As danger laps at its shores, Tuvalu pleads for action on climate change

By AMELIA HOLOWATY KRALES18 October 2011 Tuvalu, a tiny archipelago of nine South Pacific islands threatened by rising seas, is on the front lines of the planet’s climate change debate. Current projections indicate that it will become unlivable within 50 years, resulting in an exodus and the erasure of a rich 3,000-year-old culture. In global […]

Thai PM admits government overwhelmed by floods – Bangkok residents finally told to prepare

BANGKOK, October 19 (AP) – Thailand’s new premier acknowledged Wednesday that the country’s flood crisis has overwhelmed her government, pleading for mercy from the media and solidarity from the country in battling the relentless waters. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said her administration is doing all it can and trying to be […]

Graph of the Day: Radioactive Cesium in Metropolitan Tokyo Soil, August 2011

Tokyo Metropolitan Soil Testing Results(released 2011/8/8) Over 60,000 Bq/kg of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 detected in Tokyo! As our first work of our Nationwide Soil Testing Project, we tested soil samples from 132 areas in the Tokyo metropolitan area, including Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Ibaraki. Our results show how much radioactive particles fell over the […]

Five million Pakistanis struggling in flooded Sindh province – ‘Ominous silence’ from international donors called ‘pathetic’

By Orla Guerin17 October 2011 Sindh (BBC News) – Muhammad Hanif rarely let his youngest son Abid out of his sight. The poor farmer was devoted to the lively three-year-old: “I was always picking him up and playing with him. He was the baby of the family. I couldn’t be without him for five minutes,” […]

Image of the Day: Satellite View of Toxic Algae Bloom in Lake Erie

Caption by Holli Riebeek14 October 2011 The green scum shown in this image is the worst algae bloom Lake Erie has experienced in decades. Such blooms were common in the lake’s shallow western basin in the 1950s and 60s. Phosphorus from farms, sewage, and industry fertilized the waters so that huge algae blooms developed year […]

Video: More oil leaks from stricken container ship

October 19 (Sky News) – More oil has leaked from the stricken container ship the Rena after the boat was battered by poor weather off the New Zealand north coast. Maritime New Zealand says a small amount of oil was released from the bow of the vessel on Tuesday morning, and a light sheen of […]

U.S. rivers and streams saturated with carbon

Contact: David DeFusco, david.defusco@yale.edu, 203-436-484217 October 2011 New Haven, Connecticut – Rivers and streams in the United States are releasing enough carbon into the atmosphere to fuel 3.4 million car trips to the moon, according to Yale researchers in Nature Geoscience. Their findings could change the way scientists model the movement of carbon between land, […]

South Pacific drought crisis deepens: Tokelau to run dry within days, crops failing on Tuvalu

October 05 (AFP) – A SECOND South Pacific community has called a state of emergency as water rationing continues in parts of the area. Tokelau, a New Zealand-administered territory of about 1400 people, has less than a week’s drinking water after a long drought blamed on a La Niña weather pattern, Foreign Minister Murray McCully […]

Like the Dust Bowl days: Dust storm roils through Lubbock, Texas South Plains

LUBBOCK, Texas, October 17 (Associated Press) – Winds gusting at more than 70 mph churned up a dust storm that roiled through the Texas South Plains during the Monday afternoon commute. Dust kicked up by westerly breezes ahead of a strong cold front restricted visibility in Lubbock to about 5 miles all afternoon, said National […]

Arizona drought could continue indefinitely – No relief in sight with dry winter forecast

By Catherine Holland; Weather forecast by Meteorologist Royal Norman26 September 2011 PHOENIX – It’s been a dry summer and it looks like it’s going to be a dry winter. That does not bode well for Arizona’s drought conditions, which have been an issue since 1999. As Javier Soto reports, the return of the La Niña […]

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