Floods across UK show no signs of letting up

Published on 12 Feb 2014 | Flooded homes along England's River Thames are being evacuated as water levels are expected to keep rising in the next few days. With some homes and businesses under water for more than a month, its expected to take months for groundwater to seep away and flood levels to fall. Al Jazeera's Simon McGregor-Wood reports from London.

The Coming Global Revolution

Published on 27 Jul 2013 | An amazing speech by Rainn Wilson on the coming global revolution that must happen in order for us to move forward as a human race.

"I think that there is another revolution coming. I'm not sure what it's going to look like, but I think it's going to be very interesting and it's going to unfold over the next 10 years."

After less than 40 hours of rain!

Floods wash away homes in India

Published on Jun 17, 2013 : Monsoon flooding has caused the river Ganga in Northern India to burst its banks, washing entire buildings away in the pilgrimage town of Uttarkashi. India's monsoon season causes devastating floods every year - but is also essential to the national economy.

Since this report, flooding in other parts of Northern India has killed at least 23 people, and left 50 missing.

Climate Financing ?

UN head says world is in a race against time.

Published on 5 Dec 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish : Ban Ki-Moon, the secretary-general of the United Nations has stated that the world is in a race against time against climate change. The COP18 UN Summit in Doha will conclude on Friday, giving the delegates two more days to agree on targets for cutting carbon emissions. The UN says climate change will cost developing countries up to $67 billion each year by 2030. Tarek Bazley reports from Doha, Qatar.

Rising corn costs are a high price to pay

Published on Sep 9, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish : America's corn harvest may be under way, but a summer drought has withered away much of the nation's expected yield.As a result, the price of corn is up as much as 40 per cent over last year.That's a problem because corn is a key ingredient in almost everything, from ketchup to coca-cola.

Severe Droughts Drive Food Prices Higher, Threatening the Poor

WASHINGTON, August 30, 2012 – Global food prices soared by 10 percent in July from a month ago, with maize and soybean reaching all-time peaks due to an unprecedented summer of droughts and high temperatures in both the United States and Eastern Europe, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch report.

From June to July, maize and wheat rose by 25 percent each, soybeans by 17 percent, and only rice went down, by 4 percent.  Overall, the World Bank’s Food Price Index, which tracks the price of internationally traded food commodities, was 6 percent higher than in July of last year, and 1 percent over the previous peak of February 2011.

“Food prices rose again sharply threatening the health and well-being of millions of people,”said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim. “Africa and the Middle East are particularly vulnerable, but so are people in other countries where the prices of grains have gone up abruptly.”

Overall, food prices between April and July continued the volatile trend observed during the previous 12 months, which halted the sustained increases between mid-2010 and February 2011. Prices increased in April, came down in May and June, and sharply increased in July.

Sharp domestic price increases have continued in this quarter, especially in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, experienced the highest price increases in maize, including 113 percent in some markets in Mozambique. Meanwhile, the Sahel and eastern Africa regions experienced steep price increases of sorghum: 220 percent in South Sudan, and 180 percent in Sudan, for instance.

According to Food Price Watch, weather is the critical factor behind the abrupt global price increases in July. The drought in the U.S. has resulted in vast damages to the summer crops of maize and soybeans, for which the country is the world’s largest exporter. Meanwhile, the dry summer in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan has contributed to projected wheat production losses.

more here  >>

Water Scarcity May Force World to Go Vegetarian by 2050

By the year 2050, the world’s population maybe be consuming a plant-based diet — and not necessarily out of concerns of animal welfare. If current trends continue, scientists at the Stockholm International Water Institute warn, switching the world to a mostly vegetarian diet may be the best option for feeding a growing population.

By 2050, the world’s population is expected to hit 9 billion people. That number currently hovers around 7 billion, and, with concerns that another global food crisis may be just around the corner, scientists are worried about how the planet will possibly be able to feed another 2 billion people.

One of the biggest concerns is water. Currently, about 70% of the world’s water goes into agriculture; animal products use between 5 and 10 times more water than plant-based products, and 1/3 of arable land is used to grow feed for animals. That is, of course, a lot of resources going towards a food that makes up such a small percentage of our diets.

On average, humans get 20% of their protein intake from these resource-sucking products. Simply put, in a world of 9 billion people, there will not be enough water to feed everyone. That is, unless people reduce their intake of animal protein. If, by 2050, the world’s population decreases their intake of animal products to just 5%, there just might be enough water to go around.

If these findings aren’t enough of a reason to go vegetarian, I don’t know what is.

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Implications for development: Leading up to World Water Week

Published on Aug 23, 2012 by ThinkBeyondTheTap : Simon Cook, Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems, talks about the recent report released by the AgWater Solutions project and its implications for development.

The Future of Kyoto Protocol?

Uploaded by VOAvideo on 24 Nov 2011 : The Kyoto Protocol sets binding reduction targets on greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, but it expires next year. That's why reaching a new agreement is a top priority for diplomats attending the annual United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Durban, South Africa beginning Monday. VOA's Suzanne Presto has more. 

