New climate threat as methane rises from cracks in Arctic ice

By Steve Connor23 April 2012 A new source of methane – a greenhouse gas many times more powerful than carbon dioxide – has been identified by scientists flying over areas in the Arctic where the sea ice has melted. The researchers found significant amounts of methane being released from the ocean into the atmosphere through […]

Limits of development: Interview with Habib Ayeb, co-director of ‘Green Mirages’

By Louise Sarant3 April 2012  Habib Ayeb is a Tunisian geographer and professor at the American University in Cairo’s Social Research Center. His domain of research includes social-geography, governance, poverty, marginality, hydro-politics and geopolitics. He shares his work between Tunisia and Egypt, where he has spent 15 years of his life, studying Egyptian farmers and […]

Scientists call for Arctic fishing moratorium – Loss of permanent sea ice makes industrial fishing viable for first time

22 April 2012 (Canadian Press) – A group of more than 2,000 scientists from 67 countries has called for a moratorium on commercial fishing in the Arctic until more research can be completed on waters that were once covered by ice year-round. The scientists said the loss of permanent sea ice has opened up as […]

Graph of the Day: 1000-year Records of Southern Hemisphere Background Concentrations of CO2, N2O, and CH4

1000-year records of southern hemisphere background concentrations of CO2 parts per million (ppm – orange), N2O parts per billion (ppb – blue) and CH4 (ppb – green) measured at Cape Grim Tasmania and in air extracted from Antarctic ice and near surface levels of ice known as firn. Global CO2, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide […]

Heavy April rain ‘not enough to end drought’ in England

By Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk20 April 2012 Heavy rain over much of the country, provoking flash floods in some areas and severe weather warnings from the Met Office, is set to continue through the weekend but is unlikely to ease the drought gripping most of England. Flash floods closed the centre of Pocklington in […]

Delaware River at record low levels

By Nora Muchanic18 April 2012 TRENTON, N.J., (WPVI) – The depth of the Delaware River is at record low levels for this time of year. That has people who rely on the river very worried. “It’s like you see the bottom. The bottom. There’s no water down there,” said Benita Parrotta of Hamilton Twp., N.J. […]

Flooding ravages Peru and Colombia – Amazon River reaches record breadth, width, and height

By Meg Weaver19 April 2012 Though writer Robert Earle Howells adds greater fuel to our wanderlust fires with his round-up of five Peruvian jungle lodges in National Geographic Traveler’s new issue, now’s unfortunately not the time to visit the Amazon Basin. Super-floods continue to inundate the region — a situation that has been underreported in […]

Ashes at twice the legal limit for radioactivity dumped in Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture

By arevamirpal::laprimavera 22 April 2012 Kiryu City’s assemblyman Hidenori Nishimaki and Assemblywoman Yuki Niwayama visited the final disposal site for sewer sludge and took some pictures. The site is maintained by the city’s water department. First, this is how the ashes from burning the sewer sludge from May and June last year is stored safely. […]

The talking penguin’s guide to climate change

By Killian Fox, The Observer21 April 2012 “The argument for human-driven climate change is as follows…” says the talking penguin to the man in the red jacket in the middle of the Arctic ice field. If this sounds like the beginning of a joke, hold on for the punchline. “But isn’t it true that a […]

Corn Growers Association: Climate change is ‘a grave threat to rural livelihoods and quality of life’

By Stephen Lacey 20 April 2012 Corn farmers concerned about the impact of climate change are speaking out, calling the problem “a grave threat” to the nation’s agricultural sector. Responding to the increase in severe weather — and the prospects for a “quantum jump” in such devastating events — a group of corn farmers is […]

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