Blogging the End of the World™
Shangri-La is in trouble. According to an article by Stephen Faris in Foreign Policy and the IPCC, the Himalayan glacier in the Kashmir province that provides 90 percent of Pakistan’s water for agricultural irrigation will disappear by 2035 as a consequence of climate change. Appropriately titled “The Last Straw,” the article reviews water conflicts exacerbated […]
The US budget deficit has moved above $1 trillion (£616bn) for the first time – with three months of the financial year remaining, official data show. The government stepped up spending to counter the recession, and the bailout of financial institutions has taken a huge chunk out of government finances. Falling tax revenues and unemployment […]
It takes a lot of phosphorus to support our diet-about 222.5kg per person per year for a normal balanced diet. Professor Stuart White, Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney suggests that it follows the same Hubbert’s Peak pattern as oil, and that we are just about at the peak. He writes in […]
By Adele Horin AUSTRALIA’S extended drought is having a severe impact on the mental health of farmers and their partners — but they are not turning to alcohol to drown their sorrows. A new study shows that men and women in drought-affected areas are drinking less alcohol than those in areas unaffected by the long […]
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The costs of illness and premature deaths in Appalachia related to coal mining far outweigh economic benefits the industry brings to the region, says Michael Hendryx, Ph.D., associate director of the West Virginia University Institute for Health Policy Research in WVU’s Department of Community Medicine. “The human cost of the Appalachian coal […]
‘Once-in-a-century’ drought sending campers indoors and stunting crops North Texas has had average rainfall this year, and three “cool” days this week felt like Christmas in July. But don’t tell your friends in Central and South Texas, because they are feeling hot, parched and bothered. A “once-in-a-century” drought is baking a big swath of Texas, […]
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor (07-09) 17:30 PDT — Four divers led by a land-based ecologist hunted the turbid waters of San Francisco’s South Beach marina Thursday for a nasty, invasive seaweed that is taking over harbors and estuaries all along the Pacific coast. Although their prey didn’t seem to have a chance, the divers […]
From Calculated Risk: Just using Sacramento as an example … I wish the NAR broke out the data like this! The Sacramento Association of REALTORS® is now breaking out monthly resales by equity sales (normal resales), and distressed sales (Short sales and REO sales). Here is the June data. They started breaking out REO sales […]
ScienceDaily (July 10, 2009) — New Envisat images highlight the dramatic retreat of the Aral Sea’s shoreline from 2006 to 2009. The Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth-largest inland body of water, but it has been steadily shrinking over the past 50 years since the rivers that fed it were diverted for irrigation projects. […]
By Gitte Laasby, Post-Tribune staff writer MERRILLVILLE — Northwest Indiana is at an increased risk for flooding as a result of global warming, according to a report released Thursday. Making matters worse, the region has already committed nearly every mistake in the book as far as preventing floods: We have straightened rivers to speed […]
