New melt-rate estimate for glaciers is 30 percent lower than previous estimates, still ‘a large number, and represents a lot of melting ice’

By Michael Marshall, environment reporter9 February 2012 What on Earth is going on with the world’s glaciers? Reports today suggest that the Himalayan glaciers have not lost any [as much –Des] mass in the last decade [as previously thought –Des]. But while that comes as a real surprise, the global pattern remains basically the same. […]

Extremely high levels of radioactive cesium found in earthworm castings from Fukushima soil

By arevamirpal::laprimavera 7 February 2012 There was a piece of news about 20,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium found in earthworms collected in Kawauchi-mura, Fukushima Prefecture (20 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant) in Mainichi Shinbun (2/6/2012). The article says the researchers at the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, a government institution, found radioactive […]

Video: Japan exclusion zone’s lone resident – ‘I’m completely contaminated’

[As always, apologies for the ad.] One man refuses to leave his home in Japan’s mandatory evacuation zone near Fukushima. CNN’s Kyung Lah reports. Japan exclusion zone’s lone resident Technorati Tags: Fukushima,Japan,Asia,infrastructure failure,pollution

China’s largest freshwater lake dries up

By Harold Thibault, Guardian Weekly31 January 2012 For visitors expecting to see China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang is a desolate spectacle. Under normal circumstances it covers 3,500 sq km, but last month only 200 sq km were underwater. A dried-out plain stretches as far as the eye can see, leaving a pagoda perched on top […]

Iraq water crisis could stir ethnic clash

Baghdad, 27 January 2012 (UPI) – Iraq is facing worsening water shortages caused by the failure of successive postwar governments to ensure supplies and extensive dam-building in neighboring states that could trigger sectarian conflict. “One prediction, which has yet to come true, has been made repeatedly by former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali since 1988: That […]

Now they tell us: Detection of high-level cesium-134 in Nagasaki City in April 2011

By arevamirpal::laprimavera 28 January 2012 Toshihiro Takatsuji, associate professor at Nagasaki University announced the result of his measurement of radioactive cesium in the air at an international symposium, and said a high level of cesium-134 (11,300 becquerels/kg) was detected from the dust collected in the filter paper in early April last year in Nagasaki City, […]

Activists crack China’s wall of denial about air pollution

By SHARON LaFRANIERE27 January 2012 BEIJING – Weary of waiting for the authorities to alert residents to the city’s most pernicious air pollutant, citizen activists last May took matters here into their own hands: they bought their own $4,000 air-quality monitor and posted its daily readings on the Internet. That began a chain reaction. Volunteers […]

Graph of the Day: National Current-Account Balances as a Percentage of World Gross Product, 1996-2013

The large and persistent external imbalances in the global economy that have developed over the past decade remain a point of concern for policymakers. Reducing these imbalances has been the major focus of consultations among G20 Finance Ministers under the G20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth and the related Mutual Assessment Process (MAP) […]

Pakistan PM wants to work with India on climate change

DAVOS, 26 January 2012 (The Times of India) – Pointing out that Pakistan has “excellent” relationship with India, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said cooperation between the two to tackle climate change was “doable”. He said Islamabad wants to work with New Delhi on this front. “Yes, certainly there can be cooperation. We […]

‘Monster’ rules Nepal village on frontline of global warming

By Gopal Sharma; editing by Paul Casciato27 January 2012 BARAHBISE, Nepal (Reuters) – Looking at the swirling grey waters of the Bhote Koshi River, Ratna Kaji remembers when it turned into a “monster,” leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. “It came down roaring, washed away homes and people when they were sleeping,” the […]

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