U.S. Geologists Explain Science Behind Japanese Earthquake
A massive earthquake measured at magnitude 8.9 struck northeast Japan March 11, the most powerful quake in that country’s recorded history, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake triggered a tsunami on Japan’s east coast, killing at least 15 people and sweeping away houses, cars and boats. Because the earthquake’s hypocenter, or rupture point, was [...]
Desertification Is Target of Decade of Action, Innovation
The United Nations has designated 2010−2020 as the decade to raise public awareness of the threat posed by worsening drought and human mismanagement of drylands. Meanwhile, farmers around the world find new ways to salvage degraded lands that lead to desertification.
Drylands make up more than 40 percent of the world’s land surface and are home [...]
Past Decade Warmest Ever Recorded, Scientists from 48 Nations Say
Cheryl Pellerin
Report shows human society faces consistently warmer climate conditions
Earth has been warming for 50 years and the past decade was the warmest ever recorded, according to more than 300 scientists in 48 countries who contributed to the 2009 State of the Climate report released July 28.
The data are historical, not theoretical. The data come [...]
Adaptation Critical to Agriculture in Already Changing Climate
Strategies include breeding sturdier crops, modifying livestock production
By Cheryl L Pellerin
Ten thousand years ago, as Earth’s climate stabilized, people began turning planting into agriculture and animals into livestock. Civilization was transformed. Today, with that critical stability deteriorating as the result of climate change, food security for the world’s billions hinges on helping crops and cattle [...]
U.S. Geological Survey to Help Devise Climate Adaptation Projects
Researchers seek remedies for changing ecosystems
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has unique knowledge of how rising global temperatures are affecting America’s natural resources. Lately, USGS scientists have been tapped to also help devise strategies that will help nature adapt to climate change.
A number of USGS climate adaptation projects aimed at protecting the nation’s natural resources [...]
United Nations Climate Change Conference
About U.S. Participation in COP-15
The U.S. is committed to forging an international response and achieving a successful outcome at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-15) in Copenhagen, December 7-18.
Climate Change is one of the greatest threats facing our planet, and the United States is taking significant action to meet this challenge. Under President Obama, the [...]
Change Your Climate, Change Our World
Second Annual Online Video Contest
The U.S Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is extending and amplifying its international exchange programs by creating online communities to enhance mutual understanding.
With the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen just around the corner on December 7-18, 2009 people all over the world, ages 14 [...]
Is the United Nations Up to the Challenge?
20 years ago, in February 1991, the negotiations for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change started in Chantilly, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C. This was the beginning of a long series of climate negotiations within the U.N. framework, based on the scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The importance of [...]
Addressing Climate Change Through Sustainable Development
has long suffered from climatic disasters throughout its history and will be more vulnerable to climate change. The key reason lies in the fact that the physical environment is highly fragile. Ever-increasing human population, physical resources, and infrastructure are exposed to climate risks, along with effects from China’s development process. Sustainable development has been taken [...]
Reducing Poverty While Cutting Carbon Emissions
How many Indonesians have ever read or heard about the issue of global warming and climate change?
According to an ACNielsen Omnibus survey in six Indonesian cities in February 2007, 70 percent of the 1,700 people surveyed said they had not read or heard anything about the issue of global warming. Only 28 percent [...]
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