By Gerard Wynn5 March 2015 (RTCC) – Severe drought five years ago caused an observed doubling in the rate of tree mortality in the Amazon rainforest, according to a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, 4 March 2015. In addition, the drought caused the forest to take up about 1.4 billion tonnes less […]
By Jenny Barchfield 12 March 2015 RIO DE JANEIRO (Associated Press) – During Rio de Janeiro’s long summers of sticky tropical heat, Viviane Vargas says she needs not one, not two, but three showers a day to feel clean. The saleswoman is not alone: Surveys say Brazilians are the world’s most frequent bathers, taking on […]
By Robin McKie, science editor7 March 2015 (The Guardian) – Water is the driving force of all nature, Leonardo da Vinci claimed. Unfortunately for our planet, supplies are now running dry – at an alarming rate. The world’s population continues to soar but that rise in numbers has not been matched by an accompanying increase […]
By Mídia NINJA and Laura Capriglione 27 February 2015 (NINJA) – The Iguatemi Mall, on Faria Lima Avenue, did not seem to welcome the crowd. Neither did the Rolls Royce store, on Cidade Jardim Avenue. These sacred luxury consumer temples (where the water tanks are always full), lowered their doors before the march that brought […]
By Bob Henson27 February 2015 (Wunderground.com) – […] California is entering its fourth consecutive year of widespread drought, as measured by the U.S. Drought Monitor, which takes into account soil conditions and streamflow as well as precipitation. This is the third multiyear drought in California since 2000, and as Figure 3 shows, it’s the worst […]
By Rory Carroll 7 March 2015 Fresno, California (the Guardian) – Kim Hammond does not want responsibility for her neighbours’ livelihoods, or for the crops which stretch in all directions as far as the eye can see, or for the earth itself in this corner of California. But these days, her little bungalow office in […]
By Bob Henson 27 February 2015 (Wunderground.com) – Californians are watching anxiously to see if a “Miracle March” or “Awesome April” salvages the worst snowpack season on record thus far in parts of the Sierra Nevada. Snow that piles up across the mountain range from autumn through spring furnishes more than 60% of the state’s […]
26 February 2015 (Washington Post) – Aerial view of a depleted water reservoir in São Paulo state, Brazil. The water level of the reservoirs in the Cantareira System in Braganca Paulista, Brazil, is at a tenth of its total capacity, the result of Brazil’s driest summer in 84 years. Photo: Victor Moriyama / Getty Images […]
By Rogerio Jelmayer and Loretta Chao 3 March 2015 SÃO PAULO, Brazil (Wall Street Journal) – Inhabitants of this megacity, suffering through the worst drought in decades, have unwittingly contributed to an outbreak of dengue fever by storing scarce water in open containers. The tropical mosquito-borne virus, which often results in high fever, intense muscle […]
By Everton Fox 26 February 2015 (Al Jazeera) – Downpours have wreaked havoc across São Paulo, causing widespread flooding. Almost 100mm of rain fell in little over an hour on Wednesday, turning streets and avenues into rivers. São Paulo’s Emergency Management Centre recorded 96mm of rain in just 60 minutes. Dozens of cars were submerged, […]
