Earth Changes
One British zoologist yesterday described the loss of the Yangtze River dolphin as a "shocking tragedy". It is the first extinction of a large vertebrate for more than 50 years.
If temperatures continue to rise, temperate forests that receive little rain and snowfall are poised for die-backs, according to findings released Monday by the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Ecological Research Center.
Every subway line into Manhattan was affected by flooding after a severe predawn storm sent roofs flying, toppled trees, submerged cars and inundated subway stations.
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©AP/Shahrzad Elghanayan |
Residents look at flooding outside their building in the Queens borough of New York early Wednesday. |
The death toll from a separate, unnamed storm in Vietnam rose to 34, with 17 missing and feared dead. The tropical storm, the worst to hit Vietnam this year, was downgraded to a depression on Monday, but heavy rains continued, the national weather center said.
The magnitude 7.5 quake hit at 0005 on Thursday (1705 GMT Wednesday) at a depth of 289km (180 miles).
Food production is now so energy-intensive that more carbon is emitted providing a person with enough calories to walk to the shops than a car would emit over the same distance. The climate could benefit if people avoided exercise, ate less and became couch potatoes. Provided, of course, they remembered to switch off the TV rather than leaving it on standby.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said global land surface temperatures in January and April were likely the warmest since records began in 1880, at more than 1 degree Celsius higher than average for those months.
Temperatures reached well into the 90s and in some cases above 100 degrees, a trend expected to continue through the weekend in parts of the South and Midwest. The National Weather Service issued excessive-heat warnings in several states, and health officials urged people and pets to stay in air conditioning.
north-south railway, officials said on Wednesday.
The floods triggered by a storm that weakened into a depression since the weekend have isolated many areas from emergency aid, said an official in Quang Binh province.
Comment: In contrast the Iraqis have to live in 117 degrees heat without fans, air conditioning, electricity or water due to the wholesale destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure over the last 4 and a half years by Uncle Sam!