By Lauren Morello and ClimatewireDecember 14, 2010 A 60-year drought that scorched the Southwest during the 12th century may be a harbinger of things to come as greenhouse gases warm the Earth, according to research published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study’s authors used tree rings to reconstruct a […]
Of the many important results published during Desdemona’s second year of blogging, one stood out: a BioScience paper titled “Untangling the Environmentalist’s Paradox: Why Is Human Well-being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade?” This question is central to the Desdemona Thesis. Essentially, the authors of this paper (Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne, et al.) challenge us to reconcile the […]
By Staff WritersNov 26, 2010 Nairobi (AFP) – Most African countries will fail to attain the United Nation’s Millennium Goals on access to water and sanitation, the world body’s environment agency said on Friday. “Only eight countries in Africa are expected to attain the MDG target of reducing by half the proportion of the population […]
By Sean O’Grady, Economics EditorThursday, 18 November 2010 A food crisis could overtake the world in 2011, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, an agency of the United Nations. Climate change, speculation, competing uses such as biofuels and soaring demand from emerging markets in East Asia are the factors that will push global food […]
By Staff WritersNov 12, 2010 Beijing (AFP) Nov 12, 2010 – Beijing will collect and melt snow this winter in a bid to quench the water shortage that has plagued the Chinese capital for years, state media reported Friday. Two vehicles with high-powered heaters capable of processing around 100 cubic metres (3,500 cubic feet) of […]
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis; editing by Alistair Lyon and Janet LawrenceMon Nov 15, 2010 9:32am EST JUB SHAEER, Syria (Reuters) – The ancient Inezi tribe of Syria reared camels in the sandswept lands north of the Euphrates river from the time of the Prophet Mohammad. Now water shortages have consigned that way of life to […]
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent; editing by Janet LawrenceFARAYA, Lebanon | Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:02am EST (Reuters) – Lebanon’s ski resorts have survived civil war but now face an insidious threat from climate change expected to cut snow cover by 40 percent by 2040. The effects of global warming are still a low priority […]
By Veronika GulyasOctober 28, 2010, 10:00 AM ET The number of Hungarians dropped below 10 million in August 2010, according to official statistics, bringing to the surface the threat of extinction, present in the collective subconscious of the Hungarian nation. Preoccupation of Hungarians with the nation’s survival most likely stems from the roughly one thousand […]
By DINA FINE MARON of ClimateWireOctober 26, 2010 FOURMILE CANYON, Colo. — On a hot afternoon in late September, Allen Owen looked into the distance, hoping for rain. He crawled along unmarked dirt roads in his white Dodge Ram four-wheel drive truck, passing handwritten signs saying, “Thank you firefighters!” and “Be hopeful!” surveying the mounds […]
Caption by William L. Stefanov, NASA-JSCOctober 25, 2010 The Merowe Dam is located near the 4th cataract of the Nile River, in the Nubian Desert of the Republic of the Sudan (also known as Sudan). The dam was built to generate hydroelectric power—electricity intended to further industrial and agricultural development of the country. This astronaut […]
