Home/Posts Tagged ‘wildfires’
Posts Tagged ‘wildfires’
Natural disasters, Nature, Jul 31st, 2012,
A couple of weeks ago I posted about camping on the Greek island of Karpathos. The wind there was so strong it blew the tent down, forcing us to move on to a calmer, safer place. So last week we camped again on Crete in the Viannos area, where winds were comparably gentle – for the first 4-5 days at least. On the last night the winds went “Karpathian”, filling the tents with sand. Again, we moved on. Just in time too, as the beach we were camping on caught fire, burning all the trees down and forcing the evacuation…
Tags: development, Greece, Portugal, property, wildfires
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 4th, 2012,
The recent heat waves and extreme storms in the eastern United States, the numerous wildfires in Colorado and other Western states, flooding elsewhere in the country… Since 1988 climate scientists have associated these kinds of extreme weather events, though not specific weather events, to climate change or global warming. What we’ve been seeing in different parts of the US this summer is what scientists say will occur more frequently as the planet heats up. According to Princeton University geosciences and international affairs professor Michael Oppenheimer, droughts, floods, wildfires, extreme storms and other environmental disasters are “what global warming really…
Tags: Climate change, extreme weather, floods, global warming, scientists, storms, wildfires
Natural disasters, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 28th, 2012,
Some 32,000 residents have been forced to flee their homes due to 8 rampant wildfires in the US state of Colorado. As of Wednesday, firefighters had not been able to contain more than 5% of the 6,000 acre blaze in what has been called the state’s worst fire season ever. Though the extent of the damage is as of yet unknown, media has been reporting that hundreds of homes have already been consumed by the fires. From the Washington Post: The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West, blazes that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in…
Tags: blaze, boulder, Colorado, wildfires
Natural disasters, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 11th, 2012,
Wildfires have forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents in the US states of New Mexico and Colorado. An area of 30 sq mi (78 sq km) across both states was burned up by the fires over the weekend. The blaze consumed 18 buildings in Colorado and 40 in one area New Mexico in just two days. From ABC News: Hundreds of residents have been evacuated. Authorities sent at least 2,575 evacuation notices to phone numbers but it wasn’t clear how many residents had to leave, according to ABC News Station KMGH-TV in Denver. The scent of smoke from…
Tags: Colorado, New Mexico, wildfires
Conservation, Natural disasters, Videos & Documentaries, Jan 8th, 2012,
Leave it to ITN to come up with some short and (sometimes) sweet videos with which to catch up on some of the week’s environmental news. We’ve gathered three (yes, three) bite-sized eco-news reports in one place. Why? Because, like the Mouseketeers, we like you! First, check out Italy’s Mount Etna as she spectacularly spews forth molten lava and ash into the Sicilian sky. Next there’s a report on antipodean wildfires raging across New Zealand and Australia. Finally, Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers fight for both whale rights and whaling rights on the high seas. Guess who fights for which.
Tags: etna, Japanese, Sea Shepherd, whalers, wildfires
Climate Change, Nature, Weird Stuff, Aug 9th, 2011,
Natural disasters are unpredictable and can traumatize any individual irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, age or gender. It has various forms like flood, lightening, earthquake, volcanic eruptions etc. It can damage or totally annihilate your immediate environment and its effects can be evident for a much long time after it passes away. A natural disaster can damage the whole community as well. The children who undergo these disasters experience their effects for a long time. It many a times causes relocations of the families and communities as well. Thus people living in more disaster prone areas should learn the…
Tags: Climate change, floods, global warming, Google Earth, hurricanes, natural disasters, wildfires
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 5th, 2010,
High winds have fueled a new spate of wildfires in Russia, resulting in several deaths and the destruction of hundreds of buildings. 20 villages in the Volgograd and Saratov provinces have lost around 500 buildings to the blazes. From an Al Jazeera English report: Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has ordered authorities to mobilise all means to fight the new blazes, as the emergencies ministry warned there was a risk of the fires spreading to other southern regions. These new fires come on the tail of a tragic summer for Russia, in which over 50 people died and a quarter of…
Tags: blazes, Russia, Saratov, Volgograd, wildfires
Climate Change, Nature, Aug 23rd, 2010,
