Video: A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never.

An op-ed by Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org, narrated and illustrated by Stephen Thomson of Plomomedia.com Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago […]

Brazil approves massive Amazon dam for construction

Reporting by Leonardo Goy, Raymond Colitt; Editing by Reese Ewing and Eric Beech1 June 2011 (Reuters) – Brazil’s environment agency gave its definitive approval on Wednesday for construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, a controversial $17 billion project in the Amazon that has drawn criticism from native Indians and conservationists. The regulator, Ibama, issued […]

Murder of activists raises questions of justice in Amazon

By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF28 May 2011 Early last Tuesday, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva, a forest activist and tree nut harvester, and his wife, Maria do Espirito Santo, drove a motorcycle through Brazil’s northern Para State, in the Amazon rain forest. As they crossed a river bridge, gunmen lying in wait opened fire with a […]

A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never!

By Bill McKibben23 May 2011 Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, Ala., or the enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that […]

Brazil confirms big jump in Amazon deforestation

By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com18 May 2011 New data from the Brazilian government seem to confirm environmentalists’ fears that farmers and ranchers are clearing rainforest in anticipation of a weakening of the country’s rules governing forest protection. Wednesday, Brazil’s National Space Research Agency (INPE) announced a sharp rise in deforestation in March and April relative […]

Amazon deforestation increases sharply while forest code debated

By Rhett A. Butler, www.mongabay.com16 May 2011 Deforestation has increased sharply in Mato Grosso over the past nine months according to information leaked to Folha.com. The news, revealed during a lecture last Friday in Cuiaba, is significant because INPE, Brazil’s space research agency that tracks deforestation has unusually not provided any updates from its rapid […]

NASA satellites detect extensive drought impact on Amazon forests – ‘2010 was the driest year on record based on 109 years of Rio Negro water level data’

By Ruth Dasso Marlaire, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.29 March 2011 A new NASA-funded study has revealed widespread reductions in the greenness of the forests in the vast Amazon basin in South America caused by the record-breaking drought of 2010. “The greenness levels of Amazonian vegetation — a measure of its health — decreased […]

Decline of fruit-loving tambaqui fish could damage Amazon forests

By Lewis SmithMarch 23 2011 The dramatic decline of a fruit-eating fish reputed to be among the most delicious freshwater species in the world could have severe consequences for the health of the Amazonian forests, researchers have found. Tambaqui, which have slumped by 90 per cent since the 1970s because of overfishing, have been found […]

Flooding at home, not polar bears, convinces people of man made climate change

Pictures of polar bears on melting ice caps make little difference to climate campaigns because people do not care about global warming until it happens on their doorstep, a survey has found. By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent 21 Mar 2011 Nick Pidgeon, Professor of Environmental Psychology at Cardiff University, showed for the first time that […]

Guyana deforestation rate triples despite funding for forest protection

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, March 7, 2011 (ENS) – Deforestation rates in the South American country of Guyana have increased during the last year, despite a 2009 agreement with the Norwegian government aimed at supporting forest protection to avert climate change, the nonprofit watchdog organization Global Witness said today. Signed in November 2009 and worth up to […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial