By Chris Hedges 19 August 2018 (Truthdig) – The spectacular rise of human civilization—its agrarian societies, cities, states, empires and industrial and technological advances ranging from irrigation and the use of metals to nuclear fusion—took place during the last 10,000 years, after the last ice age. Much of North America was buried, before the ice […]
By Umair Irfan 21 August 2018(Vox) – Ash and smoke are choking Seattle’s air for the second week in a row, as wildfires smolder in the Cascades and in British Columbia.As of Tuesday morning, the Air Quality Index in Seattle was at 181, a rating classified as “unhealthy.” In parts of the city, the index […]
CHENGANNUR, 21 August 2018 (AFP) – More than one million people have fled to relief camps in the Indian state of Kerala to escape devastating monsoon floods that have killed more than 410 people, as a huge international aid operation gathered pace.People are flocking to camps as the scale of the desolation is revealed by […]
By Kathryn Hansen 17 August 2018(NASA) – In mid-August 2018, deadly blazes across the western United States and Canada continued to destroy structures and disrupt the lives of millions of people. But you did not have to be close to the fires to witness its effects. These images show just how far across North America […]
20 August 2018 (Journeyman Pictures) – In the Australian outback, farmers are suffering the profound consequences of severe drought, the worst for a decade. Three families give their own outlook on the nature of hardship in a changing world. “It attacks you from all angles”, says Brendan Cullen of Kars Station, New South Wales. “The […]
20 August 2018 (The Canadian Press) – Some headway was made over the weekend battling hundreds of blazes across British Columbia, according to crews battling the wildfires, but thick smoke continues to blanket the province and create challenges for communities far from any flames. The B.C. Wildfire Service says there weren’t many lightning strikes last […]
By Scott Sistek 20 August 2018 SEATTLE (KOMO News) – Air quality in some areas of Western Washington has degraded from “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy,” especially in the South Sound as wildfire smoke from British Columbia continues to pour into the region.As of 8 a.m. Monday, monitoring sites in Tacoma, Auburn, and Port Angeles reported […]
By Katharine Murphy 20 August 2018 (The Guardian) – Malcolm Turnbull will face the verdict of his colleagues in a tense party room meeting on Tuesday, after effectively abandoning the government’s signature energy policy in what could be a fruitless attempt to stay ahead of a full blown leadership crisis.The prime minister announced on Monday […]
NEW DELHI, 20 August 2018 (The Times of India) – The massive flood in Kerala has been declared a calamity of severe nature, the Union home ministry said on Monday. “Keeping in view the intensity and magnitude of the floods and landslides in Kerala, this is a calamity of a severe nature for all practical […]
By Jonathan Watts 20 August 2018 (The Guardian) – Summer weather patterns are increasingly likely to stall in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia, according to a new climate study that explains why Arctic warming is making heatwaves elsewhere more persistent and dangerous. Rising temperatures in the Arctic have slowed the circulation of the […]