Moscow and other parts of Russia recently experienced welcome relief in the form of cool rains after a summer dominated by deadly record temperatures and wildfires. Turkey and Greece, however, are in the midst of their own heat wave, which is resulting in forest fires causing evacuations in both countries. Strong winds are now buffeting Turkey and Greece after a two week heatwave during which temperatures topped 39 Celsius. –Euronews For more on the story, including a short video report go to the following article from Euronews: Forest fires hit Turkey and Greece after heatwave Meanwhile, on the other side…
Tags: Bolivia, fires, forest, Greece, heat, turkey, wave, wildfires, winds
Climate Change, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Aug 14th, 2010,
From Australia to China to Pakistan to Russia and central Europe, this summer has so far been characterized by extreme weather events such as torrential rains, flooding, drought and wildfires. In the following video report by ITN News, climate scientist Thomas R. Karl explains how the current extreme weather events across the globe are linked and most likely connected to human activity. Karl is the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Climate Services office in Washington DC. From an article by the Associated Press: Russia and central Asia this year happen to be the epicentres of very…
Tags: australia, China, climate, events, extreme, flood, flooding, Karl, Pakistan, Russia, scientist, summer, Thomas, weather, wildfires
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, ,
Russia isn’t the only part of Europe currently suffering from dangerous and destructive wildfires. 19 fires are burning in the north of Portugal and wildfires are also blazing in the northwest of Spain and the Canary Islands. In accordance with Europe’s mutual aid system, France has sent two water dropping airplanes to help extinguish the fires in Portugal, which were also lessened somewhat due to a favorable change in weather conditions after Wednesday. From an AFP report: In central Portugal, 145 firefighters used helicopters to beat back a fire, raging for the last 36 hours in the Serra da Estrela…
Tags: Europe, fires, forest, Portugal, Spain, wildfires
Conservation, Politics, Pollution, Aug 12th, 2010,
Record summer temperatures and drought have caused around 800 wildfires, which in turn covered Moscow in a cloud of poisonous smoke. Now some 28 fires have reached parts of the Bryansk region of Russia, which is located near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Ukraine – site of the worst nuclear accident in history in 1986. This is raising concerns that the fires could release radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl disaster, which heavily contaminated parts of Bryansk. From a Spiegel article: Earlier this week, Greenpeace Russia published a map purporting to show the extent of the wildfires which,…
Tags: agricultural, bank, chernobyl, development, fire, fires, Moscow, peat, radioactivity, Russia, SEED, smoke, Wetlands International, wildfires
Climate Change, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Aug 8th, 2010,
Wildfires continue to spread in Russia, with an additional 270 igniting just within the past day or so. According to Russia’s emergency ministry, a total of 554 wildfires are currently burning over an area of 190,000 hectares (470,000 acres). So far 276 fires have been extinguished. Smoke from the fires is blanketing Moscow and preventing air traffic. The city experienced carbon monoxide at 6 times the maximum permitted level. From a CNN report: According to Russia’s health and social development ministry, wildfires have killed at least 52 people and left dozens hospitalized. The hot weather, drought and resultant wildfires have…
Tags: fires, Moscow, Russia, smoke, wildfires
Conservation, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 23rd, 2010,
This week’s Creature Feature is about a marsupial that, although may be a symbol of Western Australia, it may not be so well-known to the rest of the world. The Numbat, or Banded Ant Eater, is the only member of the Myrmecobiidae family. This furry little creature ranges between 13 and 18 inches (35-45 cm) in length, comes in a variety of colors (ranging from grey to reddish-brown and with a lighter underside) and can be recognized by its tail and stripes. Numbats love to feast on termites—in fact, one adult Numbat can eat up to 20,000 termites every day!…
Tags: australia, Banded Ant Eater, Conservation, Creature Feature, decreasing, endangered species, introduced species, marsupial, Numbat, population decline, predators, termites, Western Australia, wildfires
Climate Change, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 2nd, 2010,
A wildfire is currently raging in Western Australia, some 170 miles (275 km) north of the state capital, Perth. Though the area is mostly farmland and not densely populated, Australian Fire Emergency Services have urged residents to leave the area with ‘survival kits’ in tow. According to a Press Association report on the situation in Western Australia, wildfires are a common threat during hot Australian summers and this summer is particularly blazing, with Tuesday’s temperature predicted to hit 41 C (106 F). Last year, 173 people were killed and more than 2,000 homes destroyed in one day as hundreds of…
Tags: australia, fire, forest, logged, logging, Western, wildfires
