ULAN-UDE, 2 September 2013 (RIA Novosti) – Seven forest fires rage in the Siberian republic of Buryatia covering an area of over 50 hectares, a spokesman for the local forestry department said on Monday. Firefighters managed to put out 12 forest fires over the weekend but winds and record temperatures started a new wave of […]
3 September 2013 (BBC News) – Japan is to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into building a frozen wall around the Fukushima nuclear plant to stop leaks of radioactive water. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said an estimated 47bn yen ($473m, £304m) would be allocated. The leaks were getting worse and the government “felt it […]
3 September 2013 (The Siberian Times) – Water levels hit record high levels in both Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Tuesday. ‘The water continues to rise in the Khabarovsk territory. The Komsomolsk-on-Amur area is at worst risk’, presidential envoy to the Far East Federal District Yury Trutnev told a meeting with prime minister Dmitry Medvedev. The […]
By Miranda Leitsinger3 September 2013 TOMS RIVER, N.J. (NBC News) – Thousands of homeowners in New York and New Jersey impacted by Hurricane Sandy are facing a tough choice that may thwart their efforts to rebuild: Comply with costly new federal construction guidelines or prepare to pay annual flood insurance rates that could top $20,000. […]
By Damian Carrington 28 June 2013 (The Guardian) – The government has launched an “urgent” review of the crisis facing bees and other pollinators in the UK and pledged to introduce a national pollinator strategy. “As we all recognise, pollinators play a vital role in the security of our food supply and the quality of […]
By Holli Riebeek2 September 2013 (NASA) – Smoke from the Rim Fire choked Yosemite National Park during the busy Labor Day Weekend. Air quality reached unhealthy levels from Yosemite to the San Joaquin Valley, warned the National Weather Service in an air quality alert. Since fine particles in smoke can irritate the eyes and respiratory […]
29 August 2013 (mongabay.com) – Nearly 500 fires are burning across the Indonesian island of Sumatra, raising fears that choking air pollution could return to Singapore and Malaysia. The fires, set to clear land for agriculture, are concentrated in Riau, Jambi, and South Sumatra provinces. Like the fires that charred the region two months ago, […]
By Rhett A. Butler3 September 2013 (mongabay.com) – Conversion of forests for palm oil production now appears to be the single largest driver of deforestation in Indonesia, accounting for roughly a quarter of forest loss between 2009 and 2011, asserts a new Greenpeace report that accuses the sector’s main certification standard of failing to stop […]
Average temperature over winter in South Pacific nation was highest since record-keeping began in 1909 Wellington, 3 September 2013 (AP) – Winter lacked an Antarctic chill this year in New Zealand, to record effect. Scientists said on Tuesday that the South Pacific nation had its warmest winter since record-keeping began more than a century ago. […]
GENEVA, Genève, 2 September 2013 (AFP) – Humanity has pushed the world’s climate system to the brink, leaving itself only scant time to act, the head of the UN’s group of climate scientists said on Monday. “We have five minutes before midnight,” warned Rajendra Pachauri, whose organisation will this month release the first volume of […]
