This Sept. 16, 2012, image released by NASA shows the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic, at center in white, and the 1979 to 2000 average extent for the day shown, with the yellow line. Scientists say sea ice in the Arctic shrank to an all-time low of 1.32 million square miles on Sept. 16, smashing old records for the critical climate indicator. (AP Photo/U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, File)

huffingtonpost.com - by James Gerken - October 5, 2012

Low-lying island nations threatened by rising sea levels this century could see the disastrous consequences of climate change far sooner than expected, according to one of the world's leading climate scientists.

Barnards after cyclone Larry. Image: AIMS Long-term Monitoring Team.

Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)
October 2, 2012

Can we save the Reef by controlling crown of thorns starfish?

(ABSTRACT AND LINK TO STUDY - BELOW)

The Great Barrier Reef has lost half its coral cover in the last 27 years. The loss was due to storm damage (48%), crown of thorns starfish (42%), and bleaching (10%) according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today by researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville and the University of Wollongong.

"We can't stop the storms but, perhaps we can stop the starfish. If we can, then the Reef will have more opportunity to adapt to the challenges of rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification", says John Gunn, CEO of AIMS.

Image: The Marburg virus: 'If tourists were tripping in and out of some python-infested Marburg repository, unprotected, and then boarding their return flights to other continents… it was an international threat.' Photograph: Science Photo Library

guardian.co.uk - September 28th, 2012 - David Quammen

Astrid Joosten was a 41-year-old Dutch woman who, in June 2008, went to Uganda with her husband. At home in Noord-Brabant, she worked as a business analyst. Both she and her husband, Jaap Taal, a financial manager, enjoyed annual adventures, especially to Africa. The journey in 2008, booked through an adventure-travel outfitter, took them to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, home to mountain gorillas.

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A Pakistani fisherman talks with young boys. Rising ocean temperatures are pushing many fish away from the tropics towards the poles where waters are cooler. (Credit: Akbar Baloch/IPS)

commondreams.org - by Stephen Leahy - September 29, 2012

Humanity’s ability to feed itself is in serious doubt as climate change takes hold on land in the form of droughts and extreme weather, as well as on the world’s oceans.

Less well known to many is the fact that emissions from burning oil, coal and gas are both heating up the oceans and making them more acidic. That is combining to reduce the amount of seafood that can be caught, according to a new report released here.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION HERE - Ocean-Based Food Security Threatened in a High CO2 World)
http://resiliencesystem.org/ocean-based-food-security-threatened-high-co2-world

Sandia's stochastic network metholodogy accelerates spread of food-borne illness // Source: sandia.gov

submitted by Luis Kun

Homeland Security News Wire - October 1, 2012

Researchers demonstrate how developing a probability map of the food supply network using stochastic network representation might shorten the time it takes to track down contaminated food sources; stochastic mapping shows what is known about how product flows through the distribution supply chain and provides a means to express all the uncertainties in potential supplier-customer relationships that persist due to incomplete information

Uncovering the sources of fresh food contamination could become faster and easier thanks to analysis done at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC).

Protesters carry a banner reading 'no to austerity' at a march in Paris. Photograph: Michel Euler/AP

guardian.co.uk - by Kim Willsher - September 30, 2012

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Paris on Sunday to protest against the spread of economic "austerity" in France and Europe.

Chanting "resistance, resistance", the crowds had been rallied by around 60 organisations, including the leftwing Front de Gauche and the French Communist party, which oppose the European budget treaty.

"Today is the day the French people launch a movement against the politics of austerity," said the Front de Gauche president, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

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Image: François Hollande has described the 2013 plans as a 'combat budget'. Photograph: Andrew Gombert/EPA

guardian.co.uk - September 28th, 2012 - Kim Willsher

To the dismay of a swath of French bankers, business leaders and the wealthy, President François Hollande has remained true to his word and unveiled €20bn (£16bn) in new taxes, including a 75% "supertax" band that will hit the rich.

In what Hollande has described as France's harshest budget in 30 years, business and personal taxpayers were asked on Friday to make an "unprecedented effort" to slash the country's public spending deficit.

However, the Socialist government sidestepped swingeing cuts in public spending, including pensions and state salaries, in its 2013 budget, which aims to find €36.9bn in savings.

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Image: A protester runs from police in Athens on Wednesday. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

globalpost.com - September 26th, 2012 - Paul Ames

Riot police fired tear gas at an angry mob throwing gasoline bombs during a general strike in Athens today, a day after Spanish police shot rubber bullets at leftist protesters attempting to storm parliament, where lawmakers were mulling more austerity.

