Earth Changes

Still Singing the Global Warming Song: Prince Charles defends his faith against 'deniers'

Christopher Booker
The Telegraph
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:13 UTC

Prince Charles's speech in Brussels last week shows him still clinging to climate change orthodoxy, says Christopher Booker

Flanked by the panjandrums of our European government, the Prince of Wales once again held forth in Brussels last week on the favorite bee in his bonnet, global warming. He bemused MEPs with a welter of dubious statistics, called for a drastic reduction in our economic standard of living and ended with a swipe at those heretics of our time, the "climate change skeptics" who are corroding public debate by daring to "deny the vast body of scientific opinion that shows beyond any reasonable doubt that global warming has been exacerbated by human industrialized activity".

As defender of the faith, of course, the Prince did not need any proof for such a dogmatic assertion. But whether it is wise for him still to be showing such religious attachment to this particular belief system, just when it is rapidly falling apart, is questionable.

Rwanda: Rubavu Rain Victims Appeal for Help

Alex Ngarambe
allAfrica.com
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:24 UTC

Hundreds of residents who were displaced by heavy rains in Rubavu District are yet to find reasonable shelter, a month since their houses were destroyed.

The most devastated areas were Gisenyi and Rugerero sectors, where more than 30 families were left homeless.

"We understand the district was supposed to liaise with the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness to get us some support, but we have not seen it," said one victim who didn't want his name mentioned.

The district's interim leader could not answer our calls for a comment.

India: Mercury dips as rain lashes Bihar

Madhuri Kumar
The Times of India
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:11 UTC

Day temperatures dropped in most part of the state on Wednesday following a western disturbance (WD) over hilly areas in northern India, which caused mild to heavy rainfall in the state since Tuesday night.

Patna Met director Animesh Chanda said that a cyclonic circulation has formed over Bihar and its neighbourhood areas. This has resulted in rainfall activity plummeting the mercury on Wednesday.

Many districts of the state like Muzaffarpur, East Champaran, Araria, Purnia, Supaul etc received good rainfall, while other districts, including the capital, recorded 0.6 to 2.1 mm rainfall.

The Met department here has also issued warnings of thunder squall with a wind speed of 45 km to 55 per hour in many parts of Bihar in the next 48 hours.

A severe hailstorm accompanied by moderate to heavy rain lashed several parts of Araria and Purnia districts around mid-day on Wednesday causing extensive damages to the standing crops. Several panchayats under Raniganj, Bhargama and Jokihat blocks in Araria, and Srinagar, Jalalgarh and Kasba blocks in Purnia were badly hit when a severe hailstorm ripped through on Wednesday afternoon.

Rain, hailstorm damage crops in Rajasthan, India

The Times of India
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:04 UTC

The unseasonal rain dashed the hopes of farmers in the state who were expecting bumper Rabi crop. The rain has damaged crops in many parts of the state.

Complaints of crop damage have been pouring in from many villages of Bundi and other districts. Heavy rain coupled with hailstorms lashed Bundi district last night damaging crops of wheat, mustard, coriander and lentil.

Hailstorm lashed several villages, including Sukhpura, Gothera, Mandi, Bhagwanipura, Tokera, Panch ki Bawari of Hindoli sub-division last evening following which standing crop was damaged, Mandi village sarpanch Bhuribai said.

Hindoli MLA Prabhulal Saini has demanded a survey of the damage caused to the crop by the rain and appropriate compensation for affected farmers. Bundi sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Amanulla Khan said that the revenue officials have been asked to estimate the loss due to untimely thundershowers.

Reports of hailstorm and showers also came in from Hindoli, Nainwa, Lekhari and Bundi sub-divisions of the district. The thundershowers damaged crops of mustard and coriander seeds in Kankala, Utarana, Budhala and many villages of Lekhari sub-division last evening, officials said.

Angola: Rain kills eight in Huíla and Huambo

Angop
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:01 UTC

Eight people were killed on Wednesday by heavy rains that hit the provinces of Huíla and Huambo.

This was said to Angop on Thursday by the spokesman of the National Civil Protection Fire Services (SNPCB), Faustino Sebastião.

He said that six people of the same family such as father, mother and four children die after the collapsing of their house in Patrice Lumumba ward, in the outskirt of Lubango city.

Heavy rains wreak havoc on agriculture, cause flooding in Lebanon

Mohammed Zaatari
The Daily Star
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:47 UTC

South Lebanon bore the brunt of Wednesday's deluge of rainfall, which is expected to level off Thursday.

While heavy rain slowed traffic and caused flooding throughout the country, the ports of Tyre and Sidon were closed to maritime activities, as fishermen stayed home.

