fire map
Air/Climate

Atlas Aims to Ease Extreme Weather Impacts on Public Health

GENEVA, Switzerland, October 29, 2012 (ENS) – As the changing climate brings more extreme weather – hurricanes, floods and drought – human health hazards are increasing, warn the world’s top health and weather officials. The “Atlas of Health and Climate” pinpoints the most pressing current and emerging challenges. […]

Arctic sea ice edge
Air/Climate

Arctic Minimum Sea Ice Cover Shrinks to Record Low

BOULDER, Colorado, September 19, 2012 (ENS) – Arctic sea ice cover is now at the lowest summer minimum extent since satellite records began in 1979, say scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The new data prompted forecasts of severe winter weather across the Northern Hemisphere. […]

satellite ozone
Air/Climate

Ozone Layer Recovers as Montreal Protocol Turns 25

NEW YORK, New York, September 17, 2012 (ENS) – Over the next 50 years, Earth’s ozone layer is on track to recover from holes caused by emissions of chemicals such as refrigerants, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday on the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol. […]

power plant
Air/Climate

Europe, Australia to Link Carbon Emissions Trading Systems

BRUSSELS, Belgium, August 30, 2012 (ENS) – The Australian government and the European Commission intend to link Australia’s newly established greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme and the European Union Emissions Trading System to create the world’s largest carbon market . […]

Arctic
Air/Climate

Arctic Sea Ice Cover Lowest on Record, Melt Continues

BOULDER, Colorado, August 28, 2012 (ENS) – Arctic sea ice cover has melted to its lowest extent in the 33-year satellite record, breaking the previous record low observed in 2007. With two to three weeks left in the melt season, scientists expect the ice cover to shrink even more. […]

Lake Tahoe
Air/Climate

Republicans, Democrats Join to Protect Lake Tahoe

STATELINE, Nevada, August 14, 2012 (ENS) – Clarity in Lake Tahoe has stabilized after the years of cloudiness that threatened the lake’s attractiveness to millions of visitors from around the world, politicians and business people heard Monday at the annual Lake Tahoe Summit, but new threats abound. […]

hydropower dam
Air/Climate

California Gathers Facts to Plan for a Hot, Dry Future

SACRAMENTO, California, August 10, 2012 (ENS) – California could lose up to 20 percent of its hydropower generation as climate change causes high-elevation reservoirs to shrink, finds a new report from the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Energy Commission. […]

carbon emissions
Air/Climate

Largest UK Firms Must Disclose CO2 Emissions

LONDON, UK, August 10, 2012 (ENS) – More than 1,100 public companies listed on the London Stock Exchange will have to report their greenhouse gas emissions from next April under plans announced at the Rio+20 Summit that are now moving forward. […]

cornfield
Air/Climate

Crop-Damaging Drought Will Raise Food Prices: USDA

WASHINGTON, DC, July 25, 2012 (ENS) – Retail food prices are predicted to rise as soon as this fall due to the high temperatures, low rainfall and 70-year record drought across the Midwest that have boosted commodity prices for corn, soybeans and other field crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today. […]

Greenland
Air/Climate

Greenland’s Extreme July Meltdown

WASHINGTON, DC, July 24, 2012 (ENS) – Virtually the entire ice sheet covering Greenland – from its coastal edges to its two-mile-thick center – experienced some degree of melting for several days this month, according to an analysis by NASA and university scientists based on measurements from three satellites. […]