Warnings from 2007: The Age Of Megafires

(CBS) This story was first published on Oct. 21, 2007. It was updated on Sept. 3, 2009. […] 60 Minutes joined up with Tom Boatner, who after 30 years on the fire line, became chief of fire operations for the federal government. “A fire of this size and this intensity in this country would have […]

Climate change could double flood risk to central Russia: Emergencies Ministry

MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) – The volume of annual runoff of almost all of Russia’s rivers will be substantially affected by global climate change, the Emergencies Ministry’s Natural Disaster Center said on Wednesday. “Owing to the expected shifts in temperature and rainfall amounts, the annual runoff of rivers located in the Central and the […]

Spain’s building spree leaves some airports and roads begging to be used

By RAPHAEL MINDER24 June 2011 MADRID — In March, local officials inaugurated a new airport in Castellón, a small city on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. They are still waiting for the first scheduled flight. To justify the grand opening, Carlos Fabra, the head of Castellón’s provincial government, argued that it was a unique opportunity to turn […]

Europe braces for serious crop losses, blackouts as record dry season persists

By Jeremy Lovell, E&E European correspondent13 June 2011 LONDON — One of the driest spring seasons on record in northern Europe has sucked soils dry and sharply reduced river levels to the point that governments are starting to fear crop losses and France, in particular, is bracing for blackouts as its river-cooled nuclear power plants […]

Environmentalists, tuna poachers battle at sea

By Don Melvin11 June 2011 Tuna fishermen confronted environmentalists on the Mediterranean on Saturday, as activists attempted to disrupt illegal tuna fishing under the no-fly zone north of Libya. The fishermen attacked the Steve Irwin, owned by the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, by hurling heavy metal chain links aboard. They also attempted to lay […]

Europe prays for rain as drought worsens – Danube river level falls to 100-year low

By Peggy Hollinger in Paris, Chris Bryant in Vienna, and Gerrit Wiesmann in BerlinJune 8 2011 Europe is in the grip of a new north-south divide. Yet this time the gap is not about economic competitiveness but rainfall, and it is the north, not the south, that is lagging behind. While southern Europe experienced a […]

Video: A link between climate change and Joplin tornadoes? Never.

An op-ed by Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org, narrated and illustrated by Stephen Thomson of Plomomedia.com Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago […]

Graph of the Day: Total Nitrogen Emissions in Spain During 1990-2006

Map of total nitrogen emissions from Spain according to the EMEP model for the period 1990-2006 (data from EMEP reduced to half-degree cell). A nitrophilous index was calculated using over 750,000 occurrence records of plants that had been indexed at GBIF for the Iberian Peninsula by March, 2009. To construct this index, the annual number […]

Wheat fields wilt in drought as parched earth spreads from China to Kansas – ‘I’ve never seen so many problems in so many places’

By Luzi Ann Javier, Madelene Pearson, and Whitney McFerron; William Bi in Beijing, Phoebe Sedgman in Wellington, Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore, and Tony Dreibus in London; Editors: James Poole, Steve Stroth 6 June 2011 The worst droughts in decades are wilting wheat fields from China to the U.S. to the U.K., overwhelming Russia’s return to […]

France farmers in crisis with worst drought in 50 years, hottest year in a century

By Tony Todd1 June 2011 The spring of 2011 has been the driest in decades and the hottest in a century, a deep concern for France’s indebted farming community. The younger generation, which has borrowed heavily to invest in properties, is most gravely affected. The worst drought in decades threatens to cripple France’s agricultural sector, […]

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