Planet Dust Bowl

20 Million Tons of Dust in the Air

Minimum dust content in the atmosphere higher than 20 million tons: FIRE-EARTH

Thanks (!) to human induced climate change, exacerbating droughts, dust storms and a few other natural mechanism, as well as deforestation and increased agricultural damage …, the atmosphere contained a minimum of about 20 million tons of dust during the past 12 months, FIRE-EARTH estimates.

[NOTE: The estimate does not include particles from smoke and burning fossil fuels, or ash and other volcanic materials.]

Dust over the Mediterranean

A large plume of dust from the Sahara, extending about 700km, drifts northward across the Mediterranean Sea toward Greece. Natural-color imageas captured by MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite on November 10, 2010.  Download large image (3 MB, JPEG) . Click image to enlarge. Source: NASA E-O

Dust covers the Gulf of Alaska, again

Dust blows off the coast of Alaska covering the Gulf of Alaska for the second time in as many weeks. “Although dust storms often arise from sand seas, such as those of the Sahara or the Arabian Peninsula, dust can also result from the interactions of glaciers and bedrock.” The natural-color image was acquired by MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite on December 1, 2010. Download large image (1 MB, JPEG). Source: NASA E-O.

Related Links:

• Dust Storm from Tunisia Passes Over Sicily
• Gobi Tries to Bury E China

• TC Phet, SST and Intercontinental Dust Storms
• Killer Dust Storms Strike India, Middle East

• SW China on the precipice of catastrophe
• Humongous Dust Storm Sweeps Africa
• Australia: World’s Smallest Continental Dust Bowl
• Could Dust Storms Bury Sydney, Australia?
• Washington: Thousands of Tons of Topsoil Lost in Dust Storm

• Australia: Uranium Dust Threat Real?
• And dust to dust …
• The Mesopotamian Dust Bowl
• Image of the Day: Sandstorm in Saudi Desert

Other resources:

• Dust, Smoke, and Haze
• Satellites Search for 770m Tons of Dust in the Air

Recent Climate-Related Disasters

Philippines:

November 28, 2009 – Tropical depression Urduja

Four people were killed and 13 others injured when tropical depression “Urduja” pummeled several provinces in Mindanao, Philippines according to disaster officials.

Three of the fatalities occurred as a result of landslides triggered by heavy rain and flooding.

“A total of 82,324 families or 404,623 persons were affected in 93 barangays, four cities and 23 municipalities in the provinces of Camiguin, Lanao del Norte and Misamis Oriental in Northern Mindanao and Agusan del Norte and Dinagat Island in Caraga Region,” the NDCC reported.

“At the height of Tropical Depression ‘Urduja,’ 3,293 persons, 110 vehicles and 99 vessels were stranded in various ports in Southern Tagalog, Bicol Region, Eastern Visayas and Northern Mindanao.”

Northeast Monsoons

In the first week of November,  Northeast Monsoons and strong winds affected up to 120,000 people in 165 districts throughout Mindanao, northern and eastern Luzon and other regions in the Philippines.

Argentina, Uruguay:

Severe flooding caused by the “heaviest rains in 50 years” have killed at least 10 people and forced 15,000 people to evacuate in northern parts of Argentina and Uruguay. The fatalities were caused by drowning and mudslides.

The recent heavy rain in the regions follows months of drought in NE Argentina. Extensive deforestation in the country’s northern regions has impacted the regional climate resulting in  extreme of  droughts and deluge.

The land use change, transforming forests  to agricultural land for growing soybeans, has negatively affected the soil’s water-carrying capacity, environmentalists say.

The local weather service has warned that a severe storm front could bring additional heavy rainfall, wind gusts and  hail this week.

Related Links:

• Storms, Extreme Rain Events, Floods, Landslides
• Drought and Deluge
• 500 Weather-Related Disasters A Year
• Environmental Disasters: Too Close for Comfort?
• Early “Dividends” of Climate Change

Greenpeace, WWF Barking Up the Wrong Trees

submitted by a member

Peeling the Green Mask Off the NGO Faces

Once again the true faces of Greenpeace and WWF as green fronts for selected multinationals are exposed

It’s becoming rather obvious, even to the “naive third-worlders,” why the  NGOs  are barking up the wrong trees. Thankfully, it won’t be so easy to replace the “green” pretenders!

Recently, Greenpeace accused the Brazilian government of colluding with cattle ranchers, aiding and abetting Amazon deforestation.

Now they are attacking  the Indonesian  government for removing a moratorium on palm oil expansion into peatlands. For more information see below.

The “developing” world’s biggest “crime” is POVERTY!

Greenpeace knows that for every $100 of Brazilian beef and hides’ products sold in the US, Italy and UK, less than $15 goes to the growers. The monetary gains made by Indonesia’s palm oil industry falls in the same ballpark.

It’s IMPOSSIBLE to curb deforestation in Amazon, Indonesia … without first addressing the poverty issue.

The following are excerpts from

Competitors behind palm oil slurs: industry boss

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE5522QK20090603

Western countries are using climate change as an excuse to constrain palm oil production in Asia because it competes with Western business interests, Indonesia’s palm oil industry chief said on Wednesday.

Indonesia and Malaysia produce most of the world’s palm oil — a product used in cooking, chocolate, cosmetics and as a biofuel — but vast areas of forest have been cleared in both countries since the 1980s to fuel a boom in palm oil production.

Environmental groups including WWF and Greenpeace have called on Indonesia to curb deforestation and palm oil expansion.

However, Joefly J. Bahroeny, head of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers’ Association, said that NGOs could be part of a campaign driven by Western business interests in competing commodities such as rapeseed, soybeans and fossil fuels.

“It’s all about business,” he told a forum of palm oil producers.

“Palm oil has become a competitor as biofuel not only with rapeseed products but also a real competitor to fossil fuels controlled by Western interests. Do these other people truly care about global warming? Or do they also want to get rich with the excuse of climate change?”

Bahroeny said his industry had been accused of killing orangutans, burning forests and selling a product high in cholesterol.

“Now it’s climate change. We don’t know their real reason but we are suspicious. What next?” he said.

Related Links:

• Phew, It Was a Jungle Out There!
• Protesters Buy Up UK Airport Land
• “You can be sure of Shell !”

[There are very many great, committed environmentalists/ individuals who inadvertently provide a “green” cover for Greenpeace and the like.]