Men shoveling snow from a street in Sarajevo. Record snowfall has paralyzed transportation in the Bosnian capital, where a state of emergency has now been declared. Photo by Sulejman Omerbasic, copyright © Demotix (5/02/12).

Serbia’s national television network, RTS, and other media reported on Friday that a state of emergency has been declared by the government, while citizens have been reporting critical situations throughout the country and that municipal services have been doing a poor job of tackling the snowfall in many urban areas.

In an article titled “Serbia Blocked by Snow, State of Emergency in 27 Municipalities, Recommendation to Call Off School Attendance” [sr], the Head of the State of Emergency Sector of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Predrag Maric, is reported to have stated on Friday:

27 municipalities in Serbia have declared a state of emergency due to heavy snowfall. Maric has told Beta news agency that the most difficult situations are in Sjenica, Ivanjica, Prijepolje, Crna Trava and Surdulica, where the height of snow has reached approximately 2 meters. According to him, power supply is “relatively good,” outages are being fixed quickly and there have been no long power outages.

Maric also announced the possibility of declaring a full state of emergency nationwide, which the Government did on Sunday evening, cancelling school throughout Serbia at least until Friday, February 10, among other things.

Several actions have been organized by the online community in Serbia and the region to fend off the snow and to attempt to regain a functional state in urban areas at least, such as a #lopataup (”#shovelup”), organized by one online community leader, Zoran Torbica, and other local Twitter users.

In the meantime, Al Jazeera Balkans, the recently established regional office of Al Jazeera news network in the region, has joined forces with the team from Ushahidi to set up a platform for tracking verified information on everything from road blocks, power outages to other critical points and information in the entire region. Ushahidi is an open-source platform for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping, which was also used in Serbia just after the earthquake in Kraljevo in November 2010 to map and track damage in the area.

Haris Alisic, who heads the New Media team for Al Jazeera Balkans, launched the platform on Sunday evening, and many members of the online community, including some of the region’s GV authors, have joined the Al Jazeera-Ushahidi team in curating, tracking and verifying reports from the region.

The adapted Ushahidi platform can be located on Al Jazeera’s official site, while reports can be sent in by anyone using the following channels:

- via SMS to +387644218661
- via Twitter by using the hashtags #kolaps #sneg #snijeg #lopataup #iskljucenje
- via email to oluja2012@aljazeera.net
- or by entering information directly into the form on the”pošaljite izvještaj” tab on the Al Jazeera page

If you would like to volunteer your time to help map critical areas and are familiar with using online tools, please contact the author of this article, or Haris Alisic via Twitter, or leave a comment here on Global Voices, and we will contact you for more information on what you can do to help. We also ask that you all begin reporting from your area on Twitter and using the above-mentioned hashtags on Twitter, which are automatically collected by the platform and then reviewed and verified by Al Jazeera and volunteers.

Bosnian men are trying to push a car away from the deep snow. Photo by Sulejman Omerbasic, copyright © Demotix (5/02/12).

Written by Danica Radisic

Wait, you thought we were going to talk about Sunday night’s football game? That small clash between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 46, watched by more than 100 million fans in the U.S.?

Well, we are. Sort of. Because Sunday’s Super Bowl in Indianapolis capped this snowless winter’s coming-out party. Thanks to the winter that wasn’t, Indy was a big hit. Temperatures in the city averaged approximately 25 degrees higher than normal this week. Mild, snowless winters like this one may be more common as the world continues to warm, as will extreme variations in weather patterns. Much of Europe has been enduring that kind of variation as severe cold and snow has killed hundreds across the continent the past few days.

When Indianapolis was awarded the Super Bowl several years ago, the groans from the football congnoscenti were audible. Indianapolis? A hick town in the Midwest? Do they have any other restaurants other than St. Elmo’s? And did anyone tell them the Super Bowl is in February?! The logo should have been a set of snowblowers.

Some of the whining came from the party crowd that would rather have every Super Bowl in Miami or New Orleans, but almost everyone prefers sunshine and beaches to ice scrapers and rock salt. The game wouldn’t be affected because the Colts had the good sense to build a dome over Lucas Oil Stadium, but the city’s week-long party leading up to it is always colored by the weather.

