Blogging the End of the World™
By GARANCE BURKE and JASON DEAREN, Associated Press WritersWed, Aug. 25, 2010 02:06 AM The cleanup of history’s worst peacetime oil spill is generating thousands of tons of oil-soaked debris that is ending up in local landfills, some of which were already dealing with environmental concerns. The soft, absorbent boom that has played the biggest […]
By Michael Georgy; editing by Robert Birsel and Alex RichardsonFri Aug 27, 2010 12:04pm EDT MADYAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – Shah-e-Roon doesn’t have the energy, money or support from Pakistan’s government to help Madyan recover from floods that decimated the small town nearly a month ago. He has been walking for two days with a […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
