16 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Black carbon, the soot produced by burning fossil fuels and biomass, is a more potent atmospheric pollutant than previously thought, according to a four-year international study released on Tuesday. Emitted by diesel engines, brick kilns and wood-fired cookstoves, black carbon is second only to carbon dioxide as the […]
By Mike Pearson14 January 2013 (CNN) – Chris Berkey makes his living plying the often treacherous waters of the Great Lakes, delivering staples like cement to industries nestled in the myriad harbors that dot a coastline that’s equal to nearly half of the circumference of the globe. It’s not glamorous work, but it is critical […]
By MANNY FERNANDEZ12 January 2013 AUSTIN, Texas (The New York Times) – There is usually no shortage of controversial and politically divisive issues for lawmakers to address in the opening days of a state legislative session, from abortion to immigration to gun rights. But throughout the opening of the 83rd Texas Legislature last week, one […]
By Ilya Gridneff and Kristen Amiet15 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – The worst bushfires in NSW for more than a decade have ripped through the state’s north-west, taking 33 homes and destroying 40,000 hectares [154 square miles] of land. More than 80 Rural Fire Service volunteers supported by 18 aircraft spent most of Monday […]
By Ruth Doherty11 January 2013 (AOL) – Incredible pictures of an enormous wall of dust hitting Australia’s west coast have been captured by tugboat workers and plane passengers. The red sand and dust storm headed towards the town of Onslow in north-western Australia, after being picked up by winds in the Indian Ocean. Tugboat worker […]
By David Batty 10 January 2013 (guardian.co.uk) – The Met Office has hit back at claims that it conceded there is no evidence for global warming and that its weather forecasts are inaccurate. The forecaster has published a blog detailing an alleged “series of factual inaccuracies about the Met Office and its science” made in […]
10 January 2013 (The Kansas City Star) – The overwhelming number of scientists who believe in climate change scored another “victory” in 2012. Unfortunately, because of timid political leadership in the United States and around the world, the war against global warming is still being lost. Scientists have long warned that man-made greenhouse gases are […]
By Brian Bowen, bowen@ceres.org, 617-247-0700×14810 January 2013 Boston, Massachusetts (Ceres.org) – The rapid growth in domestic oil production has set the United States on track to become the world’s top oil producer by 2015, but investors are wary of the environmentally damaging practices associated with that growth, specifically the burning off—or flaring—of natural gas that […]
By Luke Harding 9 January 2013 (guardian.co.uk) – The tornadoes of fire came from two directions. They quickly engulfed the small Tasmanian fishing town of Dunally, and swept towards the home where Tim and Tammy Holmes were babysitting their five grandchildren. There was no escape. No way out. And so the family did the only […]
By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent 9 January 2013(guardian.co.uk) – Barack Obama may intervene directly on climate change by hosting a summit at the White House early in his second term, environmental groups say. They say the White House has given encouraging signals to a proposal for Obama to use the broad-based and bipartisan summit […]
