‘No containment’ of ‘unprecedented’ Texas wildfire – 3.6 million acres burned since December – ‘We’ve never seen fire seasons like this’

By Dave Montgomery, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, with contributions from Anna Tinsley and Alex Branch5 September 2011 BASTROP, Texas — Firefighters from across the state swarmed into Central Texas on Labor Day to combat devastating wildfires that left hundreds homeless and prompted Gov. Rick Perry to abruptly return from a scheduled East Coast political appearance. At […]

Dry spell in Papua New Guinea leaves thousands food insecure, ‘but the problem of increasing rainfall is far more insidious’

BANGKOK, 5 September 2011 (IRIN) – Aid workers say more than 6,000 people on a remote cluster of islands off the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea (PNG) have been left food insecure following an extended dry spell. “The situation is now under control, but these people will need food in three months,” Ruger Kahwa, […]

Summer 2011: Twelve weeks of exceptional drought in the U.S.

By Eric Luebehusen, U.S. Department of Agriculture31 August 2011 Southern Plains: The beat goes on across the southern Plains.  In Texas and southern Oklahoma, another week of above-normal temperatures (up to 14°F above normal, with highs eclipsing 110°F) and sunny skies further offset the benefits of early month rainfall.   Consequently, drought intensified over many of […]

Eritrea’s secret famine crisis – ‘They are being left to starve’

By Samuel Okocha4 September 2011 There is reportedly growing evidence that Eritrea, like other countries in the horn of Africa, is suffering famine despite government’s claims that the population has the food it needs. Over 12 million people are said to be affected by drought and famine-the worst in the region in 60 years. Eritrea […]

Graph of the Day: Shift of Alaska Marine Species Northward, 1982-2006

Increased temperatures pose a threat to the region’s fisheries and other marine species, which are important both to the economy and as a food supply, especially to Native populations. Warmer air and water temperatures have already resulted in a shift northward of species important to the region, with implications for the ecosystem and local communities. […]

Photo gallery: Dry season: the Texas drought of 2011

Photographs by Jay JannerStory by Brenda BellAustin American-Statesman staff The meanest drought in modern Texas history looks different out here, away from the cities. There are no emerald swaths of St. Augustine lawns, no blooming shrubs, no misters cooling bar patrons as the sun goes down on another cloudless, 105-degree day. The disconnect between what […]

Iran government crackdown on activists over imperiled Lake Orumieh

[Update: Replaced “Azerbaijan” with “Iran” in the headline, thanks to reader Steve Bloom’s correction of Desdemona’s faulty geography.] By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI4 September 2011 Demonstrations were held Saturday in Tabriz and Orumieh — the capitals of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan provinces, respectively — and in several other towns in the two provinces to protest the […]

Video: Tropical storm Talas batters Japan

  September 3 (ITN) – Tropical storm Talas has hit the island of Shikoku, causing flooding which has killed two and left five missing. Technorati Tags: Japan,Asia,flood,global warming,climate change

Persistent drought plagues southwest China

GUIYANG, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) – A persistent drought in southwest China’s Guizhou Province has created a water shortage for 5.5 million people and 2.8 million livestock, local authorities said. Nearly 70 of the province’s counties and cities have been plagued by the drought, according to a meteorological monitoring report released on Monday. There will be […]

No relief in Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp

August 30 (Al Jazeera) – As Muslims around the world mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan and celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, many Somali Muslims will not be able to participate due to the ongoing famine in the Horn of Africa. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis, threatened by drought and civil war, have wound […]

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