Rising seas threaten 20 million people in Bangladesh

By David Shukman, BBC News, Bangladesh Up to 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh are at risk from rising sea levels in the coming decades, according to new research. Scientists predict that salty water could reach far inland, making it hard to cultivate staple foods like rice. The research comes as the government appeals for […]

Bubbling cauldrons of methane gas

Unimaginable quantities of methane — a greenhouse gas 20 to 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide — are stored underground in the Arctic. Some of it is leaking out By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press You can see them from shore along the Arctic coast or even in some northern lakes — seething domes […]

Kerala, India: ‘the land can no longer support us’

By Grace Boyle Mutai came to Kerala, to this farm, on January 21st, 1951. He was eleven years old then, and has lived here ever since. He’s dark-skinned, white-haired and wearing a bright blue check lunghi [a wrap-around piece of material worn as a skirt], as all the farmers here wear. A granddad vest, a […]

Battle for Europe's last ancient forest

Climate change, border disputes and the opposition of residents to expansion threaten eastern Poland’s unique woodlands. By Gabriela Baczynska A contest between competing needs of conservation and economic growth is threatening the future of large parts of Europe’s last ancient forest. The 380,000-acre Bialowieza Primeval Forest, which straddles the border between Poland and Belarus, is […]

New El Niño threatens world with weather woe

Forecasters say this one is brewing up to be the second-strongest on record By Michael McCarthy, Environment editor A new El Niño has begun. The sporadic Pacific Ocean warming, which can disrupt weather patterns across the world, is intensifying, say meteorologists. So, over the next few months, there may be increased drought in Africa, India […]

Kenya drought ‘passed emergency levels months ago’

As one devastating drought follows another, the future is bleak for millions in east Africa. John Vidal reports from Moyale, Kenya By John Vidal We met Isaac and Abdi, Alima and Muslima last week in the bone-dry, stony land close to the Ethiopia-Kenya border. They were with five nomad families who have watched all their […]

Herring season canceled in San Francisco Bay

By Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer State wildlife regulators canceled the San Francisco Bay herring fishing season for the first time Thursday, hoping to rebuild a population that has plunged dangerously low. The 4-0 vote by the state Fish and Game Commission follows a long decline in bay herring. The drop is blamed on environmental […]

Fall colors fade in U.S. West as aspen trees die

  By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) – The American West is losing its autumn colors as global warming begins to bite and there is far more at stake than iconic scenery. Aspen, the white-barked trees with golden leaves that gave their name to the famed Colorado ski resort, have been dying off across the […]

Graph of the Day: 2000-Year Reconstruction of Arctic Temperatures

Fig. 3. (A and B) Composite of 23 high-resolution proxy climate records from the Arctic. Values are 10-year means standardized relative to the reference period of 980 to 1800. (A) Records subdivided by source of proxy information: trees, ice, and lakes, with the running count of records. (B) Records subdivided by those that extend 2000 […]

Climate change and overfishing are altering the Atlantic ocean ecosystem

By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press Writer PORTLAND, Maine – The basic makeup of the ocean waters off the Northeast and the mid-Atlantic region has fundamentally changed in the past 40 years because of climate change, commercial fishing pressures and growing coastal populations, according to a new report. The 2009 Ecosystem Status Report says fish populations […]

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