By Pola Lem4 May 2016 (ClimateWire) – Water scarcity is expected to increase globally as populations boom and climate change sharpens uncertainty around the resource’s availability, according to a report by the World Bank. The conclusion adds to a growing body of research, and it comes days before this year’s Climate Action 2016 summit in […]
By Jeff Masters29 April 2016 (wunderground.com) – The greatest threat of climate change to civilization over the next 40 years is likely to be climate change-amplified extreme droughts and floods hitting multiple major global grain-producing “breadbaskets” simultaneously. A “Food System Shock” report issued in 2015 by insurance giant Lloyd’s of London outlined a plausible extreme […]
By Sophie Vorrath 19 April 2016 (RenewEconomy) – The Turnbull Coalition government has kicked off its informal re-election campaign by repeating its desire to build a massive coal fired power station in north Queensland, only this time it proposes to use climate funds to help pay for the project. In confirmation that little has changed […]
By Christopher C. Burt19 April 2016 (wunderground.com) – What is most likely the most intense heat wave ever observed in Southeast Asia has been ongoing for the past several weeks. All-time national heat records have been observed in Cambodia, Laos, and (almost) in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Meanwhile extreme heat has resulted in all-time […]
By Bob Henson18 April 2016 (wunderground.com) – Fierce Tropical Cyclone Fantala stormed to Category 5 strength north of Madagascar over the weekend with an impressive burst of strengthening, making the cyclone the most powerful on record anywhere in the Indian Ocean. Fantala’s estimated peak sustained winds of 150 knots (173 mph), averaged over 1 minute […]
By Lynn Jenner11 April 2016 As of 11 April 2016, as many as 1.3 million hectares (over 3.7 million acres) of forest cover in Nepal has been destroyed by wild fires the last two weeks. Two persons have been killed and there have been huge losses to property across the country. Historically April and May […]
By Alan Gomez10 April 2016 MIAMI (USA TODAY) – Anyone familiar with Panama’s economic history isn’t surprised by revelations of shell companies and hidden assets created by a law firm based in the small nation. “I’ve been screaming about it for decades,” said Jack Blum, an attorney and former U.S. Senate staffer who focused on […]
By Keith Bacongco8 April 2016 ARAKAN, Philippines (UCA News) – Swathes of corn stand withered on the parched rolling hills near the farming town of Arakan in the southern Philippines, while shallow cracks scar what were once fertile rice paddies. El Nino is wreaking havoc in agriculture-rich Cotabato province. Allan Salon, a member of the […]
HONG KONG, 22 March 2016 (AFP) – Coal plants are draining an already dwindling global water supply, Greenpeace warned on Tuesday, consuming enough to meet the basic needs of one billion people and deepening a worldwide crisis. Announcing its first global plant-by-plant study, Greenpeace said coal power use will increase with newly built plants, causing […]
By Soutik Biswas 27 March 2016 (BBC News) – On 11 March 2016, panic struck engineers at a giant power station on the banks of the Ganges river in West Bengal state. Readings showed that the water level in the canal connecting the river to the plant was going down rapidly. Water is used to […]