The head of the fishermen's union, Khalil Taha, urged the agriculture minister to look into the situation of fishermen, who are complaining of inadequate government responses to calls for social assistance and benefits.

Tyre, which is undergoing extensive public works as part of a city-wide development plan, experienced flooded streets and major traffic congestion, as police and municipal officials sprung into action to clear the situation.

South of Tyre, one person was in critical condition after a car accident blamed on the heavy weather. Abbas Musa Aqil and his brother Muslim were driving a vehicle that slammed into an electricity pole during the storm. The National News Agency said both underwent surgery at a local hospital, and that one of them remained in critical condition.

In Sidon, the municipality ordered emergency crews to take action after the heavy rain caused flooding in areas near the coast, compounded by sewage networks that were overflowing.

Propaganda: UK storm blamed on climate change

Geoff Strong and Lindsay Murdoch
The Sydney Morning Herald
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:07 UTC

As Australians from both ends of the country were yesterday cleaning up after storms and floods, a British study has concluded for the first time that an extreme storm in that country is likely to have doubled in intensity due to human induced climate change.

The study, published yesterday in the journal Nature, is significant because for the first time climate change has been blamed for a single event.

But Australian experts are divided over whether a similar study here would have been able to blame climate change for our recent floods and cyclones, because of different factors in play in the southern hemisphere.

The study concentrated on floods in 2000 that devastated parts of England and Wales, causing about $10 billion in damage. Researchers ran 1000 complex computer models to look at how the storms and floods were likely to have happened, both with and without the factors linked to climate change. It found that by adding in the factors the severity risk increased dramatically.

Former head of the CSIRO's Atmospheric Research Division, Dr Graeme Pearman, said that running a similar study in Australia might be able to conclude that recent events such as Queensland's floods or the intensity of cyclone Yasi were linked to global warming.

Cyclone Bingiza to Worsen Mozambique, Madagascar Floods, UN Says

Brian Latham
Bloomberg
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:01 UTC

Tropical cyclone Bingiza could lead to further flooding in Madagascar and Mozambique where heavy rains have left soils saturated and people without homes, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Between 4,000 and 9,600 households, equivalent to as many as 48,000 people, are likely to be affected by flooding in the Zambezi river valley in Mozambique, OCHA, as the organization is known, said in an e-mailed statement today.

Flooding in southern Africa has affected South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola during the last eight weeks. Crop damage in South Africa, the continent's largest economy, could cost the nation more than $282 million after grape farms were submerged, while OCHA estimates that almost 1 percent of Mozambique's crops have been destroyed by rising water.

Propaganda: Studies link heavy rains, floods to global warming

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:49 UTC

Two scientific studies appearing in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature were the first to directly link warming climate conditions and greenhouse emissions to major flooding and heavy rains.

One study on the Northern Hemisphere showed that the likelihood of extreme precipitation on any day rose about 7 per cent in the last half of the 20th century.

A second study by Myles Allen of the University of Oxford in Britain and his colleagues found that human-caused climate change had nearly doubled the risk of extremely wet weather that caused floods.

Until now, climate scientists have projected that temperature increases would be accompanied by heavy rains, but studies had been unable to lay out such stark connections, the authors of the studies said.

Mysterious lava substance oozes from the ground in India

The Extinction Protocol
Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:14 UTC

In a strange phenomenon, a black chemical substance gushed out from the earth, creating panic in Maddikera village in Kurnool district on Monday. Huge cavities also formed in the three acres of land owned by a farmer, Nagaiah, of Maddikere, about 100 km from Kurnool, soon after the black substance spewed out from beneath the land. Nagaiah said it damaged the soil. The nearby grass caught fire when the black substance spread like lava from a volcano. A cement electric pole in the vicinity collapsed. Nagaiah said he first saw the phenomenon two days ago. Officials rushed to the village to take stock of the strange occurrence. Experts said they would conduct studies to unravel the mystery behind the spewing out of the blackish material from beneath.

- Times of India

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Earth Changes

Still Singing the Global Warming Song: Prince Charles defends his faith against 'deniers'

Rwanda: Rubavu Rain Victims Appeal for Help

India: Mercury dips as rain lashes Bihar

Rain, hailstorm damage crops in Rajasthan, India

Angola: Rain kills eight in Huíla and Huambo

Heavy rains wreak havoc on agriculture, cause flooding in Lebanon

Propaganda: UK storm blamed on climate change

Cyclone Bingiza to Worsen Mozambique, Madagascar Floods, UN Says

Propaganda: Studies link heavy rains, floods to global warming

Mysterious lava substance oozes from the ground in India

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