Russia Battles to Contain Black Sea Oil Spill
A Russian Black Sea city declared a state of emergency Thursday after a burst pipeline spewed oil into the landlocked water body, with stormy weather hampering cleanup efforts.
Moral Compass Not Quarterly Figures Must Dominate in Business
Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Dr Scilla Elworthy, says rethinking the definition of success encourages businesspeople to devote their skills to the good of the planet.
Rising in the East
As the 2014 calendar year closes and the solstice marks the turning point in the Sun’s march across the sky, many religions and cultures are celebrating festivals. The cradle of those religions —and of much of modern civilization— was captured in a photograph by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS).
Aceh at 10 – A look Back at the Response
A decade after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated Aceh, the isolated tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island on the morning of 24 December 2004, IRIN looks at the unprecedented aid response, its impact, and how local people continue to be affected.
Temperature Rising Faster in Finland than Anywhere Else
Temperatures in Finland rose almost twice as fast as in the rest of the world over the past 166 years, supporting claims global warming hits higher altitudes hardest.
Great Barrier Reef at Risk from Rushed Sediment Dumping Plan at Abbot Point
A plan to dump dredged sediment onto a sensitive wetlands area beside the Great Barrier Reef near Abbot Point would lead to much more slurry being pumped into the waters of the reef than officially estimated, a report has warned.
In Retrospect: Between Pacific Tides
Aaron Hirsh celebrates the 75th anniversary of the marine-biology classic by Ed Ricketts, the bohemian scientist who inspired John Steinbeck. A number of writers have observed that what made Between Pacific Tides revolutionary was that its organization is ecological. The book begins at the uppermost zone where a flood tide’s waves barely splash our shoes. And so it goes in each zone, leading us deeper into the intertidal: common to rare; familiar to exotic; obvious to hidden…
Antarctic Photo Science Archive Unlocked
To probe the climate history of the Antarctic Peninsula, UK scientists are comparing aerial photos from the 1940s and 1950s images, with newly acquired data sets to assess the changes that have occurred in some of the region’s 400-plus glaciers.
Cyclone College Raises Hopes, Dreams of India’s Vulnerable Fisherfolk
The coastal village of Nemmeli in southern India’s Kachipuram district that saw widespread destruction in the 2004 tsunami and several cyclones since, now has a unique community college where locals can learn disaster management. Half the students are women.