Blogging the End of the World™
By Reem Shamseddine and Barbara Lewis; Editing by Daniel Fineren and Sonya Hepinstall7 September 2011 KHOBAR/LONDON (Reuters) – Long before it understood the value of oil, the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia knew the worth of water. But the leading oil exporter’s water challenges are growing as energy-intensive desalination erodes oil revenues while peak water […]
By Ashley Powers and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times7 September 2011 Reporting from Bastrop, Texas, and Los Angeles – Beleaguered firefighters battling one of the most destructive Texas fire seasons on record found themselves punished not only by searing weather, but by lax brush clearance and dwindling budgets. With no end in sight to scores […]
By Evan Mackinder 23 August 2010 It was supposed to be their time. With significant majorities in Congress, a president promising action and favorable public opinion all on their side, many environmentalists believed their political stars had properly — and finally — aligned. Sensing the unique opportunity to address global warming on a national scale, […]
By Patrick Michels7 September 2011 As fire crews continue battling some of the worst blazes this dry state has seen in years, Texas Gov. Rick Perry took a break from his presidential campaign early this week, for a look at what he called “one of the meanest fires I’ve ever seen,” taking aerial tours of […]
By Julie Cart7 September 2011 The litany of misery playing out in Texas is tough to watch but less difficult to predict. Well before the contagion of wildfires was sparked this week, the state had been experiencing a weather catastrophe. Texas has seen its driest consecutive months since record-keeping began in 1895. Parts of the […]
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR6 September 2011 UNITED NATIONS — The global economy faces a decade-long stagnation because governments are pursuing deficit cuts and other austerity measures rather than providing the needed stimulus packages, said a United Nations economic report released Tuesday. Instead of new regulation of the financial system to address the problems that helped bring […]
By Eric Berger 7 September 2011 A couple of weeks ago I reported on the possibility of the current drought plaguing Texas extending into next summer. This is because of the 50 percent probability that La Niña will redevelop after this fall, bringing another dry winter to the state of Texas. With this in mind, […]
By Christine Stebbins; Editing by Peter Bohan5 September 2011 CHICAGO (Reuters) – It can’t happen here, can it? The United States, the breadbasket and supplier of last resort for a hungry world, has been such an amazing food producer in the last half-century that most Americans take for granted annual bounteous harvests of grain, meat, dairy, […]
By Tamino1 September 2011 Now that August numbers for sea ice area and extent are available from NSIDC, let’s update the prediction of the upcoming September value. This September we’re sure to see either the lowest or the 2nd-lowest extent value on record. This is clear from looking at daily data from JAXA (this year’s […]
By Dan Huber26 August 2011 Texas climatologists have recently stated that the ongoing dry spell is the worst one-year drought since Texas rainfall data started being recorded in 1895. The majority of the state has earned the highest rating of “exceptional” drought and the remaining areas are not far behind with “extreme” or “severe” ratings […]
