Blogging the End of the World™
By LYDIA POLGREEN DAKAR, Senegal — A bizarre swarm of caterpillars is munching its way through the forests, cocoa and coffee fields of Liberia, threatening crops and forcing thousands to leave their homes because the bugs have contaminated the drinking water from rivers and lakes. Entomologists have identified the pests as a moth usually found […]
by Marc Moncrief Victorians should cancel whatever plans they may have had for tomorrow and take whatever steps necessary to prepare for what Premier John Brumby is calling the "worst day in the history of the state". With temperatures set to soar to the mid-40s throughout Victoria, Mr Brumby said the conditions were worse […]
Tracking endangered wildlife in politically troubled, impoverished Zimbabwe might not seem the ideal holiday spot but it’s in hot demand in the travel industry’s latest niche market — "tourism of doom". The term was coined by sector specialists for the growing number of travelers flocking to far-flung corners of the planet to see endangered natural […]
By Lucy Hornby LIDONG VILLAGE, China (Reuters) – China has declared an emergency over a drought which could damage the important wheat crop, threatening further hardship for farmers amid slumping economic growth. The dry winter gripping parts of central and northern China has sent Zhengzhou wheat futures up 5 percent this week but physical prices […]
Several hundred little brown bats are dead from White-Nose Syndrome in Lackawanna County, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is looking to residents for help uncovering other sites where this deadly disorder may have surfaced. Last week, bats were found dead outside of an abandoned mine near Carbondale by a citizen who later reported the findings […]
From Calculated Risk: After the excellent stock market returns in January (just kidding – actually the worst January ever), it is probably time to check in on the Four Bad Bear markets … first, from MarketWatch: U.S. stocks end worst January on record with more losses The S&P 500 index fell 19 points, or 2.3%, […]
Scientists believe climate change is the cause of stronger winds that drive upwelling of nutrient-rich deep ocean waters The spectre of an ocean floor littered with dead shellfish, rock fish, sea stars and other marine life off the Oregon coast spurred Mark Snyder, a climate change expert, to investigate whether California’s coast faced a similar […]
Native British bees are dying out — and with them will go flora, fauna and one-third of our diet. We may have less than a decade to save them and avert catastrophe. So why is nothing being done? Richard Girling Midwinter. In a garden not far from the sea in Plymouth, there is a splash […]
MARSHES, Iraq (Reuters) – Miles of reed stalks and baked mud are all that can be seen of much of Iraq’s ancient marshes this year, as a lack of water threatens to turn one of the world’s most important wetlands to wasteland. Thought to be the biblical Garden of Eden, Iraq’s marshes have for […]
KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – Rising sea levels are causing salt water to flow into India’s biggest river, threatening its ecosystem and turning vast farmlands barren in the country’s east, a climate change expert warned Monday. A study by an east Indian university in the city of Kolkata revealed surprising growth of mangroves on the […]
