By Stian Reklev; Editing by Nick Macfie21 January 2014 BEIJING (Reuters) – Pollution from China travels in large quantities across the Pacific Ocean to the United States, a new study has found, making environmental and health problems unexpected side effects of U.S. demand for cheap China-manufactured goods. On some days, acid rain-inducing sulphate from burning […]
By Anil Ananthaswamy13 December 2013 (New Scientist) – Climate change is causing the North Pole’s location to drift, owing to subtle changes in Earth’s rotation that result from the melting of glaciers and ice sheets. The finding suggests that monitoring the position of the pole could become a new tool for tracking global warming. Computer […]
By Mary Wisniewski and Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Eric Walsh and Stephen Powell10 January 2014 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration for the state of West Virginia on Friday, ordering federal aid in the aftermath of a chemical spill that has left up to 300,000 people without tap water, closed schools […]
By Brian Clark Howard8 January 2014 (National Geographic News) – The most severe cold snap in the U.S. in 20 years (see pictures) has some people questioning whether the Earth’s climate is in fact warming. The conservative website Breitbart.com has called the cold snap evidence of a global warming “hoax,” while Donald Trump recently tweeted: […]
By MICHAEL WINES5 January 2014 LAKE MEAD, Nevada (The New York Times) – The sinuous Colorado River and its slew of man-made reservoirs from the Rockies to southern Arizona are being sapped by 14 years of drought nearly unrivaled in 1,250 years. The once broad and blue river has in many places dwindled to a […]
[University of California at San Diego, home of the Scripps program, is accepting donations here.] By John H. Cushman Jr.2 January 2014 (InsideClimate News) – Ralph Keeling, the director of an acclaimed Scripps program that keeps track of the amounts of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, has renewed his plea for public support […]
By Andrew Nikiforuk23 December 2013 (TheTyee.ca) – Scientists say the closure of some of the world’s finest fishery, ocean and environmental libraries by the Harper government has been so chaotic that irreplaceable collections of intellectual capital built by Canadian taxpayers for future generations has been lost forever. Many collections such as the Maurice Lamontagne Institute […]
By Margaret Munro29 December 2013 (Postmedia News) – Mercury wafting out of oilsands operations is impacting an area – or “bull’s-eye” — that extends for about 19,000 square kilometres in northeast Alberta, according to federal scientists. Levels of the potent neurotoxin found near the massive industrial operation have been found to be up to 16 […]
By Mike De Souza27 December 2013 OTTAWA (Postmedia News) – More than $100 million in cuts are underway at the federal department in charge of protecting Canada’s water and oceans, despite recommendations from top bureaucrats that it needs to increase spending for both environmental and economic reasons. According to internal federal briefing notes obtained by […]
By Elizabeth Weise 28 December 2013 (USATODAY) – Something is killing starfish up and down the West Coast and no one knows what. A mysterious illness that first appeared in June in Washington state has now spread from Sitka, Alaska, to San Diego. Starfish first waste away and then “turn into goo,” divers say. Whatever […]
