Blogging the End of the World™
By Jeremy Hance8 April 2013 (mongabay.com) – Less than 100 Sumatran rhinos survive in the world today, according to a bleak new population estimate by experts. The last survey in 2008 estimated that around 250 Sumatran rhinos survived, but that estimate now appears optimistic and has been slashed by 60 percent. However conservationists are responding […]
9 April 2013 (APNZ) – Wellington’s water ban has been lifted almost four weeks since sprinklers fell silent across the capital. Regional authorities introduced a total ban on outdoor water use in mid-March after revealing there were only 20 days of water supply left. They also started drawing water from the Hutt River and urged […]
By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle; Editing by Peter Graff7 April 2013 OSLO (Reuters) – Climate change could get worse quickly if huge amounts of extra heat absorbed by the oceans are released back into the air, scientists said after unveiling new research showing that oceans have helped mitigate the effects of warming since 2000. Heat-trapping […]
By MICHAEL WINES6 April 2013 (The New York Times) – Florida’s endangered manatees, already reeling from an unexplained string of deaths in the state’s east coast rivers, have died in record numbers from a toxic red algae bloom that appears each year off the state’s west coast, state officials and wildlife experts say. The tide […]
By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai6 April 2013 (Mashable) – Climate change and global warming may cause sea levels to rise and flood coastal cities across the world. Over the past century, the Global Mean Sea Level has risen by 4 to 8 inches. And according to estimates by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (PDF), it will […]
7 April 2013 (Kyodo) – Around 120 tons of contaminated water with an estimated 710 billion becquerels of radioactivity has probably leaked into the ground under the Fukushima No. 1 power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. revealed Saturday. “It is the largest amount of radioactive substances that has been leaked” since the crippled facility’s cold […]
7 April 2013 (Voice of Russia) – The material damage from the recent flood in La Plata, Argentina, exceeds $500 million, according to a report just released by the city authorities. 51 people died and more than 350,000 were displaced and almost one-fouth of local buildings were damaged by a long spate of torrential rains that […]
By Phil Plait5 April 2013 “Against unreason, the gods themselves contend in vain.” —with apologies to Friedrich Schiller (Slate.com) – Lately I’ve been trying to write more about science, rather than write about those who attack it. I love science, and I love promoting it. It gives us wonder, knowledge, advances in technology and medicine, […]
5 April 2013 (Reuters) – A cool spring in the Midwest has farmers eager for soils to warm up before planting what is expected to be the region’s biggest crop in decades. Farmers this week could begin planting corn in many spots across the upper Midwest, according to insurance policies that cover costs if they […]
By STEPHANIE STROM5 April 2013 BLOOMING GROVE, Texas (The New York Times) – Gary Price is a rarity among cattle ranchers these days. He’s making money on his herd of 200 cows in this tiny town about an hour south of Dallas-Fort Worth. “The market is very good, and we’ve been able to keep what […]
