Contacts: Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces Society, (503) 449-3792Noah Greenwald, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 484-7495 16 December 2011 GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Montana – In response to a scientific petition from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today determined that the western glacier stonefly, an […]
By Richard Heinberg 10 January 2012 From competition among hunter-gatherers for wild game to imperialist wars over precious minerals, resource wars have been fought throughout history; today, however, the competition appears set to enter a new—and perhaps unprecedented—phase. As natural resources deplete, and as the Earth’s climate becomes less stable, the world’s nations will likely […]
CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, (703) 276-3266, or pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com10 January 2012 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Faced with inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and proliferation, and continuing inaction on climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) announced today that it has moved the hands of its famous “Doomsday Clock” to five minutes to midnight. The last […]
By Cassandra James, Asia Travel Examiner4 January 2012 Just as the north of Thailand and Bangkok has begun the clean-up after our massive flooding that lasted more than three months, the south of the country is now experiencing flooding — for the third time in just a few months. While some southern cities like Nakhon […]
By DAVID LESTER, The Yakima Herald-Republic8 January 2012 YAKIMA, Washington (AP) – Spectacular on a clear, sunny day, Mount Adams rises a scant 53 miles from Yakima. But the mountain holds what until now has been pretty much a secret. In the first comprehensive study of its kind, a Portland State University study has found […]
By By Richard Black, Environment correspondent, BBC News9 January 2012 Human emissions of carbon dioxide will defer the next Ice Age, say scientists. The last Ice Age ended about 11,500 years ago, and when the next one should begin has not been entirely clear. Researchers used data on the Earth’s orbit and other things to […]
By Mark Tran, www.guardian.co.uk 9 January 2012 Governments in the Sahel and international relief agencies have been quick off the mark in acknowledging a looming food crisis. Last October, the government in drought-hit Niger – where almost 1 million people are in urgent need of food after a poor harvest – drafted a response plan, […]
Projected annual changes in dryness assessed from changes in soil moisture (soil moisture anomalies, SMA). Increased dryness is indicated with yellow to red colors; decreased dryness with green to blue. Projected changes are expressed in units of standard deviation of the interannual variability in the three 20-year periods 1980-1999, 2046-2065 and 2081-2100. The figure shows […]
HOUSTON, January 7 (AP) – The National Weather Service says 2011 was Texas’ driest year on record as well as its second hottest. The agency said Friday the average rainfall for the drought-stricken state last year was 14.88 inches. The previous driest average total was in 1917 with 14.99 inches. The weather service says 2011’s […]
By David Archer7 January 2012 Let’s suppose that the Arctic started to degas methane 100 times faster than it is today. I just made that number up trying to come up with a blow-the-doors-off surprise, something like the ozone hole. We ran the numbers to get an idea of how the climate impact of an […]