NASA/NOAA study finds El Niños growing stronger

August 25, 2010 A relatively new type of El Niño, which has its warmest waters in the central-equatorial Pacific Ocean, rather than in the eastern-equatorial Pacific, is becoming more common and progressively stronger, according to a new study by NASA and NOAA. The research may improve our understanding of the relationship between El Niños and […]

Shetland trawlermen illegally caught £15m worth of herring and mackerel

Six skippers face unlimited fines and multi-million pound confiscation orders after admitting breaching fishing quotas By Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent www.guardian.co.uk  Thursday 26 August 2010 17.45 BST Six trawlermen from Shetland face unlimited fines and multi-million pound confiscation orders for illegally landing £15m worth of herring and mackerel to cheat strict quotas designed to conserve […]

Brazil green light for Amazon dam — ‘Death warrant for the Xingu river’

BBC26 August 2010 Brazil’s government has given the formal go-ahead for the building on a tributary of the Amazon of the world’s third biggest hydroelectric dam. After several failed legal challenges, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed the contract for the Belo Monte dam with the Norte Energia consortium. Critics say the project will […]

Early human ‘squatters’ drove cave bears to extinction

By Howard Falcon-Lang Science reporter, BBC News 27 August 2010 Last updated at 06:24 ET Ice Age bears may have been wiped out when humans began to take over their caves, scientists claim. A new DNA study shows that cave bear populations started to decline around 50,000 years ago, coincident with the time that human […]

Lake Superior reaches record temperature

By Bob Kelleher, Minnesota Public RadioAugust 12, 2010 Duluth, Minn. — On another muggy August afternoon in Duluth, the Park Point city beach is again packed. Clara Goellner is one of the three life guards trying to keep an eye on the mob of teens and children splashing away in water that’s typically bone-chilling. But […]

Threat to polar bears worries Russian experts – 70 percent decline by 2060

By Kester Kenn KlomegahAugust 26, 2010 MOSCOW (IPS/IFEJ) — Environmental experts in Russia have warned that unless urgent steps are taken internationally, climatic changes combined with man-made factors could reduce the world’s population of polar bears by as much as 70 percent by 2060. The polar region — which includes the Arctic Ocean and parts […]

Dr. Fatih Birol’s words of warning: Melting permafrost, cheap oil, and the end of the world as we know it

By Can Erimtan 26 August 2010 This summer, climate change, or global warming, has arguably established itself as a reality to be reckoned with. Greenhouse gases are heating up the earth’s atmosphere and, as a result, global weather conditions now seem to have gone truly haywire. Temperatures are unusually high in certain places, while rain […]

Huge ice chunk breaks off Ellesmere Island

CBC News Tuesday, August 24, 2010 | 8:09 PM CST A large parcel of ice has fractured from a massive ice shelf on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, marking the third known case of Arctic ice loss this summer alone. The chunk of ice, which scientists estimate is roughly the size of Bermuda, broke away from […]

Cambodia: Record low water levels threaten livelihoods

PHNOM PENH, 26 August 2010 (IRIN) – Late rains and record low water levels in Cambodia’s two main fresh water systems will affect food security and the livelihoods of millions, government officials and NGOs warn. “We expect the impact to be very strong,” said Nao Thuok, director of the Fisheries Administration, adding that low water […]

Plantation linked to junta is ‘destroying’ Burmese tiger reserve

By Peter PophamThursday, 26 August 2010 The world’s largest tiger reserve, in the wilds of northern Burma, is being rapidly eroded as a businessman with links to the junta replaces trees with cash crops, according to a report published yesterday. The Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve in Kachin State was created in 2001 with the support […]

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