But once the moaning stopped and people arrived in Indy this past week, they were treated to mild temperatures that were pushing 60 degrees. All the gloom and doom about ice and snow, about how it would snarl traffic and keep people from flocking downtown to celebrate the event? That happened last year, when the Super Bowl was in Dallas.

So the locals in Indy celebrated the unseasonably balmy weather by throwing a great party, with hundreds of thousands flocking downtown to see a city transformed by the NFL’s big show. There was even a temporary zip line over downtown that people slid down without gathering icicles. The national media gushed over the atmosphere.

Locals in Indy celebrated the unseasonably balmy weather by throwing a great party, with hundreds of thousands flocking downtown to see a city transformed by the NFL’s big show. Credit: Carl Van Rooy/flickr.

“It’s at the top of the list. It’s one of the best Super Bowls I have ever covered,” said Rick Gosselin, a columnist for the Dallas Morning News. “Indianapolis got a break because of the weather. This has not been a cold winter. I have always thought this is a great big event town.”

This year, the first dip in the weather came the day before the big game, when it rained.

Colts owner Jim Irsay joked that it was all part of the plan. “I know the way we’re preparing and the way we’ve controlled the weather, which is hard to do. But we’ve had certain techniques that we’re going to keep hidden,” he said.

And what’s the next cold-weather, turned warm-weather venue seeking Super Bowl stardom? Two years from now when it comes to the greater New York area. It gets a big opportunity to show off then because not only is some of the fun outdoors, but so is the game.

Oh yeah. One more thing. The final score was New York 21, New England 17.

Additional Online Resources:

Super Bowl Revelers Flock Downtown — The Indy Channel

Reaction: What Super Bowl 2012 journalists are saying about Indy — IndyStar.com

Super Bowl week begins in Indianapolis; ice and snow no-shows — Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Responding to public demand, NASA scientists created a companion image to the wildly popular ‘Blue Marble’ released last week. The new image is a composite of six separate orbits taken on January 23 by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite. Both of these new ‘Blue Marble’ images are images taken by a new instrument flying aboard Suomi NPP, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).

Compiled by NASA Goddard scientist Norman Kuring, this image has the perspective of a viewer looking down from 7,918 miles (about 12,742 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface. The four vertical lines of ‘haze’ visible in this image shows the reflection of sunlight off the ocean, or ‘glint,’ that VIIRS captured as it orbited the globe. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense.                                Credit: NASA/NOAA

On this date back way back in 1745, a man named John Jeffries was born in Boston.  He later became a physician, serving as a surgeon with the British Army in Nova Scotia and New York during the American Revolution.

Not only was Jeffries a skilled physician and surgeon, but he also had a “thing” for the weather.  He loved to take and record weather observations wherever he was stationed.  In 1784, he flew the first known “weather balloon” to a height of 9,000 feet over London, taking readings on a thermometer, barometer and a hygrometer (a device used to measure humidity).

So, National Weather Person’s Day was created to commemorate Jeffries’ birthday and celebrate his feats as one of the world’s first weather observers.

We’ve certainly come a long way in weather science since Jeffries’ trip over London in the 1780s!

Weather balloons are now launched at least twice per day at over 800 locations all around the world.  The data is then fed into giant supercomputers that perform millions (or even billions) of calculations per second and spit out detailed forecast models of what the weather is likely to do anywhere from one hour to 360 hours in the future.  It is up to your local weather person to interpret that data and develop an accurate forecast so that you can plan your day, your birthday party, outdoor wedding, etc.

We now have sophisticated weather radars powerful enough to detect a flock of birds on a clear day and the rotating winds of a supercell thunderstorm about to spawn a tornado on a stormy day.  Severe weather warnings issued by your local weather person (or persons) are saving lives, giving some 20+ minutes advanced warning in many cases.

So, if you’re in the neighborhood of Amherst College today, be sure to stop by the Archives Section of the library and sign the guest book for the John Jeffries collection.

On the other hand, I guess you could take the easy way out and just shoot an e-mail or send a tweet to your favorite local weather person and thank him or her for their service today.  They get lots of negative press when things don’t go quite as expected (although that doesn’t happen as often now as it did even 10 or 15 years ago), so I’m sure they’d appreciate some positive feedback on this special day that they share with John Jeffries…

Oh, and to my dear wife:  how about waffles instead of pancakes next time?

