Threat to polar bears worries Russian experts – 70 percent decline by 2060

By Kester Kenn KlomegahAugust 26, 2010 MOSCOW (IPS/IFEJ) — Environmental experts in Russia have warned that unless urgent steps are taken internationally, climatic changes combined with man-made factors could reduce the world’s population of polar bears by as much as 70 percent by 2060. The polar region — which includes the Arctic Ocean and parts […]

Dr. Fatih Birol’s words of warning: Melting permafrost, cheap oil, and the end of the world as we know it

By Can Erimtan 26 August 2010 This summer, climate change, or global warming, has arguably established itself as a reality to be reckoned with. Greenhouse gases are heating up the earth’s atmosphere and, as a result, global weather conditions now seem to have gone truly haywire. Temperatures are unusually high in certain places, while rain […]

Huge ice chunk breaks off Ellesmere Island

CBC News Tuesday, August 24, 2010 | 8:09 PM CST A large parcel of ice has fractured from a massive ice shelf on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, marking the third known case of Arctic ice loss this summer alone. The chunk of ice, which scientists estimate is roughly the size of Bermuda, broke away from […]

Cambodia: Record low water levels threaten livelihoods

PHNOM PENH, 26 August 2010 (IRIN) – Late rains and record low water levels in Cambodia’s two main fresh water systems will affect food security and the livelihoods of millions, government officials and NGOs warn. “We expect the impact to be very strong,” said Nao Thuok, director of the Fisheries Administration, adding that low water […]

Glaciers retreating in Asia

8/25/2010 10:33:00 AM Many of Asia’s glaciers are retreating as a result of climate change. This retreat impacts water supplies to millions of people, increases the likelihood of outburst floods that threaten life and property in nearby areas, and contributes to sea-level rise. The U.S. Geological Survey, in collaboration with 39 international scientists, published a […]

Photo gallery: Pakistan floods

A man and a woman, displaced by floods, walk through flood waters on Sunday in the village of Baseera near Muzaffargarh in Punjab, Pakistan. Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images Floods ravage Pakistan People flee the flooded areas from Basera, near Muzaffargarh, in Punjab Province, Pakistan on 21 August 2010. Pakistan reassured international donors that aid […]

Higher temperatures cause longer Alaska growing season and loss of boreal forest

By Molly Rettig, Fairbanks News-Miner Monday, August 02, 2010 FAIRBANKS – One hundred years ago, the growing season in Fairbanks was less than three months long. Last year, some local gardeners were still harvesting broccoli and cabbage in mid-September. Fairbanks is 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter and 11 percent drier than it was in the early […]

Graph of the Day: Fairbanks Frost-Free Season, 1904-2008

Over the past 100 years, the length of the frost-free season in Fairbanks, Alaska, has increased by 50 percent. The trend toward a longer frost-free season is projected to produce benefits in some sectors and detriments in others. Over the past 50 years, Alaska has warmed at more than twice the rate of the rest […]

Pakistan flood: Irrigation canals overloaded in second wave threaten agriculture

By Catharine Paddock, PhD, Medical News Today 25 Aug 2010 – 9:00 PDT As well as losing crops and farm animals directly as a result of flooding, the people of Pakistan could be facing longer term food shortages as canals overloaded in the second wave of flooding threaten to undermine the irrigation infrastructure that the […]

Pakistan aid camps overwhelmed, flood survivors turned away – Refugees face ‘serious’ threat of epidemic disease

By Jill McGivering, BBC24 August 2010 Sukkur is overwhelmed. Along the river banks and canals, on patches of dry ground and alongside the roads, homeless families are sitting or lying in the open air, their possessions piled at their side. They fled their homes with whatever they could carry as rising floodwater inundated their towns […]

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