The Amazon - a "green gold-rush"
The WWF and other green campaign groups talking up the destruction of the Amazon rainforests are among those who stand to make billions of dollars from the scare. This "green gold-rush" involves taking control of huge tracts of rainforest supposedly to stop them being chopped down, and selling carbon credits gained from carbon dioxide emissions they claim will be "saved".
Backed by a $30 million grant from the World Bank, the WWF has already partnered in a pilot scheme to manage 20 million acres in Brazil. If their plans get the go-ahead in Mexico at the end of the year, the forests will be worth over $60 billion in "carbon credits", paid for by consumers in "rich" countries through their electricity bills and in increased prices for goods and services.
Earth Changes
Bandung -- Some 17 of the 18 volcanoes in Indonesia are declared to be on alert status (level II), based on the result of monitoring by the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Geological Agency.
"These volcanoes have been declared on alert status due to their volcanic activities, but the Ibu volcano in West Halmahera only on third level alert status," said the Bandung PVMBG chief Dr. Surono, here Friday.
The Ibu volcano is still on third alert status declared on August 5, 2009.
In mid February 2010, PVMBG has raised the alert status of Mount Talang in Sumatra and Mount Karangetang in Sulawesi from standby (level III) to alert status (level II).
The Mount Bromo in East Java has been declared on alert status on Sept. 18, 2006.
Other intensively monitored volcanoes are Gunung Batur, Kaba, Anak Krakatoa, Semeru, Slamet, Sangeang Api, Rinjani Rokatenda, Soputan, Dukono, Gamalama, Papandayan, Lokon and Kerinci volcanoes.
Despite the alert status, these mountains are still safe to be visited as long as the safety signs in tourism sites are closely heeded.
The PVMBG chief also reminded that the community and visitors not to get near to the crater within a radius of one kilometer due to it the dangerous toxic gas emissions.
"These volcanoes have been declared on alert status due to their volcanic activities, but the Ibu volcano in West Halmahera only on third level alert status," said the Bandung PVMBG chief Dr. Surono, here Friday.
The Ibu volcano is still on third alert status declared on August 5, 2009.
In mid February 2010, PVMBG has raised the alert status of Mount Talang in Sumatra and Mount Karangetang in Sulawesi from standby (level III) to alert status (level II).
The Mount Bromo in East Java has been declared on alert status on Sept. 18, 2006.
Other intensively monitored volcanoes are Gunung Batur, Kaba, Anak Krakatoa, Semeru, Slamet, Sangeang Api, Rinjani Rokatenda, Soputan, Dukono, Gamalama, Papandayan, Lokon and Kerinci volcanoes.
Despite the alert status, these mountains are still safe to be visited as long as the safety signs in tourism sites are closely heeded.
The PVMBG chief also reminded that the community and visitors not to get near to the crater within a radius of one kilometer due to it the dangerous toxic gas emissions.
© Survival
Xoroxloo Duxee died of dehydration after the Bushmen's water borehole was disabled.
Xoroxloo Duxee died of dehydration after the Bushmen's water borehole was disabled.
In 2002, the Botswana government cut off and sealed a borehole, which the Bushmen relied on for water, in an attempt to drive them out of the reserve. Despite the Botswana High Court's 2006 ruling that the Bushmen have the constitutional right to live in the reserve, the government has refused to allow them to re-commission their borehole, even though they have offered to raise the costs themselves.
At the same time as forcing the Bushmen to make 300 mile round trips to fetch water, the government has allowed the opening of a safari lodge in the reserve, complete with a swimming pool for tourists, and has drilled new boreholes for wildlife only.
Ken Stewart has scanned the trend maps at BOM (Bureau of Meteorology), and his point is spot on. As soon as I saw the neat joint six page advertising pamphlet for the climate-theory-backed-by-bankers, I wondered what happened to the first 60 years of last century, and Ken found it. Did the BOM forget they have hundreds of data points from back then? Did they forget to use their own Website, where you can pick-a-trend, any-trend, and choose the one with err...more convenient results? Or is it the case that their collective mission is not necessarily to provide Australians with the most complete and appropriate information available, but with what the bureaucracy needs them to know? And what they need to know, apparently, is the carefully censored version of the truth that will keep government ministers happy (Let us tax them more!), keep department heads smiling (Let the climate cash cow continue!), and last, but not least, help staff feel good (We're sure we're helping the environment!).
