As Fukushima Worsens, US Approves New Nukes

Nuclear Regulatory Commission OKs New Nuclear Plants in South Carolina

Common Dreams | March 30, 2012

The Vogtle nuclear power plant, which was given the first license since the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in 1979

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Migration not a matter of choice but survival, says Kiribati President

Following a recent decision by its Cabinet to buy land in Fiji as 'climate change insurance' for its population, Kiribati President, Anote Tong has called on the international community to address the effects of climate change that could wipe out the entire Pacific archipelago

By Brigitte Leoni | UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction | 15 March 2012

Children in the village of Tebikenikora, on Kiribati’s main Tarawa atoll (Photo: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)

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Sea-Levels Rising: Millions in Coastal USA at Risk

Nearly four million Americans are at risk of severe flooding as climate change raises sea levels and intensifies storm surges during the coming century, new research indicates

Environmental News Wire | March 14, 2012

A U.S. Air Force Reserve crew rescues a family in the coastal Texas town of Nederland trapped on their roof by flood waters from Hurricane Ike, September 13, 2008. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Paul Flipse courtesy U.S. Air Force)

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Asia climate disasters displace 42 million: ADB

Climate-related disasters have displaced more than 42 million people in Asia over the past two years, the Asian Development Bank said Tuesday in a report calling for swift action to avert future crises

AFP in Yahoo! News | Mar 13, 2012

An aerial view of a flooded area of Sanghar in 2011

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Indigenous People Walk In The Highland Region Of Masaya

Floods in the area have affected 220 families and 1,000 hectares of farmland, local media reported

Gaston Brito | Planet Ark | 13-Mar-12

Indigenous people walk in the highland region of Masaya, 60 km (37 miles) west of La Paz, March 9, 2012.

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Indigenous Peoples Say No To ‘Disaster Development’ In Sarawak

It's no mere coincidence that Sarawak is one of the most impoverished states in Malaysia. For more than 30 years the governments of Malaysia and Sarawak have been far too busy ransacking the region's precious rainforest to secure and strengthen what has been there for thousands of years

By Ahni | Intercontinental Cry | March 9, 2012

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Q&A: Solar storms

How does an outburst on the Sun cause a storm on Earth?

By Paul Rincon | BBC News | 8 March 2012

Polar lights are one manifestation of activity in the Earth's magnetosphere

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Insight: Papua New Guinea mountain disaster questions Exxon

A deadly landslide in the mountains of Papua New Guinea, near where U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil is building a $15.7 billion gas project, is raising fresh questions about the global energy industry's scramble for ever harder-to-reach resources

By Rebekah Kebede | Reuters | Mar 6, 2012

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Japan OKs fresh support for Fukushima nuclear plant

Japan's trade minister approved nearly $9 billion in additional support for Tokyo Electric Power Co to help compensate victims of the Fukushima nuclear crisis on Monday, but said the government would not go ahead with a plan to inject tax money into utility unless it got adequate management say

By Yoko Kubota | Reuters | Feb 12, 2012

The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No.4 reactor building is seen after the removal of debris on the upper side of the unit in Fukushima prefecture, in this handout picture taken on January 5, 2012. Credit: Reuters/Tokyo Electric Power Co./Handout

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Community Radio Saves Lives and Livelihoods

Fisher Wanka Masani, 25, has been inseparable from his two- dollar transistor ever since a community radio (CR) station started up in this coastal town. The square black box blares popular songs while Masani waits for his brothers to land the daily catch

By Manipadma Jena* | Inter-Press Service | Feb 10, 2012

A two-dollar FM transistor, receiving community radio, has changed fisher Masani's life. Credit:Manipadma Jena/IPS

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European death toll surpasses 300

An onslaught of extreme cold and heavy snow in Europe has killed more than 300 people, impeded travel and left about 50,000 without power, officials say

Disaster News Network | February 6, 2012

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Coal mines shut as Australia evacuates flooded towns

Heavy rains shut four coal mines in eastern Australia on Friday as military helicopters evacuated stranded residents from inundated towns, and authorities warned of further flash flooding

Reuters | Feb 3, 2012

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100 die in European deep freeze

Europe's Siberian freeze spread to France and Italy, with snow covering Corsica, Bologna and Milan, while the European death toll topped 100, officials said

UPI in Disaster News Network | February 2, 2012

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1% increase in forest cover

Since the adoption of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the government took measures to enhance forests cover from 5% to 6% including approval of forestry mega projects at the cost of Rs12 billion, said Muhammad Javed Malik, Federal Secretary, Ministry of National Disaster Management

The News International | January 13, 2012

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Revisiting the Deepwater Horizon Plumes

Maybe the plumes were really clouds. I am talking about the famous plumes from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the event that roiled the Gulf Coast and scrambled energy politics in mid-2010. Many readers will remember reports, first carried in this newspaper, that a considerable volume of hydrocarbons released in the spill did not reach the surface of the gulf. Instead they dissolved into deep water, forming what appeared at the time to be enormous plumes of dissolved oil and gas

By JUSTIN GILLIS | The New York Times | January 9, 2012

ReutersOil on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico in June 2010.

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Indonesia: Opening 2012 with disasters

With intensive rainfall since mid-December 2011 Indonesia is experiencing widespread disasters throughout the archipelago

Compiled by Awicaksono

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Saving Amazonia: Winning the war on deforestation

For years, the story told about the Amazon has been one of destruction - the world's largest rainforest, a region of amazing biodiversity, key to the fight against climate change, being remorselessly felled. But that is no longer the whole truth

By Justin Rowlatt | BBC News | 2 January 2012

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Climate change diplomacy and small island developing states

Science (climate scientists) and politics (diplomats and Foreign Ministry officials) may not always speak the same language, but climate change diplomacy (inter-governmental negotiations on climate change issues) inevitably brings them together into a “marriage of convenience”

by Obijiofor Aginam | OurWorld 2.0 | December 26, 2011

Photo: Mauroof Khaleel/Presidency Maldives.

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Colombia rising?

It may not be the mother of all bubbles, but it is a whopper. Colombia’s economy is rising as fast as a hot air balloon, but one that is almost certain to burst. Mining, petroleum, industrial agriculture and construction are all growing at record rates – fueled by a flood tide of investment, much of it foreign investment – directed by the World Bank and its local allies within the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, and made possible by the dispossession of millions of Colombians from the countryside through decades of violence combined with disastrous flooding caused by global warming

By Anthony Boynton | Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal | December 26, 2011

The population of Bogotá, capital of Colombia, is about to pass 8 million.

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Philippines flash floods death toll nears 1,500

Almost 1,500 people are now known to have died in flash floods that struck the southern Philippines more than a week ago

BBC News Asia | 27 December 2011

Officials are working to rehouse residents sheltering in temporary evacuation centres

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