The Fukushima report hides behind the cultural curtain

More than a year after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on 11 March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear accident independent investigation commission released an 88-page report this week delivering the indictment that Fukushima could not be considered a natural disaster but a “profoundly man-made disaster”…

Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia

Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo, was once a lush tropical landscape full of some of the most sought-after timber in the world. In recent years, a combination of logging and agriculture has contributed to a rapidly changing landscape. When trees are logged, erosion can become a problem.

Natural Climate Change Shut Down Pacific Reefs: Study

A period of intense, natural changes in climate caused coral reefs in the eastern Pacific to shut down thousands of years ago, and human-induced pollution could worsen the trend in the future, scientists said. Join over 2,000 scientists from around the world in endorsing a Consensus Statement urging governments to take action for the preservation of coral reefs for the benefit of present and future generations.

Liberia’s Hasty Forest Sell-Off Risks More Conflict

More than half of Liberia’s forests — dense and packed with rare and endangered species, sprawling for hundreds of miles over the small coastal country — have been granted to logging firms, bypassing environmental laws and with few benefits to the people.

Sea-level Panel’s Mainstream Report

“It has been frustrating to watch the discussion over the issue sea-level rise here in North Carolina…” Geologist Dr. Rob Young of Western Carolina University wrote an op-ed in Raleigh’s News & Observer, that ought to be required reading for the state lawmakers who’ve decided to listen to the global warming deniers/pseudo-scientists on the matter of sea-level rise.

Arctic drilling creeps forward now, and in 5 years

In choppy water under blue sky off Bellingham, Wash., a Shell Oil crew lowered a “capping stack” 200 feet in the water and put it through maneuvers with underwater robots connected by cable to operators on the surface, a test that fulfilled one of the final steps required for permission to drill exploratory wells in Arctic waters…