Meltdown at Fukushima reactor 3 worse than thought

5 August 2014 (NHK) – The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says the damage to nuclear fuel in one of its reactors may be worse than previously thought. Tokyo Electric Power Company engineers have been working to size up damage at the plant from the March 2011 accident and start the process […]

Beautiful and sad GIFs show the ongoing destruction of the oceans

By Laura McClure     15 August 2014 (TED) – Scientist Sylvia Earle (TED Talk: My wish: Protect our oceans) has spent the past five decades exploring the seas. During that time, she’s witnessed a steep decline in ocean wildlife numbers — and a sharp incline in the number of ocean deadzones and oil drilling sites. An […]

Humans have tripled mercury levels in upper ocean – Pollution may soon overwhelm deep seas’ ability to sequester mercury

By Anne Casselman6 August 2014 (Nature) – Mercury levels in the upper ocean have tripled since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and human activities are to blame, researchers report today in Nature. Although several computer models have estimated the amount of marine mercury, the new analysis provides the first global measurements. It fills in […]

California halts injection of fracking waste, warning it may be contaminating aquifers – State’s drought has forced farmers to rely on groundwater, even as aquifers have been intentionally polluted due to exemptions for oil industry

  By Abrahm Lustgarten18 July 2014 (ProPublica) – California officials have ordered an emergency shut-down of 11 oil and gas waste injection sites and a review more than 100 others in the state’s drought-wracked Central Valley out of fear that companies may have been pumping fracking fluids and other toxic waste into drinking water aquifers […]

Gail Zawacki: A fine frenzy ~ the universal dance of delusion … and the paucity of hope

“To the philosopher, the physician, the meteorologist and the chemist, there is perhaps no subject more attractive than that of ozone.” ~ C.B Fox, 1873 By Gail Zawacki11 July 2014 (Wit’s End) – There is a man who lives on the other side of my village (it is said) who one day, setting out for […]

Failure of spring rains forces Kenya national parks to feed wildlife

By Antony Gitonga 8 July 2014 NAIVASHA, KENYA (The Standard) – The government has announced plans to supply fodder and water to  wildlife in various national parks following adverse weather conditions that has hit parts of the country. The exercise that will be carried out by KWS is meant to save hundreds of wild animals […]

New 1,000-pound tar mat washes up in Pensacola

By Dan Haefner, First Mate, RV Odyssey6 July 2014 (Sea Shepherd) – On the 20th of June, Pensacola was the recipient of yet another “present” from the oil-filled Gulf of Mexico – a 1000-pound tar mat washed up in Ft. Pickens Park. Tar balls wash up almost every day along the coast between Pensacola Beach […]

Ninety-nine percent of plastic pollution in the oceans is missing –‘Yes, animals are eating it’

By Angus Chen    30 June 2014 (Science) – Millions of tons. That’s how much plastic should be floating in the world’s oceans, given our ubiquitous use of the stuff. But a new study finds that 99% of this plastic is missing. One disturbing possibility: Fish are eating it. If that’s the case, “there is potential […]

Texas gas town considers banning fracking – ‘We had no choice’

  By EMILY SCHMALL 19 June 2014 DENTON, Texas (AP) – Natural gas money has been good to this Texas city: It has new parks, a new golf course and miles of grassy soccer fields. The business district is getting a makeover, and the airport is bustling, too. For more than a decade, Denton has […]

Video: Global deposition of Cs-137 radionuclides from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident

By T. Christoudias and J. Lelieveld7 June 2013 ABSTRACT: We modeled the global atmospheric dispersion and deposition of radionuclides released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident. The EMAC atmospheric chemistry – general circulation model was used, with circulation dynamics nudged towards ERA-Interim reanalysis data. We applied a resolution of approximately 0.5 degrees in […]

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