By Peter Hannam, Carbon economy editor8 January 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Australia’s exposure to natural risks is on the increase and governments at all levels should step up joint efforts to limit the losses and prevent insurance costs from spiralling higher, one of the country’s biggest insurers says. Modest investments in flood or fire […]
20 December 2012 (Reuters) – Across the United States, the number of hungry and homeless people is growing, and budget fights at the federal level are threatening the aid many need to survive, the U.S. Conference of Mayors said on Thursday. Amidst the holiday season of family feasts and corporate dinners, the mayors released a […]
By JACK HEALY10 December 2012 SEVERANCE, Colorado (The New York Times) – Since he was a boy in western Colorado, John Bartmann seemed destined to become a sheep man. He raised lambs with the local 4-H club and sheared them for elderly German farmers. His office is lined with paintings of sheep and a plaque […]
By James M. O’Neill, staff writer9 December 2012 (The Record) – The price of protecting New Jersey from rising sea levels and the devastation of future storms is breathtaking, making it seem at times that the problem is insurmountable. Some options that have been floated include $7.4 billion to buy all 13,300 structures in the […]
[This is a very interesting bit of research, but it strikes Desdemona as a case of the broken window fallacy, writ large.] 8 December 2012 (The Economist) – When Superstorm Sandy roared ashore in late October and the lights of lower Manhattan went out, New Yorkers were given a stark vision of a possible future. […]
By Sikander Shaheen6 December 2012 ISLAMABAD (The Nation of Pakistan) – A top UN diplomat has cautioned that Pakistan faces potential threat of flash flooding for the next year, saying that over a million flood-affectees in Sindh are still in need of food assistance. “Climate change is causing extremely unexpected changes in the weather, a […]
By Pete Spotts7 December 2012 (Christian Science Monitor) – Less than 18 months after the US Army Corps of Engineers blasted gaps in a levee on the Mississippi River to cope with a record flood, it’s getting ready to detonate explosives for the opposite reason – to clear rock outcroppings on the bottom of […]
By Johanna Armstrong1 December 2012 BEIJING (NBC News) – With miles of freshly paved roads, little traffic and some seriously avant-garde architecture, the Chinese city of Ordos provides a driving environment most car enthusiasts can only dream of. Yet rich Chinese who have invested in the resource-rich city are now frantically rushing to sell off […]
By Tami Luhby28 November 2012 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – The number of American households receiving food stamps jumped nearly 10% in 2011. Nearly 15 million households were on food stamps at some point last year, up from 13.6 million in 2010, newly released Census data shows. That’s an increase to 13%, up from 11.9% in […]
Unemployment continues to be a major national problem, as this blog and others have covered extensively in recent months. In the article below, writer Sophia Foster looks at how modern college and graduate school students may be able to beat the odds by being strategic in their choice of major and degree program. Ms. Foster […]
