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TOP STORIES
India’s Thirst Drives Water To Crisis Level
"Persistent worries about water shortages on farms and in cities across India have been exacerbated this year by poor monsoon rains, which have been both late and scanty. India’s meteorological department reported last Friday that rainfall levels for the monsoon so far this year are 34 per cent below the long-term average. Swaths of northern India, including Punjab, have been hardest hit, with rainfall for the season 50 per cent below average." [Financial Times]
Fish Are Shrinking In Response To Global Warming
"Fish have lost half their average body mass and smaller species are making up a larger proportion of European fish stocks as a result of global warming, a study published Monday has found...Smaller fish tend to produce fewer eggs. They also provide less sustenance for predators—including humans—which could have significant implications for the food chain and ecosystem." [AFP - Grist]
VIDEO
Mapping America's Giant Trees
"Scientists in California have set up a unique experiment to track the life histories of some of the world's oldest and tallest trees." [BBC]
OPINION
137 Years Later
"It’s hard to believe that the 1872 mining law is still with us. Signed by Ulysses S. Grant four years before the invention of the telephone, the law sets the rules for mining hardrock minerals like gold and copper. Useful in the days of westward expansion, it is a disaster now. It demands no royalties from the mining companies and provides minimal environmental protections." [New York Times]
RECOMMENDED READING
Gulf Waters Imperil Tribes' Way of Life In Louisiana Bayous
"The Houma and several other tribes, which are recognized by the state but not the federal government, settled in the outer fringes of Louisiana in the early 1800s, fleeing other hostile tribes and U.S. military forces farther north. Now, the tribes are losing their land again -- this time to the Gulf of Mexico, as thousands of acres of wetlands vanish each year, hurricanes do increasing damage without these marshy buffers, and saltwater intrudes into the bayou water and soil. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that up to 40 square miles of Louisiana wetlands disappear annually and that by 2040 the state's coastline will have receded more than 30 miles." [Washington Post]
California's 2006 Heat Wave Much Deadlier Than Previously Reported
"[D]eaths related to a scorching heat wave in 2006 were probably two to three times higher than estimated by coroner's reports. The researchers analyzed nine counties, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Kern. Whereas coroners in those counties connected about 130 deaths to the heat, with diagnoses including hyperthermia and heatstroke, Ostro's group found that about 350 to 450 deaths were more likely." [Los Angeles Times]
Not A Barren Country
"From New Zealand to Peru, the cause of indigenous people is one that stirs passion and widespread sympathy. A common struggle is either to curb mining or gain a share of the proceeds. In Canada a pressing demand is for consultation about their fate well before the prospectors arrive; in many places (Australia for example) the aboriginal peoples are struggling with social problems from alcoholism to domestic violence, brought by Europeans’ arrival and the end of traditional nomadism...But if the indigenous peoples have a good chance of asserting real economic and political power anywhere, then it is probably the Arctic." [The Economist]
