Smugglers reap large profits from banned ozone-destroying coolant

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL and ANDREW W. LEHREN7 September 2012 MIAMI – The chief executive of the century-old company from America’s heartland shifted nervously on the witness stand here as he tried to explain how a trusted senior vice president had been caught on a wiretap buying half a million dollars in smuggled merchandise, much of […]

Graph of the Day: Global Groundwater Extraction Footprints of Aquifers

Aquifers are major groundwater basins with recharge of >2 mm yr−1 in the global inventory of groundwater resources20 (see Supplementary Information). At the bottom of this figure, the areas of the six aquifers (Western Mexico, High Plains, North Arabian, Persian, Upper Ganges and North China plain) are shown at the same scale as the global map; the […]

Western banks ‘reaping billions from Colombian cocaine trade’

Anti-Drugs Policies In Colombia: Successes, Failures And Wrong Turns, edited by Alejandro Gaviria and Daniel Mejía, Ediciones Uniandes, 2011 By Ed Vulliamy, www.guardian.co.uk 2 June 2012 The vast profits made from drug production and trafficking are overwhelmingly reaped in rich “consuming” countries – principally across Europe and in the US – rather than war-torn “producing” […]

Climate change exacerbates scarcity in food insecure regions

By Grant Potter and Graham Salinger3 March 2012 A recent report by The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), offers new insight into the threat that climate change poses to the livelihood of millions of farmers worldwide. The report, Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics [pdf], maps areas […]

Mild drought brought down Maya civilization: study

23 February 2012 (AFP) – The collapse of the Mayan civilization was likely due to a relatively mild drought, much like the drier conditions expected in the coming years due to climate change, scientists said Thursday. Scholars have long believed that a major drought caused severe dry conditions that killed off the ancient culture known […]

The nexus of climate change and war – ‘We don’t want to be the generation that catches the final curtain on civilization’

By Randolph T. Holhut, American Reporter Correspondent11 February 2012 DUMMERSTON, Vermont – There is virtually no doubt that global warming exists. Aside from a few cranks and those heavily invested in the fossil fuel industry, the scientific consensus is that the Earth’s climate is changing, and changing faster than ever before. What happens when the […]

‘Most severe drought Mexico has ever faced’ leaves two million people without access to water, devastates cropland in nearly half of the country

By KARLA ZABLUDOVSKY30 January 2012 MEXICO CITY – A drought that a government official called the most severe Mexico had ever faced has left two million people without access to water and, coupled with a cold snap, has devastated cropland in nearly half of the country. The government in the past week has authorized $2.63 […]

Mexico shuts down ‘world's biggest garbage dump’

Mexico City (AFP) Dec 19, 2011 – Authorities Monday shut down Mexico’s — and possibly the world’s — biggest garbage dump and said they would invite bids to exploit methane gas generated by the decomposing waste. Waste Management Commission chief Fernando Menendez called the closing “historic” as “it is the world’s largest (truck-filled open-air) dump.” […]

Video: Mexican farmers suffer worst drought in 70 years

By Noe Torres, with additional reporting by Adriana Barrera; Editing by Marguerita Choy25 November 2011 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico is being battered its worst drought in seven decades, which has devastated farm life and is expected to continue into next year. The lack of rainfall has affected almost 70 percent of the country and […]

An ocean miracle in the Gulf of California – Fish biomass increases 460 percent in Cabo Pulmo no-take reserve

[About ten years ago, Desdemona snorkled at Cabo Pulmo and was not overly impressed by the abundance of marine wildlife, so this is welcome news.] By Enric Sala of National Geographic 12 August 2011 Cabo Pulmo National Park in Baja California, Mexico, was protected in 1995 to safeguard the largest coral community in the Gulf […]

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