By John Nielsen-Gammon 13 February 2012 The University of Texas’s new Center for Integrated Earth System Science is hosting its first public event today: a water forum entitled “Texas Drought 2012 — Are We Prepared?” The morning talks featured status reports from various state and regional agencies, while the afternoon featured water research tools and capabilities […]
[This is Desdemona’s kind of satire.] WASHINGTON, 26 January 2012 (The Onion) – Saying there’s no way around it at this point, a coalition of scientists announced Thursday that one-third of the world population must die to prevent wide-scale depletion of the planet’s resources—and that humankind needs to figure out immediately how it wants to […]
By Mícheál O’Callaghan18 January 2012 Forty years ago, a group of Scientists investigated what the world would look like if we continued on our path of exponential economic growth, with a continued growth in population, pollution and industry. The study resulted in the publishing of the eye opening book, The Limits to Growth, which would […]
By George Webster, CNN28 October 2011 (CNN) – On the last day of October 2011, the U.N. says the world population will hit seven billion people – an increase of one billion since 1999. To show some of the impacts of this vast human upheaval, Canadian anthropologist Felix Pharand has created a series of visualizations […]
New Delhi, December 20 (UPI) – India’s rising population and economic growth are straining the country’s supply of water, a report from India’s Infrastructure Development Finance Co. warns. Of India’s 20 major river basins, 14 are considered water-stressed, the report from IDFC, an independent group, report said. Nearly 25 percent of the country’s population live […]
In this world of 7 billion people, the global rural-urban balance of populations has tipped irreversibly in favour of cities. But what, exactly, is a “city” in 2011? Hania Zlotnik, the director of the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs cautions against assuming too easy a definition because governments […]
By NOAKI SCHWARTZ and GARANCE BURKE, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS8 November 2011 CADIZ, California – Off historic Route 66 in the heart of the California desert, the barren landscape of dry scrub and rock abruptly gives way to an oasis of tall green trees heavy with lemons and grape vines awaiting next month’s harvest. Some think […]
In Ethiopia, a low-income country with 39 per cent of its 82.9 million people living below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank, hardship rather than rising expectations and better living standards may be the major factor in motivating young women and men in cities when family choices are […]
By Mara Lee, Hartford Courant 8 December 2011 Reporting from Hartford, Conn.— The United States had a dozen weather disasters that each caused at least $1 billion in damages in 2011, the greatest frequency of severe weather that caused costly losses in more than 30 years of federal government tracking. However, even with the number […]
By Laurie Goering5 December 2011 DURBAN, South Africa (AlertNet) – Climate impacts such as worsening droughts, flooding, storm surges and sea level rise could displace tens of millions of people by mid-century, scientists predict. But national and international rules governing resettlement of forced environmental migrants, and how they will be treated under the law, remain […]
