By James Meikle, www.guardian.co.uk Thursday 20 January 2011 14.15 GMT Populations of wild birds in the UK are falling dramatically with even slight recent recoveries apparently stalled, government figures showed today. Only seabird populations remain comfortably above 1970 levels, while farmland bird numbers continue to plunge from a brief mid-1970s peak to half those of […]
By Mike Taugher, Contra Costa TimesPosted: 01/19/2011 04:05:56 PM PST Bob Bea has investigated such high-profile disasters as the Exxon Valdez spill, the Deepwater Horizon blast, Hurricane Katrina and the space shuttle Columbia, which exploded in 2003. But the UC engineer and associate director of the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM) says the problems […]
By Anthony Deutsch in CianjurJanuary 16 2011 20:44 Indonesian farmer Ujang Majudin pointed to rows of rotting chilli peppers, tomatoes and egg plants as clouds gathered again over his fields, already water-logged by incessant rain. With sharply declining yields and revenue, he faces the toughest season since taking over the family farm 15 years ago. […]
By Johann HariMonday, Jan. 10, 2011, at 6:51 AM ET When Jonathan Watts was a child, he was warned: “If everyone in China jumps at exactly the same time, it will shake the earth off its axis and kill us all.” Three decades later, he stood in the gray sickly smog of Beijing, wheezing and […]
CBC NewsFriday, January 7, 2011 | 3:50 PM ET Severe flooding in eastern Australia that forced thousands of people to flee their homes ended one of the wettest years ever recorded. The second half of 2010 was the rainiest since record-keeping began in 1900, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology reported [pdf] in its annual climate statement […]
By John Platt Jan 6, 2011 11:20 AM Six Australian birds that have not been seen in decades have been declared extinct by a team of scientists assessing the health of the country’s bird species. In most cases they could have been saved, says team leader Stephen Garnett, professor of tropical knowledge at Charles Darwin […]
By Nick Sundt11/23/2010 The Amazon region is experiencing the third extreme drought in a dozen years — and it may turn out to be the worst on record. The droughts coupled with recent research findings, suggest that rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will rapidly increase the frequency and severity of droughts in the region. […]
By Hasan Mansoor (AFP)Dec 15, 2010 KHAIRPUR NATHANSHAH, Pakistan — Hajani Chandio broke down in tears when she came home after three months in a refugee camp following the catastrophic floods that ravaged Pakistan earlier this year. “My house looked like a huge rubbish dump. It was littered with rubbish and the smell was unbearable. […]
By Rudy RuitenbergJan 5, 2011 4:24 AM PT World food prices rose to a record in December on higher sugar, grain and oilseed costs, the United Nations said, exceeding levels reached in 2008 that sparked deadly riots from Haiti to Egypt. An index of 55 food commodities tracked by the Food and Agriculture Organization gained […]
By Mason Inman for National Geographic News Published December 31, 2010 This story is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues. Nearly a third of India is suffering from chronic water shortages, and making up for it with “the world’s largest groundwater mining operation,” according to experts. A band of […]
