Big green groups walk out of U.N. climate talks – ‘The Polish government has done its best to turn these talks into a showcase for the coal industry’

By Ben Jervey21 November 2013 WARSAW, Poland (Grist) – For the first time ever, environmental groups have staged a mass walkout of a U.N. climate summit. Citing immense frustration with the lack of productive action in the COP19 climate talks, which have been dogged by a persistent rift between rich and poor countries on the […]

Graph of the Day: Forest fires near Yakutsk, Russia, 2000-2012

By Brad Plumer14 November 2013 (Washington Post) – From a new study in the journal Science: the first effort to quantify in detail how forests are changing and disappearing over the past decade. The research team, led by the University of Maryland, used Landsat satellite images and Google’s Earth Engine to assemble detailed new maps. […]

Philippines: 4.4 million people displaced by Typhoon Haiyan, including over 1 million children

20 November 2013 (UNOCHA) – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) estimates that 13.25 million people have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda), including about 5.4 million children, many of whom face serious protection, health and safety risks. In total, over 4.4 million people have been displaced, including over 1 […]

Losses from extreme weather rise to $200 billion a year over past decade

By Nina Chestney; Editing by Louise Heavens18 November 2013 WARSAW (Reuters) – Global economic losses caused by extreme weather events have risen to nearly $200 billion a year over the last decade and look set to increase further as climate change worsens, a report by the World Bank showed on Monday. A United Nations’ panel […]

Sardinia hit by deadly Cyclone Cleopatra and floods – ‘We haven’t seen a situation as extreme as this, perhaps for decades’

19 November 2013 (BBC News) – Sardinia hit by deadly Cyclone Cleopatra and floods At least 18 people, including four children, have been killed in flooding on the Italian island of Sardinia after a cyclone and heavy rain. A number of people are reported missing after rivers burst their banks. Cars were swept away and […]

132 countries exit Warsaw climate conference after rich nations refuse to discuss loss and damage recompense until after 2015

By John Vidal    20 November 2013 (theguardian.com) – Representatives of most of the world’s poor countries have walked out of increasingly fractious climate negotiations after the EU, Australia, the US and other developed countries insisted that the question of who should pay compensation for extreme climate events be discussed only after 2015. The orchestrated move […]

9000 Australians will die from heat yearly by the end of the 21st century

By Athena Yenko  14 October 2013 (IBT) – A leak draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) obtained by News Corp revealed major findings on what the world will be like under a changed climate. The report, Working Group II AR5, is due for release in March in Yokohama, Japan. A section […]

Rising sea levels, falling real estate values

By John Dorschner9 November 2013 (Miami Herald) – While most residents in South Florida still have no worries that global warming could dramatically lower housing prices, land-use attorney Sam Poole has already developed a plan to sell his house in a low-lying Fort Lauderdale neighborhood. Poole has heard some scientists predict that the first financial […]

Philippines: Number of displaced people increases from 3 million to 4 million – 2.5 million people require food aid

17 November 2013 (UNOCHA) – According to Government estimates, Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) has affected between 10 million and 12.9 million people in nine regions, with nearly 40 per cent of affected people from Central Visayas. Estimates of affected people have decreased slightly in the last day as Government agencies continue to validate […]

Puntland, Somaliland reel from post-cyclone rains, flooding – ‘The rain is accompanied by an extreme cold, wind, and a lot of water, which have killed the people and the animals’

GAROWE, Somalia, 16 November 2013 (Garowe Online) – The survivors of a severe cyclonic storm that rammed into Somalia’s northeastern region of Puntland are desperate for food, medicines, and clean water but, with so much anxiety and chaos in the hardest-hit areas, the distribution is limited, Garowe Online reports. Despite the efforts of Puntland government, […]

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