By Jennifer Liberto10 May 2013 WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) – The U.S. flood alarm system is about to get smaller. On May 1, the U.S. Geological Survey began turning off some 150 stream gauges that monitor water levels on the nation’s rivers and streams, thanks to the federal spending cuts, also known as sequester. It’s a one-two […]
By MICHELLE FAUL7 May 2013 JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Scientists say a disease destroying entire crops of cassava has spread out of East Africa into the heart of the continent, is attacking plants as far south as Angola and now threatens to move west into Nigeria, the world’s biggest producer of the potato-like root that helps […]
By Matt Smith27 April 2013 Yscloskey, Louisiana (CNN) – On his dock along the banks of Bayou Yscloskey, Darren Stander makes the pelicans dance. More than a dozen of the birds have landed or hopped onto the dock, where Stander takes in crabs and oysters from the fishermen who work the bayou and Lake Borgne […]
BOSTON, 15 Apr 2013 (Ceres) – A growing chunk of American tax dollars is footing the bill for increasing floods, fires, droughts and other climate related changes taking place in the country, according to new figures compiled by Ceres, a nonprofit organization mobilizing business leadership on climate change. “Climate change is fundamentally changing the United […]
By Barbara Lewis, with additional reporting by Charlie Dunmore; editing by Jane Baird19 April 2013 BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union must take measures to prevent the destruction of crops and property by extreme weather or face instability and deeper social divisions as a result of potential climate change, a European Commission document said. The […]
BY Jon Chavez14 April 2013 (The Blade) – As a meteorologist for FirstEnergy Corp., Pete Manousos’ job is to keep the electric utility informed about any upcoming extreme weather that might cause outages, or hamper repair crews’ ability to restore power. But the last two years, that job has gotten harder and harder. “You have […]
You’ve probably never heard of him, and for years Jeremy Grantham liked it that way. But now the man who made billions by predicting every recent financial crisis is speaking out. By Leo Hickman 12 April 2013 (The Guardian) – One icy morning in February, a train pulled into Washington DC. It was loaded with […]
By Felix Salmon3 April 2013 (Medium) – A few days ago, the value of all the bitcoins in the world blew past $1 billion for the first time ever. That’s an impressive achievement, for a purely virtual currency backed by no central bank or other authority. It’s also temporary: we’re in the middle of a […]
By Brad Plumer 9 April 2013 (Washington Post) – At his confirmation hearing this morning, Energy Secretary nominee Ernest Moniz told the Senate that the United States spends far too little on energy R&D. “We are underinvesting by a factor of three,” he said. Is that accurate? Many energy experts have, indeed, argued over the […]
[cf. Shadow banking grows to $67 trillion industry, regulators say] By Gerard Ryle, Marina Walker Guevara, Michael Hudson, Nicky Hager, Duncan Campbell, and Stefan Candea3 April 2013 (icij.org) – A cache of 2.5 million files has cracked open the secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con men […]