The Science of Climate Change

Uploaded by VOAvideo on 24 Nov 2011 : Climate negotiators are meeting in Durban, South Africa beginning Monday (November 28-December 9) to discuss the planet's changing climate. 

VOA's Suzanne Presto in Washington tells us about the science of climate change. 

Armageddon Ready: Russian solar probe to predict Earthly cataclysms.

Uploaded by RussiaToday on Jul 31, 2011 - Some scientists believe bursts of solar activity cause natural disasters on our planet, but until now the star has been too difficult to reach or explore in any detail. Some Russian researchers think they have the solution. ­Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis -- apocalyptic pictures are becoming an ordinary part of news bulletins across the globe. And scientists are not giving out reassuring forecasts. "Unfortunately, we're expecting more severe cataclysms which may lead to large-scale human losses and destruction," says Baku-based Professor Elchin Kakhalilov of the Global Network for the Forecasting of Earthquakes. "I'm talking about even a possible shift of the centers of our entire civilization." The change in the Earth's seismic activity coincides with the rise of activity on the sun. Scientists have been witnessing gigantic bursts of plasma on its surface and say they are affecting our planet, even though it is over 90 million miles away.

China's dirty secrets

AlJazeeraEnglish 101East | February 04, 2011 - China's juggernaut economy is the envy of the world, but at what cost to the country's people and environment? 101 East investigates.

Cancun climate summit.

AlJazeeraEnglish | December 11, 2010 - World leaders make another effort to tackle climate change - but with competing interests, can they reach a deal?

Christmas toy market faces China crisis.

China Toys and Uighurs.

It's November, and by mid-afternoon London's streets are already shrouded in autumnal twilight. There's a bitter chill in the air.

Yet the city's shopping districts are brightly lit, colourfully decorated and thronging with people. Christmas may be more than a month away, but in the slightly surreal world of seasonal retailing, it's here already.

But this year, the risk of a toy shortage is higher than ever. And this time, the reason lies in China, where a large proportion of the toys sold in Europe and North America are made.

Most of China's toy factories are based in the south of the country, in southern coastal areas such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

In the past, these factories have relied on a steady, and cheap, supply of migrant labour from poorer parts of the country where work has been less readily available.

Now, though, the supply is drying up. The government in Beijing has been investing huge sums recently to promote development in inland regions.

Plus some other reasons - read full reports | BBC news 17 November 2010

Cancun Change Climate summit begins

in Mexico | VOAvideo | November 30, 2010 - The United Nations Climate Change Conference got underway in the Mexican beach resort of Cancun Monday with calls for decisive action to curb greenhouse gas emissions worldwide as part of an effort to curb global warming. But, as VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Cancun, participants are looking for advances on a handful of issues rather than an overall agreement that would legally bind nations to reduce emissions.

194 Countries will participate in Cancun Climate Submit

Global warming tops Cancun summit:

1. America has not even signed the 1997 Kyoto Protocal.
2. Advance countries failed to honour last year's Copenhagen financial undertaking.

AlJazeeraEnglish | November 29, 2010 - Experts believe 2010's severe weather changes hit the poorest communities around the world hardest. This is further evidence of the devastating effects of global warming.

The Cancun UN climate summit will seek a commitment to keep global carbon dioxide emissions low, after the failure in the last climate meeting in Copenhagen.

Though the challenges remain the same there are those who question whether the Cancun summit can combine mapping out a global vision on how to deal with climate change along with finding ways to pay for it.

Al Jazeera's Mariana Sanchez reports from Mexico City.

Young Americans finding more in common with Osama than Obama?

Young Americans gathered in front of the White House to take a stand against the power they feel big businesses have in Washington. Recently Osama bin Laden allegedly released an audio tape that blamed all industrial states for global warming. Many of the young activists agreed with bin Laden's statements and think the U.S. should invest in helping developing countries grow in a sustainable way. They danced down the streets of Washington to the offices of the big corporations that they believe are pulling the strings behind the White House.

Copenhagen is over, but we're not done yet

World leaders have failed us. They have walked away from the global summit in Copenhagen without a treaty to save the climate.   They still have a chance to get it right and we will not let them fail. The future of 6.5 billion people is at stake... You are one of them. 

They are not done yet, and neither are we. 

Together with other environmental and social justice groups, we are building the biggest movement civil society has ever witnessed to demand our leaders take action against climate change.

Climate deal meets furious reception

 Shaun Tandon  |  AFP

Fury erupted Saturday at a gruelling climate summit as poor nations ripped into a deal agreed by a core group of world leaders which even its supporters admitted would not stem global warming. 

US President Barack Obama said he reached an "unprecedented breakthrough" in meetings with about two dozen presidents and prime ministers gathered in Copenhagen in the finale of a long-anticipated, 12-day summit.

Climate conference is ‘about money, not climate’

MOSCOW, Dec 19 – The on-going United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen is revolving not so much about climate as about money, the chairman of the State Duma (Parliament)’s international affairs committee, Konstantin Kosachyov, said about the ongoing debate over the global warming problem, according to a report by Russian news agency, Itar-Tass.