portugal

By PATRICK COUNIHAN4 January 2014 (IrishCentral) – The latest storms to hit Ireland will cost the economy almost half a billion dollars – with more on the way over the weekend. Record tides and devastating flood and gales lashed the country on Friday with Ireland’s weather forecast service warning of a repeat on Sunday. Experts […]

Oil development in Ecuador’s Yasuni rainforest pits uncontacted tribes against one another – ‘After all the people we killed, we felt dizzy’

By Bethany Horne3 January 2013 (Newsweek) – As two military-style helicopters touch down in a remote village in the jungles of Ecuador, masked men with guns hop out and scurry into a one-room schoolhouse. Inside they capture their target: a 6-year-old girl who doesn’t speak their language and can’t even guess why they are kidnapping […]

Worker aghast at shoddy work on Fukushima radioactive water storage tanks

By MASAKAZU HONDA4 January 2014 URUMA, Okinawa Prefecture (The Asahi Shimbun) – Yoshitatsu Uechi recalls with disgust the disregard for worker safety, the makeshift plans and the cost-cutting measures, including the use of adhesive tape on key equipment, at his job last year. He said an emphasis on saving time and expenses was clear when […]

Elephant deaths rise in Tanzania after shoot-to-kill poachers policy is dropped

By David Smith, Africa correspondent 31 December 2013 (The Guardian) – Elephant deaths in Tanzania have risen dramatically since the government abandoned a shoot-to-kill policy against poachers, officials admit. Lazaro Nyalandu, the deputy minister of natural resources and tourism, said 60 elephants were “butchered” in November and December, compared with two in October. Soldiers, police, […]

2013 was hottest year on record in Australia – PM Tony Abbott urged to rethink climate policy

3 January 2014 (ABC) – Australia has just sweltered through its hottest year on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Average temperatures were 1.20 degrees Celsius above the long-term average of 21.8C, breaking the previous record set in 2005 by 0.17C, the bureau said in its Annual Climate Statement. All states and territories recorded […]

Blood in the Sand – Costa Rica’s turtle egg poachers are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way

By Matthew Power2 January 2014 (Outside Magazine) – It was only eight o’clock on the evening of 30 May 2013, but the beach was completely dark. The moon hadn’t yet risen above Playa Moín, a 15-mile-long strand of mangrove and palm on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. A two-door Suzuki 4×4 bumped along a rough track […]

Argentina’s worst heat wave in 107 years subsides – Buenos Aires residents protest over ‘heatwave power cuts’

30 December 2013 (BBC News) – Main roads to the Argentine capital Buenos Aires have been blocked by people protesting against power cuts. They are demanding government action on shortages that have been affecting many parts of the city. Residents set fire to rubbish bags and tyres on the roads, causing long traffic jams as […]

50 doomiest images of 2013

2013 served up some of the most spectacular doom imagery yet, as historic flooding and wildfire events proliferated globally. Poachers continued to drive megafauna, like elephants and rhinos, to extinction, providing plenty of heartbreaking pictures. Loggers razed ever more forest habitat, slaughtering wildlife wholesale and leaving a only few traumatized survivors for us to witness […]

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