Melting Arctic sea ice will allow ice-strengthened vessels to sail directly over the pole by 2050

By John Vidal 4 March 2013 (guardian.co.uk) – Ships should be able to sail directly over the north pole by the middle of this century, considerably reducing the costs of trade between Europe and China but posing new economic, strategic and environmental challenges for governments, according to scientists. The dramatic reduction in the thickness and […]

Q and A: The Angry Economist – ‘Natural gas gives America an excuse not to do anything now’

By Lisa Palmer1 March 2013 (The New York Times) – Dieter Helm has long been frustrated that, despite more than two decades of international negotiations, the world has failed to tackle climate change. So he got angry, he said, and decided to write a book about it: The Carbon Crunch: How We’re Getting Climate Change […]

Global warming and airflow changes ‘caused U.S. and E.U. heatwaves’ – ‘During several recent extreme weather events these planetary waves almost freeze in their tracks for weeks’

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Andrew Heavens 26 February 2013 OSLO (Reuters) – Global warming may have caused extreme events such as a 2011 drought in the United States and a 2003 heatwave in Europe by slowing vast, wave-like weather flows in the northern hemisphere, scientists said on Tuesday. The study of meandering […]

Woodland heists: Rising energy costs drive up forest thievery in Germany

By Renuka Rayasam17 January 2013 (Der Spiegel) – With snow blanketing the ground, it’s the perfect time of year to snuggle up in front of a fireplace. That, though, makes German foresters nervous. When the mercury falls, the theft of wood in the country’s woodlands goes up as people turn to cheaper ways to heat […]

The year ahead in the Eurozone: lower risks, same problems

By Nouriel Roubini  14 January 2013  Financial conditions in the eurozone have significantly improved since the summer, when eurozone risks peaked because of German policymakers’ open consideration of a Greek exit, and the sovereign spreads of Italy and Spain reached new heights. The day before European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s famous speech in London […]

Climate change threatens French wine

By Marie Doezema1 January 2013 PARIS, France (Global Post) – From rising shorelines to devastating hurricanes, the visible effects scientists say climate change is wreaking on daily life no longer surprise many people around the world. The French have their own take on just how radically life may change. “In 20 years, the English will […]

Plastic chokes oceans and trashes beaches

By Karin Schulze23 December 2012 (SPIEGEL) – A new exhibition in Hamburg seeks to alert people to the dangers of the plastic in our daily lives, painting a stark picture of how it accumulates in the world’s oceans. It reveals how plastic particles can enter into the food chain and return to us through our […]

Big nations block curbs on tuna overfishing

Manila, 6 December 2012 (AFP) – Efforts to curb overfishing of tuna in the Pacific were blocked by big countries that refused to cut their catch at a meeting of tuna-fishing nations in the Asia-Pacific, delegates said Thursday. The Western and Central Pacific Commission, comprising 30 member nations and territories, ended a five-day meeting in […]

Mortality of biggest and oldest trees around the world is increasing rapidly, study warns

By JIM ROBBINS7 December 2012 The death rate of many of the biggest and oldest trees around the world is increasing rapidly, scientists report in a new study in Friday’s issue of the journal Science. They warned that research to understand and stem the loss of the trees is urgently needed. “It’s a worldwide problem […]

Shadow banking grows to $67 trillion industry, regulators say

By Ben Moshinsky and Jim Brunsden18 November 2012 (Bloomberg) – The shadow banking industry has grown to about $67 trillion, $6 trillion bigger than previously thought, leading global regulators to seek more oversight of financial transactions that fall outside traditional oversight. The size of the shadow banking system, which includes the activities of money market […]

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