At least one billion becquerels a day of radiation continue to leak from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant after the March earthquake and tsunami.
Experts say that the total amount of radiation leaked will exceed amounts released from Chernobyl, making Fukushima the worst nuclear disaster in history.
Japan’s Fukushima ‘worst in history’
Fracking Disposal Wells Linked to Earthquakes, Banned in Arkansas
The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission has banned fracking disposal wells for unconventional gas drilling wastes due to earthquakes. The Commission voted unanimously to ban them, and the decision requires the immediate closure of one disposal well and prohibits the construction of new wells within a 1,150 square mile radius.
Arkansas residents insisted that there was a correlation between the increase in earthquake activity in the state and wastewater disposal wells. Imagine being on your way out one afternoon, opening your garage door, and experiencing an earthquake that you knew was being caused by gas drills.
Arctic sea ice shrinks to second lowest level
Arctic sea ice melted this summer to the second lowest level since record-keeping began more than 50 years ago, scientists reported Thursday, mostly blaming global warming.
"This is not a random event," said oceanographer James Overland of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It's a long-term change in Arctic climate."
Coral reefs 'will be gone by end of the century'
Coral reefs are on course to become the first ecosystem that human activity will eliminate entirely from the Earth, a leading United Nations scientist claims. He says this event will occur before the end of the present century, which means that there are children already born who will live to see a world without coral.
The claim is made in a book published tomorrow, which says coral reef ecosystems are very likely to disappear this century in what would be "a new first for mankind – the 'extinction' of an entire ecosystem". Its author, Professor Peter Sale, studied the Great Barrier Reef for 20 years at the University of Sydney. He currently leads a team at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health.
Clean natural gas? Not so fast, study says
Switching from burning coal to natural gas won't have an appreciable effect on global warming, at least not in the next few decades, a study suggests.
In fact, cutting worldwide coal burning by half and using natural gas instead would increase global temperatures over the next four decades by about one-tenth of a degree Fahrenheit, according to Tom Wigley, a senior research associate at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Why the Fukushima disaster is worse than Chernobyl
Japan has been slow to admit the scale of the meltdown. But now the truth is coming out.
This nation has recovered from worse natural – and manmade – catastrophes. But it is the triple meltdown and its aftermath at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 40km down the coast from Soma that has elevated Japan into unknown, and unknowable, terrain. Across the northeast, millions of people are living with its consequences and searching for a consensus on a safe radiation level that does not exist. Experts give bewilderingly different assessments of its dangers.
Journal editor resigns over 'problematic' paper casting doubts on climate change
The editor of a science journal has resigned after admitting that a recent paper casting doubt on man-made climate change should not have been published.
The paper, by US scientists Roy Spencer and William Braswell, claimed that computer models of climate inflated projections of temperature increase. It was seized on by "sceptic" bloggers, but attacked by mainstream scientists.
State testing for radioactive contamination at Kaneohe sandbar
The area being tested was the site of a deadly Marine helicopter crash that resulted in the release of radioactive material.
Environmental activist Carroll Cox says a helicopter that crashed onto the Kaneohe Sandbar on the evening of March 29, killing one marine and injuring three others, released radioactive material into the surrounding area.
Top NASA climate scientist arrested at White House
One of the nation's foremost experts on climate change was arrested outside the White House on Monday morning after he joined a protest against a planned Canadian tar sands pipeline.
Dr. James Hansen (pictured), who runs NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, was arrested along with 139 other protesters taking part in a series of demonstrations against the planned $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport 500,000 barrels of crude per day from America's neighbor to the north all the way to the Gulf coast of Texas.
More Articles...
Page 103 of 157