Graph of the Day: Trends in April Snowpack in the Western US and Canada, 1950–2000

This map shows trends in snow water equivalent in the western United States and part of Canada. Negative trends are shown by red circles and positive trends by blue. • From 1950 to 2000, April snow water equivalent declined at most of the measurement sites (see Figure 1), with some relative losses exceeding 75 percent. […]

Image of the Day: Macquarie Marshes at Quambone Station, NSW Australia

The Macquarie Marshes – a vast, tangled sprawl of creeks and swamps between Nyngan and Walgett in the state’s northwest – has declined by about half since the 1960s because of the drought and the diversion of water for irrigation. … ”About 50 per cent of the wetland area is gone and more has been […]

Photo gallery: Beyond Reasonable Drought

Beyond Reasonable Drought is a Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House travelling exhibition in association with the MAP Group — Many Australian Photographers. It features images by some of Australia’s best photographers, documenting the impact of the drought on the land, people and psyche of rural and urban Australia. Beyond Reasonable Drought Technorati […]

Nigeria records 3,000 oil spills since 2006

Lagos (AFP) July 27, 2010 – Nigeria, the eight largest oil exporter, recorded at least 3,000 oil spills between 2006 and last month, the environment minister said Tuesday. Evoking the figure at a meeting with oil company chiefs, John Odey told them to work with authorities to tackle the problem, the official News Agency of […]

Graph of the Day: Abundance of Australia Waterbirds, 1983-2004

Ten aerial survey bands (each 30 km in width), every two degrees of latitude, crossing eastern Australia and providing estimates for up to 50 species of waterbirds in October each year (1983-2004). Letters identify seven particular wetlands: Styx River wetlands (A), Lake Hope (B), Paroo River overflow lakes (C), and Macquarie Marshes (D). Australia State […]

Toxic waste reaches Potomac Aquifer

Special Report: Delaware Drinking Water at Risk — What you haven’t been told about chemicals polluting the aquifer that serves Del., Md., N.J. By JEFF MONTGOMERY, The News JournalJuly 25, 2010 Tainted groundwater is spreading across thousands of acres in northern Delaware and has reached the Potomac Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to people across […]

The world’s ongoing ecological disasters

While it’s probably still too soon to celebrate, BP appears to finally be getting the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico under control. But many of the world’s greatest environmental catastrophes continue, with no end in sight. BY JOSHUA E. KEATING | JULY 16, 2010 Disaster: Oil spills Going since: Around 1966 Damage done: […]

Jordan River too polluted for baptisms

Jerusalem (AFP) July 21, 2010 – An environmental group on Wednesday called for a halt to baptisms in the Jordan River where tradition holds that Jesus was baptised, saying the waters there were dangerously polluted. “Friends of the Earth Middle East call on regional authorities to halt baptism in the lower Jordan River until water […]

More than one third of US counties face water shortages due to climate change

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press contact: Eric Young, NRDC, 202-289-2373 or eyoung@nrdc.org WASHINGTON (July 20, 2010) — More than 1,100 U.S. counties — a full one-third of all counties in the lower 48 states — now face higher risks of water shortages by mid-century as the result of global warming, and more than 400 of these […]

Amazon Watch campaigners report from Ecuador region devastated by Chevron oil spills

The Oriente – the East – is Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest region, home to unparalleled biological diversity, as well as the country’s oil patch and massive contamination left behind by decades of oil operations by Texaco (now Chevron). Amazon Watch’s Ecuador campaign team is on a brief field research mission in the Oriente, and today was […]

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