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Archive for July 8th, 2012
China pollution protest ends, but suspicion of government high
Posted by Reuters: Ben Blanchard on July 8th, 2012
Reuters: Lao Zhou splutters with rage when asked if he believes government promises to scrap plans for a copper refinery near his home in southwest China, a project which has sparked violent protests.
"They're liars!" the ruddy-faced farmer exclaims, spitting out his words in thickly accented Mandarin. "Nobody believes they won't build it eventually."
It was a remnant of the fury that erupted in Sichuan province's Shifang town last week, when thousands of people took to the streets to protest against...
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Russian floods kill 150 and leave thousands homeless
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 8th, 2012
Guardian: After Russia's worst floods in recent memory swept through the south of the country, thousands of Russians were last night sleeping in emergency shelters or the stinking ruins of their homes, as anger against the regime of Vladimir Putin grew for failing to prevent the disaster.
More than 150 people, many of them elderly, died in the floods, after authorities failed to issue warnings or evacuation orders.
The town of Krymsk, home to around 57,000 people, was worst hit, with residents describing...
United Kingdom: Freak storms, flash floods, record rain – and there’s more to come
Posted by Guardian: Alexandra Topping on July 8th, 2012
Guardian: Look through the window. It is likely to be raining. It has been raining, a lot, for the past two months. And the bad news is that it's not likely to stop soon.
More flooding could be on its way, after forecasters warned that the miserable weather – which has seen record amounts of rain fall in April and June, parts of the UK hit by freak storms, and flash flooding that has forced the evacuation of homes – is set to continue at least until the Olympics.
This week, an area of low pressure will...
India: Climate change boosts vegetable cultivation
Posted by Deccan Herald: Nadeesh Kareemadathil on July 8th, 2012
Deccan Herald: A shortage of monsoon showers can adversely impact the state’s agriculture scene. But in these days of climate change where predictions like the monsoon go haywire, vegetable cultivation appears to have succeeded in weathering this, thanks to the copious pre-summer and summer showers.
According to scientists at the regional agriculture research station, Pattambi, sufficient summer showers and insufficient monsoon have helped vegetable cultivation across the state.
Sufficient quantity of water...
Over 100 die in Russia as floods and landslides hit Krasnodar region
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 8th, 2012
Guardian: Rescuers attempt to save people from thousands of flooded homes in Russia's Krasnodar region near the Black Sea. Link to this video
Torrential rains dropped nearly a foot of water in the Black Sea region of Krasnodar, southern Russia, overnight, causing heavy flooding that killed at least 103 people and forced many to flee for refuge in trees and on roofs.
Muddy water coursed through streets and homes in the hard-hit town of Krimsk, about 750 miles south of Moscow, where at least 67 people...
How one drought changed Texas agriculture forever
Posted by National Public Radio: John Burnett on July 8th, 2012
National Public Radio: In Texas, there is still the drought against which all other droughts are measured: the seven-year dry spell in the 1950s. It was so devastating that agriculture losses exceeded those of the Dust Bowl years, and so momentous that it kicked off the modern era of water planning in Texas.
From 1950 to 1957, the sky dried up and the rain refused to fall. Every day, Texans scanned the pale-blue heavens for rainclouds, but year after year they never came.
The ground desiccated and cracked open, and...
Parts of U.S. still gripping with record heat
Posted by National Public Radio: Sara Wittmeyer on July 8th, 2012
National Public Radio: GUY RAZ, HOST: It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. So here's a list of cities: Beirut, Rome, Cairo, Kabul, New Delhi, Miami, Washington, D.C. Which city do you think is the hottest one today? You probably guessed it. It's right here in Washington - 105 degrees today. It is so hot that at the biggest construction site here in downtown, the crew was sent home early this morning, and very few people are walking around outside. But there are other places sweltering across...
Texas seeks new water supplies amid drought
Posted by National Public Radio: John Burnett on July 8th, 2012
National Public Radio: The punishing seven-year drought of the 1950s in Texas brought about the modern era of water planning. But the drought of 2011 was the hottest, driest 12 months on record there.
Though only a handful of towns saw their water sources dry up last summer, it got so bad that cities, industries and farmers began to think the unthinkable: Would they run out of water?
With the state's population expected to double by 2060, Texas must begin an expensive and politically charged search for new water...
Record heat, derecho storm: Does global warming get blame?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 8th, 2012
USA Today: Is global warming cooking our goose with extreme weather events, or not?
It's complicated, but some climate scientists argue that stifling heat waves, drought and even June's derecho all come out of the global warming playbook.
At the same time, they caution against pointing to a warming climate as the direct cause of any one bit of wild weather this year, even as much of the nation sweated out a record-breaking heat wave through the start of July, one expected to break by Monday.
"There...
Unrelenting heat wave bakes all in its reach
Posted by New York Times: John Eligon and Marc Santora on July 8th, 2012
New York Times: An unrelenting and record-setting heat wave peaked this weekend, beating a broad swath of states into sweaty submission, with above-normal triple-digit temperatures stretching from St. Louis to Washington. The searing heat withered crops in the fields, buckled roadways and caused at least two train derailments. At least 36 weather-related deaths have been reported since the temperatures first shot up 10 days ago. “I’m avoiding the outside world,” Monica Fuhrman, 21, of Centreville, Va., said Saturday...