Video: The Colorado River: Running Near Empty

Photographer Peter McBride traveled along the Colorado River from its source high in the Rocky Mountains to its historic mouth at the Sea of Cortez. In this Yale Environment 360 video, he follows the natural course of the Colorado by raft, on foot, and overhead in a small plane, telling the story of a river […]

Indigenous people sound the alarm on climate change

By Brian Clark Howard, National Geographic News 11 October 2011 The air in the auditorium smelled faintly of burnt herbs. Josefina Lema Aguilar, a Kichwa elder from the mountains of Ecuador, lit a tiny sacred fire to bless last week’s conference on “Seeking Balance: Indigenous Knowledge, Western Science and Climate Change.” Dressed in traditional garb […]

Texas officials censor all references to climate change and sea level rise in official publication

By Joe Romm 12 October 2011 In one of the most flagrant recent instances of scientific censorship, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) refused to publish a report chapter unless all mention of climate change and its impact on sea level rise were eliminated.  The author — Rice University oceanographer John Anderson, a leading […]

Thinking the unthinkable: Engineering Earth’s climate

[The usual Desdemona disclaimer: So the leaders of men conceived of their most desperate strategy yet.] 12 October 2011 A U.S. panel has called for a concerted effort to study proposals to manipulate the climate to slow global warming — a heretical notion among some environmentalists. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Jane C. […]

Image of the Day: Slash-and-burn fires in Amazonia viewed from orbit

Caption by William L. Stefanov, Jacobs/ESCG at NASA-JSC10 October 2011 The rainforest of South America, also known as Amazonia, has been undergoing a continual and accelerated conversion process into farmlands (including pasture for livestock) since the early 1960s. This process has typically been achieved by clearing the forest using fire—“slash and burn”—followed by planting of […]

Photo gallery: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya

Stunning images from high in the Himalayas – showing the extent by which many glaciers have shrunk in the past 80 years or so – have gone on display at the Royal Geographical Society in central London. Between 2007 and 2010, David Breashears retraced the steps of early photographic pioneers such as Major E O […]

Record Mekong flooding threatens Bangkok, Phnom Penh

October 11 (VOA News) – United Nations officials say the capitals of Thailand and Cambodia are at risk as the worst flooding in modern times sweeps through the Mekong Basin. Kirsten Mildren, spokeswoman for the U.N.’s humanitarian affairs agency, told VOA Tuesday that officials in Bangkok are taking urgent measures as the floodwaters bear down […]

Bleak future predicted for snow in Australian Alps

By David Wroe10 October 2011 AUSTRALIA’S ski slopes could be completely bare of natural winter snow by 2050 unless concerted action is taken against global warming, according to a government-commissioned report that paints a grim picture of the effects of climate change on alpine areas. The report, Caring For Our Australian Alps Catchments [pdf], has […]

James Hansen: Climate denialists are winning the battle for public opinion

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor11 October 2011 Climate sceptics are winning the argument with the public over global warming, the world’s most celebrated climate scientist, James Hansen of NASA, said in London yesterday. It is happening even though climate science itself is becoming ever clearer in showing that the earth is in increasing danger from […]

UN world hunger report 2011: High, volatile prices set to continue

Rome, October 10 (FAO) – Food price volatility featuring high prices is likely to continue and possibly increase, making poor farmers, consumers and countries more vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity, the United Nations’ three Rome-based agencies said in the global hunger report published today. Small, import-dependent countries, particularly in Africa, are especially at risk. […]

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