BANGKOK, November 8 (AFP) – The Thai capital, built on swampland, is slowly sinking and the floods currently besieging Bangkok could be merely a foretaste of a grim future as climate change makes its impact felt, experts say. The low-lying metropolis lies about 30km north of the Gulf of Thailand, where various experts forecast that […]
By Yereth Rosen; Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Peter Bohan, and Paul Simao10 November 2011 Anchorage, Alaska (Reuters) – A storm forecast to be one of the worst on record in Alaska lashed the state’s western coastline Wednesday, tearing roofs off buildings and pushing water and debris into communities, authorities said. The storm, which began hitting […]
November 9 (CNN) – A winter storm of hurricane strength was slamming Alaska early Wednesday with winds of up to 100 mph, high seas and blizzard conditions. The National Weather Service called the storm moving into the state off the Bering Sea “a powerful and extremely dangerous storm of record or near-record magnitude.” Early Wednesday, […]
By Lord Julian Hunt and Professor Yuguo Li Oct 31, 2011 08:41 EDT The world population has officially reached seven billion, according to the UN. This historic landmark reminds us of the massive challenges, including here in Europe, created by an ever-increasing number of humans on the planet. Growing populations are also driving another mega […]
October 19 (U. of Copenhagen) – Rising sea levels in the coming centuries is perhaps one of the most catastrophic consequences of rising temperatures. Massive economic costs, social consequences and forced migrations could result from global warming. But how frightening of times are we facing? Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute are part of a […]
By AMELIA HOLOWATY KRALES18 October 2011 Tuvalu, a tiny archipelago of nine South Pacific islands threatened by rising seas, is on the front lines of the planet’s climate change debate. Current projections indicate that it will become unlivable within 50 years, resulting in an exodus and the erasure of a rich 3,000-year-old culture. In global […]
October 05 (AFP) – A SECOND South Pacific community has called a state of emergency as water rationing continues in parts of the area. Tokelau, a New Zealand-administered territory of about 1400 people, has less than a week’s drinking water after a long drought blamed on a La Niña weather pattern, Foreign Minister Murray McCully […]
By Tom Levitt30 September 2011 The popularity of tropical shrimp – often marketed as scampi, giant shrimp, gambas or tiger prawns – is having a devastating impact on local communities in Bangladesh, reveals a new investigation produced in conjunction with the Ecologist’s film partner. Sales of frozen prawns have soared in recent years, eaten deep-fried, […]
By Joe Romm 12 October 2011 In one of the most flagrant recent instances of scientific censorship, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) refused to publish a report chapter unless all mention of climate change and its impact on sea level rise were eliminated. The author — Rice University oceanographer John Anderson, a leading […]
SYDNEY, October 6 (The Economist) – ONE canary in the climate-change coalmine may have just quietly fallen from her perch. The tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has declared a state of emergency after a fresh water shortage forced it to shutter its schools and hospitals and begin water rationing across the country. Observers blame […]
