Blogging the End of the World™
By Staff WritersFeb 2, 2011 Beijing (AFP) – Wide swathes of northern China are suffering through their worst drought in 60 years — a dry spell that could have a serious economic impact worldwide if it continues much longer, experts say. Some areas have gone 120 days without any significant rainfall, leaving more than five […]
February 01, 2011 (mongabay.com) – Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry has approved conversion of some 3 million hectares of natural forest in Papua province, on the island of New Guinea, according to new analysis by Greenomics Indonesia, an environmental group. Data from Greenomics Indonesia indicates 17 companies have been granted concessions to clear natural forest in […]
By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.comFebruary 02, 2011 Growing populations, expanding agriculture, commodities such as palm oil and paper, logging, urban sprawl, mining, and other human impacts have pushed many of the world’s great forests to the brink. Yet scientists, environmentalists, and even some policymakers increasingly warn that forests are worth more standing than felled. They argue […]
By Leon GettlerFebruary 1, 2011 Urbanisation, climate change and globalisation are leading to more and bigger catastrophes. THE floods that ravaged Queensland and Victoria are a warning for businesses to overhaul their risk-management strategies. They are events that tell us we are now in a very different world. How different? Erwann Michel-Kerjan, managing director of […]
By Peter GleickJanuary 27, 2011 Peak water is coming. In some places, peak water is here. We’re never going to run out of water — water is a renewable natural resource (mostly). But increasingly, around the world, in the U.S., and locally, we are running up against peak water limits. The concept is so important […]
Contact: Hannah Isom, h.isom@leeds.ac.uk, University of Leeds3 Feb 2011(University of Leeds) New research shows that the 2010 Amazon drought may have been even more devastating to the region’s rainforests than the unusual 2005 drought, which was previously billed as a one-in-100 year event. Analyses of rainfall across 5.3 million square kilometres of Amazonia during the […]
By Malcolm Farr, National Political Editor, news.com.auFebruary 03, 2011 6:00PM THE Government’s global warming adviser Ross Garnaut today warned flood and storm battered Australians: “You ain’t seen nothing yet”. Prof Garnaut said climate change caused by global warming would increase the incidence of severe weather features and cause bigger natural disasters. He did not directly […]
Cars are blocked by flood waters on the Bruce Highway south of Innisfail, Australia, after Cyclone Yasi. The surrounding banana plantation has been destroyed. AAP Cyclone Yasi – Overnight and aftermath Uprooted trees in Queensland, Australia, after Cyclone Yasi. BBC In pictures: Cyclone Yasi A pile-up of boats in Hinchinbrook Marina after Cyclone Yasi. Paul […]
RICHMOND, Vt.— A fast-spreading fungus responsible for the deaths of more than a million bats in the United States has now reached a second Midwestern state. Wildlife officials in Indiana confirm that two bats found in the southern part of the state have the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease that has […]
By Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk Monday 31 January 2011 10.40 GMT The deepest recession since the 1930s has failed to reverse rising global carbon emissions, as plummeting industrial output in the west was offset by the continuing rapid expansion of China and a handful of other emerging economies, new statistics for 2009 show. While […]
