Blogging the End of the World™
July 16 (Press Trust Of India) – Workers are struggling under intense heat at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with as many as 31 people having fallen sick complaining of apparent symptoms of heat stroke, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co. While the utility, which operates the plant, has taken steps to ease […]
Geneva (AFP) July 11, 2011 – The over-exploitation of the Amu-Darya river which snakes across Afghanistan, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, could threaten the long-term stability of the region, the UN said Monday. The problem dates back to the Soviet era, when a massive cotton growing programme was launched by Moscow, sapping up water and releasing […]
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL9 July 2011 With its dark red and black stripes, spotted fins and long venomous black spikes, the lionfish seems better suited for horror films than consumption. But lionfish fritters and filets may be on American tables soon. An invasive species, the lionfish is devastating reef fish populations along the Florida coast and […]
ScienceDaily (July 14, 2011) — Ocean acidification, a consequence of climate change, could weaken the shells of California mussels and diminish their body mass, with serious implications for coastal ecosystems, UC Davis researchers will report July 15 in the Journal of Experimental Biology. California mussels (Mytilus californianus) live in beds along the western coast of […]
BISLE (SOMALI REGION), 12 July 2011 (IRIN) – Every day, 500g of boiled wheat is divided up between two adults, four children, a calf, a goat and a donkey in the Farah household. It is the only food they have had after rains failed for the past two seasons. The 15kg sack of wheat is […]
ScienceDaily (July 14, 2011) — Dramatic climate swings behind both last year’s Pakistan flooding and this year’s Queensland floods in Australia are likely to continue as the world gets warmer, scientists predict. Researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Leeds have discovered that the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the sloshing of the warmest waters […]
July 14 (Yomiuri Shimbun) – The Fukushima municipal government likely will decontaminate the city’s entire area in response to the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, according to city government sources. Fukushima is the second municipality in Fukushima Prefecture that plans to decontaminate the entire area under its jurisdiction. The first […]
By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer6 July 2011 TEL AVIV – During the hot summer months, Israel has always been synonymous with beautiful sandy beaches and swimming in the warm salty waters of the Mediterranean Sea – but not anymore. It’s now a common sight to see scores of dead, gray jellyfish covering the beaches’ […]
The primary Mata Atlantica forest once stretched over much of the eastern edge of Brazil. Large swaths of it have been eliminated and replaced with eucalyptus plantations. Photos and commentary by Anne Petermann, Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project30 June 2011 On Wednesday, July 29th, around 200 participants divided into 4 groups toured various facilities […]
July 11 (NYT) – […] The pain has spread across 14 states, from Florida, where severe water restrictions are in place, to Arizona, where ranchers could be forced to sell off entire herds of cattle because they simply can’t feed them. In Texas, where the drought is the worst, virtually no part of the state […]
