[We all know what happened in 1929.] By PAUL WISEMAN, AP Economics Writer10 September 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – The income gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of America last year reached the widest point since the Roaring Twenties. The top 1 percent of U.S. earners collected 19.3 percent of household income in […]
3 September 2013 (World Bank) – Some of the easiest targets for lowering greenhouse gas emissions are right in front of us every day: black carbon from diesel-fueled vehicles and solid fuel cooking fires, methane from solid waste, hydrofluorocarbons from aerosols. These are short-lived climate pollutants, named for their relatively short lifespan in the atmosphere. […]
By KATE GALBRAITH4 September 2013 SAN FRANCISCO (The New York Times) – The huge wildfire scorching one of America’s most beloved national parks, Yosemite, has rained ash on San Francisco’s water supply and jolted the nation. Experts say this is just a foretaste of major fires to come, in the United States and much of […]
By Robert J. Lopez9 September 2013 (Los Angeles Times) – The cost of battling the massive Rim fire raging in and around Yosemite National Park has reached $100 million, federal fire officials said Monday night. The blaze has charred 253,332 acres — or 396 square miles — of brush and timber after erupting in the […]
By Bijoyeta Das 9 Sep 2013 Guwahati, India (Al Jazeera) – He sniffs, slurps his tea, swirls and spits a jet of orangish liquid into the tumbler. “Malty, hard,” says Parag Hatibaruah, a professional tea-taster. “But not as strong, brisk and creamy as it was once,” he adds, shaking his head dismissively. Rows of teacups […]
(NASA) – Elephant Butte Reservoir dwindled to its lowest level in 41 years during the summer of 2013, despite monsoon rains in early July. It had been filled nearly to capacity for most of 1985 to 2000; the left-hand image from 1994 shows it about 89 percent full. At right, it has been reduced to […]
By Catherine Wong5 September 2013 (The Times-Standard) – Bridgeville Elementary School was reopened Wednesday after being forced to close for a day when staff discovered up to 20,000 gallons of water had been stolen from an onsite water tank during the Labor Day weekend. ”There were tire tracks in the field on the south side […]
Groundwater pumpage within the Death Valley area began around 1913 in Pahrump Valley. Pumpage began mainly to support rising agricultural interests, but also supplied mining, industry, rural, and urban growth. The number of pumping wells in the region had increased from three in 1913 to over 9,300 in 1998. Pumpage for irrigation in the DVRFS […]
By Frances Beinecke28 August 2013 (NRDC) – Earlier this summer, I walked along the spit of land where the Chukchi Sea meets the Beaufort Sea at the top of Alaska. As our group looked out at pack-ice sculpted by wind and water currents, our local guide told us about the Inupiat whaling crew captained by […]
By Lindsay Fendt 3 September 2013 (Tico Times) – Hours before his murder, sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora came upon poachers digging up turtle eggs at the notoriously dangerous Moín Beach, near Limón on Costa Rica’s northern Caribbean coast. Mora reasoned with the poachers, perhaps explaining that leatherbacks – enormous, prehistoric-looking turtles – are endangered. […]
