Blogging the End of the World™
cf. Graph of the Day: Historic Texas Drought Technorati Tags: drought,agriculture,heat wave
By Ed Stoddard DALLAS (Reuters) – A vast swathe of Texas remains in the grip of a scorching drought, which has cost billions of dollars and is cleaving America’s largest beef cattle herd. One county has seen its entire cotton harvest wiped out and losses for cattle, crops and the state’s fast growing game […]
Nanyuki, Kenya (AFP) Aug 19, 2009 – In Kenya a bruising and recurring drought is driving huge numbers of subsistence farmers away from rural areas, where they are increasingly reliant on hand-outs, into congested slums. “People are opting to relocate. I know families that are demolishing their houses, selling iron sheets and timber and getting […]
NJORO, 20 August 2009 (IRIN) – Two months before harvest time, the maize in Kenya’s Rift Valley should be tall, lush and green, bursting with life. Instead, crops in the province’s Lare division are stunted, barren fields of parched browns and pallid yellows. The area, local farmers say, has experienced three years of erratic rainfall. […]
Armed bands are decimating rainforest reserves in northeastern Madagascar, killing lemurs and intimidating conservation workers, despite widespread condemnation by international environmental groups. Several local sources report large-scale logging of valuable hardwoods in Mananara-Nord Biosphere Reserve, Masoala National Park, and Makira. “The terrestrial part of Mananara biosphere has been devastated,” a Malagasy source told mongabay.com. “[Villagers] […]
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN – The Associated Press BEIJING — More than 1,300 children have been sickened by lead poisoning in central China, the second such case involving a large number of children this month, state media said Thursday. The official Xinhua News Agency said 1,354 children – or nearly 70 percent of the children tested […]
The animals’ stampede through the Mara river is one of nature’s most spectacular events. But now the watercourse is drying up, a sign of the damage being done to Africa’s fragile eco-system By Daniel Howden The scale of it is hard to comprehend. Even standing on the dented roof of an old jeep in the […]
Prosperous middle class contributing to a growing appetite for ‘forest food’ By Andrew Buncombe, Asia correspondent As any visitor to Vietnam can confirm, its people have a remarkable taste for meals made from each and every creature. From snakes and spiders to monkeys and rats, there are few wild animals not prized when it comes […]
Algae chokes estuaries on south coast as England enjoys hottest day of year By Steve Connor, Science Editor A combination of calm, sunny weather and high concentrations of nitrate pollutants running into the sea from local farms and sewage works has caused thick mats of green algae to form at a dozen sites on the […]
Mounds of rotting seaweed clogging beaches across northwestern France are emitting a toxic and potentially lethal gas, test results released by the government showed on Thursday. Tests were ordered on the foul-smelling algae, which green groups blame on nitrates fertilisers used by local farmers, after a horse apparently died from inhaling fumes on a beach […]