© USGS
The earthquake, which had a 2.7 magnitude, caused no damage but did cause a rumble of conversation across the county, Barb Nilson, a dispatcher at the sheriff's office, said Saturday.
Nilson lives in Springview, the seat of the extreme north-central Nebraska county. She was standing near her front door in her bare feet Friday evening, saying goodbye to her son and granddaughter, when she heard a boom and felt something bang the bottom of her house.
It was 8:11 p.m.
© Joongang Ilbo
Yellow Dust Storm - Seoul, April 2007
Yellow Dust Storm - Seoul, April 2007
The KMA lifted the yellow dust warning at 4 a.m. yesterday as the storm weakened overnight. Nonetheless, the sandstorm would continue to affect the peninsula until today, the agency said.
"As the northwestern air current coming from the northern Chinese region to the peninsula will continue to be formed, there is a possibility of several additional bouts of yellow dust this week."
The sandstorm, which scientists blame on China's industrialization and deforestation, hit the nation Saturday for the fifth time this year. The level of PM10 -- particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter -- in the southeastern island of Heuksan Saturday afternoon reached 2,847 micrograms per cubic meter, the highest level since the KMA began recording the level in 2003.
© Xinhuanet
The storm, which earlier buffeted parts of northeastern China, brought strong winds and cut visibility in the capital.
Authorities issued a rare level five pollution warning, signalling hazardous conditions, and urged residents to stay indoors.
Sandstorms frequently hit the arid north of China in the spring, when temperatures start to rise, stirring up clouds of dust that can travel across China, to South Korea and Japan and even as far as the United States.
© AP Photo/Ragnar Axelsson
Molten lava vents from a rupture near the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland, as a volcano erupts early Sunday March 21, 2010, seen in this aerial photo.
Molten lava vents from a rupture near the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland, as a volcano erupts early Sunday March 21, 2010, seen in this aerial photo.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, but a state of emergency was declared and scientists feared the eruption could trigger a larger and potentially more dangerous eruption at the Katla volcano.
Saturday's eruption, which occurred just before midnight (2000 EDT, 8 p.m. EDT), came weeks after a series of small earthquakes. Television footage showed lava flows along the fissure.
"This was a rather small and peaceful eruption but we are concerned that it could trigger an eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, a vicious volcano that could cause both local and global damage," said Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Science.
Flooding is likely to continue in northern Queensland state after tropical cyclone Ului hit the coast early on Sunday morning, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said Sunday.
At least 60,000 homes are without power and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said initial reports suggest the damage is moderate-to-severe, although it's too early to assess the full extent of the damage, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on its Web site.
Heavy rainfall and flooding are likely to continue about coastal and adjacent inland areas between Bowen and St Lawrence, the Bureau said. The cyclone is weakening rapidly and is expected to be downgraded below cyclone strength this afternoon, it said.
At least 60,000 homes are without power and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said initial reports suggest the damage is moderate-to-severe, although it's too early to assess the full extent of the damage, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on its Web site.
Heavy rainfall and flooding are likely to continue about coastal and adjacent inland areas between Bowen and St Lawrence, the Bureau said. The cyclone is weakening rapidly and is expected to be downgraded below cyclone strength this afternoon, it said.
Undersea volcanic activity appears to provide a dampening influence on global warming as the seabed eruptions create nutrient-rich water that feeds carbon dioxide-eating plants.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, Australian and French scientists show that hydrothermal vents around underwater volcanoes in the Southern Ocean spew iron.
After billowing to near the surface, the mineral allows single-cell organisms called phytoplankton to bloom, soaking up the greenhouse gas in the process. The world's oceans are thought to remove 20 percent to 25 percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activities.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, Australian and French scientists show that hydrothermal vents around underwater volcanoes in the Southern Ocean spew iron.
After billowing to near the surface, the mineral allows single-cell organisms called phytoplankton to bloom, soaking up the greenhouse gas in the process. The world's oceans are thought to remove 20 percent to 25 percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activities.
Comment: On February 5, 2010 we saw Pacific Ocean Volcano Erupts, on February 11, 2010 Montserrat Volcano Shoots Ash 9 Miles into Sky and: Undersea Volcanic Activity Contributing To Cooling.