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Archive for October 20th, 2011
SE Asia floods show businesses unprepared for disasters – UN
Posted by AlertNet: Megan Rowling on October 20th, 2011
AlertNet: Flooding across Southeast Asia, which has affected some 8 million people, highlights the need for businesses to step up efforts to reduce disaster risk for their assets and their workers, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday.
In Thailand, at least six big industrial estates have been shut down, most in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, where residents forced from their homes have pitched tents close to roads. The Nava Nakorn estate north of Bangkok, Thailand's oldest with 270 plants and about...
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Climate Change Could Cause Mass Migrations In 2060
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2011
redOrbit: According to a new report, climate and other environmental changes will cause "major challenges" for world leaders over the next 50 years.
The researchers said the impact of climate change and degradation of land and oceans will play an increasingly important role in massive migrations in the future.
Experts said governments must also be prepared for the millions who will be "trapped" in dangerous areas and for the vast numbers who will flock to vulnerable urban areas in search of work.
"It...
Waterways Emit More CO2 Than Previously Believed, Study Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: Rivers and streams in the U.S. release substantially more carbon into the atmosphere than previously NASASatellite view of the Mississippi River assumed, a new study finds. According to the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, a significant amount of carbon absorbed by plants and trees ends up in waterways before ultimately being released into the atmosphere. Using geospatial data to model the movement of carbon dioxide from more than 4,000 rivers and streams across the U.S., researchers...
Millions Will Be Trapped Amid Climate Change, Study Warns
Posted by New York Times: Hillary Rosner on October 20th, 2011
New York Times: Millions of people are expected to become trapped in places that are extremely vulnerable to environmental change in the course of this century, according to a British government study released on Thursday.
Prepared by the Foresight group, a think tank that advises the government on planning for the future, the report explores the complex relationship between human migration and changing environmental conditions and argues that the issue must become a top policy priority on national and international...
Flooding rains plain truth of climate change: scientist
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Karen Kissane on October 20th, 2011
Sydney Morning Herald: Get Australia can expect more frequent devastating floods like those in Queensland this year, and the world is facing decades of unprecedented hardship as a result of climate change, according to the chief scientific adviser to the British government.
''We are facing what I believe will be unprecedented difficult times over the next 20 to 40 years,'' Professor Sir John Beddington warned. He was speaking as chairman of a panel of scientists launching a major international report about the effects...
Pakistan on alert after leak in nuke power plant
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2011
Associated Press: An official at a nuclear power plant in Pakistan says it declared a seven-hour emergency after heavy water leaked out of a reactor during maintenance work. Tariq Rasheed says Tuesday night's leak did not cause any damage or radiation. He said on Thursday that the plant located in the southern city of Karachi was safe and that the emergency was declared as standard procedure. He says the plant is scheduled to restart operations in one month. The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant went on line in 1971...