Earth ChangesS


Magic Hat

Amazongate II - Seeing REDD

Richard North
EUReferendum Blogspot
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:26 UTC
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.
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Bomb

Seventeen volcanoes in Indonesia on alert status


Antara News
Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:24 UTC
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.
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Bad Guys

Bushmen mark eight years without water


Survival
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:41 UTC
Bushman
© SurvivalXoroxloo Duxee died of dehydration after the Bushmen's water borehole was disabled.
As the world marks World Water Day, the Gana and Gwi Bushmen of Botswana are marking eight years without access to a regular supply of water in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

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.
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Evil Rays

Australia - The Bureau of Meteorology & CSIRO report: It's what they don't say that matters

Joanne Nova
JoNova
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:00 UTC
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!).
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Bizarro Earth

US: Small quake rattles Keya Paha County, Nebraska


Lincoln Journal Star
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:30 UTC
Image
© USGS
People in Keya Paha County felt a weak, "weird" earthquake Friday evening.

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.
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Bizarro Earth

Korea: Nation hit by worst-ever yellow dust storm

Song Sang-ho
The Korea Herald
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:26 UTC
Image
© Joongang IlboYellow Dust Storm - Seoul, April 2007
The worst-recorded yellow dust storm hit the nation on Saturday, causing the weather agency to issue its first nationwide warning, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

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.
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Bizarro Earth

Drought blankets Beijing in thick, yellow dust storm‎; South Korea issues warning

Ibn-e-Umeed
The Statements
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:41 UTC
Image
© Xinhuanet
Bejing - Beijingers woke up Saturday to find the Chinese capital blanketed in yellow dust, as a sandstorm caused by a severe drought in the north and in Mongolia swept into the city.

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.
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Bizarro Earth

Dormant since 1821, Volcano Erupts in Southern Iceland


Reuters
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 06:39 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Ragnar AxelssonMolten 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.
Reykjavik - A volcano erupted near a glacier in southern Iceland, shooting ash and molten lava into the air and forcing the evacuation Sunday of hundreds of people from nearby villages.

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.

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.

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Cloud Lightning

Australia: Cyclone Causes Extensive Flooding In Queensland

Ross Kelly
The Wall Street Journal
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:37 UTC
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.
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Bizarro Earth

Undersea Volcanic Activity Contributing To Cooling

Steve Newman
The Columbus Dispatch
Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:00 UTC
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.

Comment: Here is a link to video of the West Mata Deep-Sea Volcanic Eruption recorded in May 2009.

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