Blogging the End of the World™
By Tegan Hanlon29 February 2016 (ADN) – How weird has Anchorage’s weather been this winter? Weird enough that an Alaska Railroad spokesman said Monday that a train will deliver seven rail cars loaded with snow to the state’s largest city this week in time for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ceremonial start on Saturday. […]
6 January 2016 (McGill University) – Drought and extreme heat events slashed cereal harvests in recent decades by 9% to 10% on average in affected countries – and the impact of these weather disasters was greatest in the developed nations of North America, Europe, and Australasia, according to a new study led by researchers from […]
By Jonathan Soble, with additional reporting by Makiko Inoue29 February 2016 TOKYO (The New York Times) – Japanese prosecutors indicted three former executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the owner of the ruined Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, on Monday, charging them with criminal negligence for their role in reactor meltdowns after an earthquake […]
1 March 2016 (University of Exeter) – Plastic waste could find its way deep into the ocean through the faeces of plankton, new research from the University of Exeter and Plymouth Marine Laboratory shows. The study is further evidence of the widespread impact plastic pollution could have on the marine environment. Researchers have found tiny […]
By Freddy Cuevas3 March 2016 TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Associated Press) – Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres, who won the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for her role in fighting a dam project, was shot dead Thursday by multiple gunmen who broke into her home, authorities said. Caceres, a 40-year-old Lenca Indian activist, had previously complained of receiving […]
3 March 2016 (UN) – “Time is running out” to end wildlife poaching that threatens some of the world’s most iconic species, such as elephants, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as the United Nations marked its World Wildlife Day. Urging global efforts to protect this essential natural heritage for the current and future generations, much […]
By Sara Sjolin25 February 2016 (MarketWatch) – The risk of a global recession has risen, Citigroup says, as advanced economies such as the U.S. and eurozone show signs of sputtering. The bank’s analysts have cut their global growth forecast for 2016 to 2.5%, where just in January they pegged it at 2.7%. In the middle […]
By Lynda V. Mapes23 February 2016 (Seattle Times) – Puget Sound salmon are on drugs: Prozac, Advil, Benadryl, Lipitor, even cocaine. Those drugs and dozens of others are showing up in the tissues of juvenile chinook, researchers have found, thanks to tainted wastewater discharge. The estuary waters near the outfalls of sewage-treatment plants, and effluent […]
By Chris Mooney 29 February 2016 (Washington Post) – On Sunday night while accepting a long-anticipated Oscar for best actor, for his role in “The Revenant,” Leonardo DiCaprio seized the moment to highlight the plight of the planet. “Making “The Revenant” was about man’s relationship to the natural world,” DiCaprio said. “A world that we […]
By Jason Samenow 23 February 2016 (Washington Post) – This winter’s shocking warmth in the Arctic, some seven degrees above average, has oozed into the Alaska which is experiencing one of its mildest recorded winters. So far this winter, Alaska’s temperature has averaged about 10 degrees above normal, ranking third warmest in records that date […]
