By Anthony Morland 16 October 2017(IRIN) – Even at the best of times, the people of Turkana live on the edge. Almost all of the 1.3 million inhabitants of this arid county in northwest Kenya endure extreme poverty.Malnutrition rates are among the highest in the country. Since much of the land here is unsuitable for […]
16 October 2017 (Protect Mother Earth) – Hurricane Ophelia’s strong winds are blamed for fanning flames of deadly forest fires in Portugal and Spain At least six people have been killed and around 25 others injured – mainly firefighters – during Portugal’s worst day of the year for forest fires. Around 500 blazes were reported […]
By Umair Irfan 15 October 2017 (Vox) – Raging infernos in California are burning through shrub land and neighborhoods while inching perilously close to San Francisco and Los Angeles.This year is shaping up to be one of the state’s worst fire seasons ever, as windswept flames have scorched more than 214,000 acres and caused at […]
By Mike Carlowicz 11 October 2017 (NASA) – Devastating wildfires have burned through California’s wine country since October 8, 2017, taking dozens of lives and leaving thousands of people homeless. Even communities distant from the fires have been plagued by poor air quality, as the smoke plumes have darkened skies and canceled school and other […]
By Cleve R. Wootson Jr., Kristine Phillips, Joel Achenbach, and Herman Wong 12 October 2017 SANTA ROSA, California (The Washington Post) – The winds fanning wildfires in Northern California’s wine-country have calmed, for now, giving firefighters a badly needed break from the “red flag” conditions that have made this menacing arc of flames so deadly […]
By Sue Branford and Maurício Torres 11 October 2017 (Mongabay) – Figures from the Brazilian government’s INPE (National Institute of Space Research) show that 2017 is shaping up to be the worst year on record for forest fires: 208,278 were detected by 5 October 2017. Alberto Setzer, who runs INPE’s fire monitoring department, told Mongabay […]
By Phil Willon, Paige St. John, Louis Sahagun, Chris Megerian, and Alene Tchekmedyian 12 October 2017 SANTA ROSA, California (The Los Angeles Times) – The death toll rose to 23 from the rapidly spreading firestorm in California wine country as officials issued more evacuations Thursday morning across the region. With winds picking up, it was […]
By Eillie Anzilotti 4 October 2017 (Fast Company) – Since 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research arm of the Economist group, has compiled a yearly assessment of the ability of 113 countries to feed their populations. This year, the Global Food Security Index recorded a slip in food security for the first time after […]
By Steve Hanley 29 September 2017 (CleanTechnica) – Phoenix, Arizona, is America’s fifth largest city. As you fly in to Sky Harbor airport, the city stretches from horizon to horizon beneath you. It’s hot in Phoenix. Always has been. The people who live there laugh about it, calling it a “dry heat” because there is […]
By Anastasia Selby 14 September 2017 (Vox) – The mundane days all run together. But those days when I was genuinely unsure if I would make it to the end of my shift intact are the ones that stand out. I remember fighting a fire on the Angeles National Forest in 2002. Our crew flew […]
