Earth Changes
CHICKEN HAS never been cheaper. A whole one can be bought for little more than the price of a Starbucks cup of coffee. But the industrial farming methods that make ever-cheaper chicken possible may also have created the lethal strain of bird flu virus, H5N1, that threatens to set off a global pandemic.
HANOI, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Several thousands of ducks in Vietnam's southern Soc Trang province have died in the last few days, Vietnam News Agency reported Monday.
Some 4,000 ducks in two farms in the province's Nga Nam and Thanh Tri districts have been either killed by an identified disease or culled by local relevant agencies. Specimens from the affected waterfowls are being tested for bird flu viruses.
Some 4,000 ducks in two farms in the province's Nga Nam and Thanh Tri districts have been either killed by an identified disease or culled by local relevant agencies. Specimens from the affected waterfowls are being tested for bird flu viruses.
A gas-like odour covered much of Manhattan and parts of New Jersey Monday as firefighters worked to discover the cause.
Reports of the mysterious odour started coming in around 9 a.m. ET, said New York fire department spokesperson Tim Hinchey.
Reports of the mysterious odour started coming in around 9 a.m. ET, said New York fire department spokesperson Tim Hinchey.
WASHINGTON -- On Sept. 11, 2001, New York fire battalion chief Dennis Devlin issued an urgent plea: His men were in "a state of confusion" and needed more working radios immediately. Yet, more than five years since Devlin and 342 other members of the city's fire department perished at the World Trade Center, the government says only six U.S. cities have fully answered the late fire chief's call by adopting advanced emergency communications systems.
New York is not one of the six, according to the scorecard by the Homeland Security Department that was to be released Wednesday.
New York is not one of the six, according to the scorecard by the Homeland Security Department that was to be released Wednesday.
MIAMI — Frustrated with people and politicians who refuse to listen or learn, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield ends his 34-year government career today in search of a new platform for getting out his unwelcome message: Hurricane Katrina was nothing compared with the big one yet to come.
NEW YORK Whether it's because of global warming, El Nino, or just a really long warm spell, weather in New York City this winter has been awfully strange. With temperatures continually hovering around the 50 degree mark and even occasionally nearing 60, perhaps the most bizarre weather-related incident happened in Brooklyn where cherry blossoms decided to make an early appearance.
DENVER -- Utility crews struggled to restore electrical service to tens of thousands of homes and businesses as grocery store shelves in southeastern Colorado went bare and hungry cattle grew isolated following a blizzard that dumped nearly 3 feet of snow and piled some of it in drifts 15 feet high.
Authorities were preparing Tuesday to bring in groceries in Humvees and drop hay bales from the air. Civil Air Patrol planes flew over the snow-covered plains Monday, some using infrared heat-sensing equipment to help crews spot animals in case they needed food.
Authorities were preparing Tuesday to bring in groceries in Humvees and drop hay bales from the air. Civil Air Patrol planes flew over the snow-covered plains Monday, some using infrared heat-sensing equipment to help crews spot animals in case they needed food.
TALLINN - Northern Europeans have been poised to celebrate the passage to the new year in a way that is out of the ordinary for them: with an ice-free Baltic Sea.
"It's quite unusual that we welcome the new year with no ice in the Baltic Sea," Tarmo Kouts, senior researcher at the Estonian Marine Institute, told AFP on Friday.
Temperatures in Estonian coastal waters are warmer by one degree Celsius (around three degrees Fahrenheit) than at the end of last year, Kouts said.
"It's quite unusual that we welcome the new year with no ice in the Baltic Sea," Tarmo Kouts, senior researcher at the Estonian Marine Institute, told AFP on Friday.
Temperatures in Estonian coastal waters are warmer by one degree Celsius (around three degrees Fahrenheit) than at the end of last year, Kouts said.
Major Impact on Pollination
Abstract. The ecological impacts of agriculture are of concern, especially with genetically modified and other intensive, modern cropping systems, yet little is known about effects on wild bee populations and subsequent implications for pollination. Pollination deficit (the difference between potential and actual pollination) and bee abundance were measured in organic, conventional, and herbicide-resistant, genetically modified (GM) canola fields (Brassica napus and B. rapa) in northern Alberta, Canada, in the summer of 2002.
Abstract. The ecological impacts of agriculture are of concern, especially with genetically modified and other intensive, modern cropping systems, yet little is known about effects on wild bee populations and subsequent implications for pollination. Pollination deficit (the difference between potential and actual pollination) and bee abundance were measured in organic, conventional, and herbicide-resistant, genetically modified (GM) canola fields (Brassica napus and B. rapa) in northern Alberta, Canada, in the summer of 2002.
How good is your weather memory? In what year did the so-called "Storm of the Century" sweep the country and pound the entire Eastern Seaboard? How many tornadoes struck the Midwest in a record-setting one-week period of May, 2003? And do you remember the thousands of deaths caused by heat waves in 1980 and 1988?
Along with the deaths came significant financial costs.
Along with the deaths came significant financial costs.
Comment: Much of the focus in the fight against avian flu has been directed against small producers. However, there is research that suggests it is the large-scale, factory farming of chickens that is the cause.