Days after it seemed European policymakers may have finally launched a drive to save the continent’s single currency, the euro zone's battlefield is spreading from trading floors to the streets.

Now Spain’s richest region is calling for independence, part of the mounting political fallout from an economic crisis that is far from resolution.

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Images: In Spain, the unemployment rate is over 50 percent among young people (Samuel Aranda for The New York Times)

nytimes.com - September 24th, 2012 - Suzanne Daley

On a recent evening, a hip-looking young woman was sorting through a stack of crates outside a fruit and vegetable store here in the working-class neighborhood of Vallecas as it shut down for the night.

At first glance, she looked as if she might be a store employee. But no. The young woman was looking through the day’s trash for her next meal.

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Reuters - by Nina Chestney
September 27, 2012

(CLICK ON "READ MORE" AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR LINKS TO THE REPORT )

LONDON: More than 100 million people will die and global economic growth will be cut by 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 if the world fails to tackle climate change, a report commissioned by 20 governments said on Wednesday.

As global average temperatures rise due to greenhouse gas emissions, the effects on the planet, such as melting ice caps, extreme weather, drought and rising sea levels, will threaten populations and livelihoods, said the report conducted by humanitarian organisation DARA.

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Report - Climate Vulnerability Monitor: A Guide to the Cold Calculus of A Hot Planet
http://daraint.org/climate-vulnerability-monitor/climate-vulnerability-monitor-2012/report/

Image: Barack Obama paid a personal tribute to Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya who was killed in the attack on Benghazi. Photograph: Mary Altaffer/AP

guardian.co.uk - September 25th, 2012 - Julian Borger

President Barack Obama today sought to reset US relations with the Arab world in the wake of anti-American riots triggered by an amateur video insulting the prophet Mohamed, that led to the death of the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.

Obama used his speech to the UN general assembly, expected to be his last major foreign policy address before the November elections, to pay a personal tribute to Stevens, highlighting the murdered diplomat's passion for Arab culture and support for democracy, and present it a model for American-Arab relations.

The president also restated the US position on the Iran nuclear programme: that there was still time for diplomacy, but not "unlimited time".

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submitted by Albert Gomez

bethkanter.org - by Beth Kanter - September 20, 2012

“Cloud Computing” is when you use software on the Internet versus your local hard drive or local computer network.  It makes your data and documents available anywhere, anytime.

TechSoup has just released the results of a global study of NGOs about cloud computing with some interesting findings.

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2012 Global Cloud Computing Translated Survey Results
http://www.techsoupglobal.org/translated-cloud-reports

submitted by Samuel Bendett

inhabitat.com - by Lidija Grozdanic - September 12, 2012

Moscow authorities recently announced the results of the Moscow Agglomeration Competition for the Moscow metropolitan area. The 3-stage international competition called for master plan designs for the city that include the existing city development and the design of new city districts (Federal City, Innovation City, Logistics City and Science City). Entrants responded with ambitious urban planning proposals that include massive green belts, high-speed transportation systems and zero-waste, zero-emission buidlings - read on for a closer look!

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Image: A Google map locating protests around the world tied to a low-budget video produced in canyon country north of Los Angeles. Photograph: Google

guardian.co.uk - September 14th, 2012 - Matthew Weaver, Brian Whitaker and Tom McCarthy   

Protest activity smoldered in Cairo, Tunisia, Lebanon and elsewhere after a day of upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. Relatively small but intense protests outside US embassies across the region resulted in multiple fatalities in Tunis and at least one each in Lebanon and Cairo.

Gunmen staged a raid on a peacekeepers' outpost in Sinai, with three foreign soldiers, believed to be Colombian, reportedly injured. The raid was described as major, with dozens of fighters and vehicles, and was not of a kind with the protests outside US diplomatic outposts.

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Image: Graph of food riots over time and against food prices.

Submitted by Samuel Bendett

inhabitat.com - September 12th, 2012 - Timon Singh

A few years ago, Sir John Beddington, the UK government’s chief scientific advisor stated that with the world’s population growing, food supplies diminishing, and water supplies becoming more scarce, all of these factors would combine to form a ‘perfect storm’ in 2030 resulting in food shortages and rioting. However, the New England Complex Systems Institute believes he is way too optimistic with his timing. In fact, the complexity theorists think that if we don’t reverse the current trend in food prices, we’ve got until August 2013 before social unrest sweeps the planet.

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