By Adam Voiland21 October 2013 (NASA) – On 21 October 2013, dozens of wildfires continued to burn in New South Wales, Australia. The fires had already destroyed more than 200 homes, and Australian authorities were concerned that hot, windy weather could exacerbate the situation. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired […]
17 October 2013 (Playboy) – “You have the entire scientific community saying we have to be very aggressive in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Yet you’re seeing the heads of coal companies and oil companies willing to sacrifice the wellbeing of the entire planet for their short-term profits. And these folks are funding phony organizations to […]
By Bryan Walsh 21 October 2013 (TIME) – You want to know what the biggest obstacle to dealing with climate change is? Simple: time. It will take decades before the carbon dioxide we emit now begins to have its full effect on the planet’s climate. And by the same token, it will take decades before […]
By David Alire Garcia, Reuters21 October 2013 ACAPULCO, Mexico (NBC News) – Ports were closed, school classes were suspended and hundreds of people were evacuated Monday along Mexico’s southern Pacific coast as a major hurricane loomed over a region still recovering from record flooding a few weeks ago. Raymond, a category three hurricane, was stationary […]
By Craig Brown20 October 2013 (The Scotsman) – Rising sea levels are threatening the existence of Orkney’s famous Stone Age village of Skara Brae, according to an official report. A draft management plan for the protection of the World Heritage site describes coastal erosion as “a threat to the long-term survival” of the subterranean village. […]
(Boston Globe) – Agrochemical spraying in Argentina has increased ninefold, from 9 million gallons in 1990 to 84 million gallons today. Yet the South American nation has a hodgepodge of widely ignored regulations that leave people dangerously exposed, and chemicals contaminate homes, classrooms, and drinking water. Doctors and scientists are warning that uncontrolled spraying could […]
22 October 2013 (AP) – Visibility shrank to less than half a football field and small-particle pollution soared to a record 40 times higher than an international safety standard in one northern Chinese city as the region entered its high-smog season. The manager for US jazz singer Patti Austen, meanwhile, said the singer had cancelled […]
By Abigail Haworth 19 October 2013 (The Observer) – Ai Aoyama is a sex and relationship counsellor who works out of her narrow three-storey home on a Tokyo back street. Her first name means “love” in Japanese, and is a keepsake from her earlier days as a professional dominatrix. Back then, about 15 years ago, […]
By David Hill 15 October 2013 (theguardian.com) – The decision by Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa to abandon a plan to permanently forgo exploiting hundreds of millions of barrels of oil in return for at least US$3.6bn in compensation – the “Yasuni-ITT Initiative” – has sparked severe non-state media criticism in Ecuador, calls for a referendum, […]
By Richard Wolf15 October 2013 WASHINGTON (USA TODAY) – Dealing a potential blow to the Obama administration and environmentalists, the Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases. The court accepted six separate petitions that sought to roll back EPA’s clout over carbon dioxide emissions from power […]
