Blogging the End of the World™
By Himangshu Watts and Mayank Bhardwaj NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s monsoon delivered above-average rains last week for the first time this season but the worst dry patch in more than 80 years has already hit rice and sugarcane crops. It has also depleted India’s reservoirs, choking hydropower supply and boosting fuel demand as farms, […]
Rhino poaching rates have hit a 15-year-high as a consequence of demand for horns for use in traditional medicine, according to new report published by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. Asia-based criminal gangs run the illegal trade. “Illegal rhino horn trade to destinations in Asia is driving the killing, with growing evidence of […]
Malaysia is losing its battle to save its dwindling population of wild tigers, a conservation coalition warned Wednesday after a series of raids that netted tiger carcasses and bones. “It is clearly time to admit that we are fast losing the battle to save our tigers to an army of smugglers and poachers intent on […]
Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, together with the French BNP Paribas, are helping Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources raise up to 280 million Swiss francs ($258 million) to finance conversion of large areas of rainforest in New Guinea and Borneo for oil palm plantations, reports the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a group that campaigns on behalf […]
By Oliver Suess July 17 (Bloomberg) — Insurers will be hit by a higher number of wind storm-related claims in Europe as a result of global warming, according to Allianz SE, Europe’s biggest insurer by market value. “Global warming is happening and it’s here to stay,” Olaf Novak, head of risk management related to natural […]
By Cameron Dueck on the Bering Sea The Canadian Arctic is facing another year of open water with the summer break-up of sea ice ahead of schedule in many key parts of the northern archipelago. The early break-up of ice underlines the growing impact of climate change in the Poles where temperatures have risen much […]
June 2009 compared to past Junes Compared to previous Junes, ice extent in June 2009 was extremely close to the last two years, falling within 30,000 square kilometers (12,000 square miles) of the June extent in 2007 and 2008. The long-term trend indicates a decline of 3.3% per decade, an average of 40,100 square kilometers […]
Last winter’s cold temperatures did kill some mountain pine beetles in Alberta, but it wasn’t enough to reduce the threat of additional infestations, according to recent field surveys. “These results show we need more than cold winters to be successful in our fight against pine beetles in our forests,” Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted […]
IT’S NOT OIL: No one in the area can recall seeing anything like it before. By Don Hunter Something big and strange is floating through the Chukchi Sea between Wainwright and Barrow. Hunters from Wainwright first started noticing the stuff sometime probably early last week. It’s thick and dark and "gooey" and is drifting for […]
By JULIET WILLIAMS SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told state employee unions Tuesday his administration would cut another 2,000 jobs to help close California’s $26.3 billion budget deficit. Meanwhile, Moody’s Investor Services downgraded California bonds to near-junk status, from A2 to Baa1, and placed the state’s credit rating on watch for possible further […]