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Photographer: Bill Metallinos; Bill’s Web site
Summary Author: Bill Metallinos; Jim Foster

The photo above showing a startling fireball appearing to rip apart the night sky was seen during a star observation session at Mount Pantokrator on the Greek island of Corfu. I had set my camera up to get a picture of our small group and before long this brilliant meteor lit up the surrounding landscape. It was approximately -8 magnitude or about 25 times brighter than Venus at its brightest — so bright that we were bathed in a sea of blue-green light. You can see the reflection on my 16 in (41 cm) telescope, on the table at right-center and on the side of my car. Click here to see a short animation.

Photo details: Canon EOS 40D camera; 15mm fisheye lens; f/2.8; ISO 800; 30 second exposure; Photoshop; Cropped.

• Corfu, Greece Coordinates: 39.622317, 19.929843
• Related Links
  • Fireball Breakup
  • Jack Fusco’s Quadrantid Meteor
  • John Chumack’s Quadrantid Meteors
  • Fireball FAQs
  • USGS: Introduction to Bolides
  • Absolute Magnitude of Asteroids
• Earth Observatory
  • Looking Down on a Shooting Star

1)     She has little patience for people who are wasteful (This applies to many things; leftover food, lights left on etc.)

2)     And more importantly: What Gramma says, goes. (If you forget this rule, you might get a friendly ‘reminder’ pinch.)

Now don’t get me wrong – my Gramma is a caring, loving, kind person (the best Gramma, I would argue) but she certainly is firm.

My actual Gramma, Marie.  (The best, right?)

So when I saw the WWF National Sweater Day reminder video from Granny Ruth, I was immediately reminded of my Gramma. She and Ruth would probably get along quite well if they ever met.

VIDEO: National Sweater Day: Ruth

And I’m sure they’d agree that on February 9 -National Sweater Day – granddaughters and grandsons nationwide should turn down their thermostats a degree or two and put on a sweater (bonus points if it’s a Gramma-knitted original). Heck, why not leave the thermostat down all the time?

If not only to look fashionable in your sweaters, do it to save some money and help conserve energy.

Helpful Hints:

• -You can easily save energy in the winter by setting the thermostat to 68°F while you’re awake and setting it lower while you’re asleep or away from home. By turning your thermostat back 10°–15° for 8 hours, you can save about 5%–15% a year on your heating bill—a savings of as much as 1% for each degree if the setback period is eight hours long.

• -Open the drapes or blinds on sunny days and bask in the ‘free’ heat. Remember to close the drapes or blinds when the sun sets, to hold in the warmth.

Happy National Sweater Day, however you will be celebrating!

It is the one-year anniversary of the Groundhog Day Blizzard in Chicago.

The storm brought the area from central Oklahoma to the lower Great Lakes and central New England between 1 and 2 feet of snow spanning Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 2011, affecting over 100 million people along its path.

To see photos of the blizzard in Chicago, click here.

The area from northeastern Missouri to northeastern Illinois was hit the hardest.

Wind gusts to 60 mph in the Chicagoland area brought travel to a standstill with haunting images of stranded vehicles in waist-deep snowdrifts along the Lake Michigan shoreline. The storm resulted in power outages, school closings and halted mail service for a time.

Chicago was buried under 20.2 inches of snow from the storm.

Hundreds of cars were stranded on Lake Shore Drive Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in Chicago. A winter blizzard of historic proportions wobbled an otherwise snow-tough Chicago, stranding hundreds of drivers for up to 12 hours overnight on the city’s showcase lakeshore thoroughfare and giving many city schoolchildren their first ever snow day. A year later, temperatures are in the mid-50s and flirting with record highs for this date. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

This AccuWeather.com Facebook fan photo was taken by Jan in Claremore, Okla., on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011, before snow headed toward Chicago and Detroit.

More Photos of the Chicago Blizzard

Submit Your Photos to the AccuWeather.com Facebook page

Content contributed by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

COMMENTARY
By Geoff Grant
Here’s a Monday morning conversation starter for the casual sports fan: did global warming cause Sidney Crosby’s concussion?

No, the National Hockey League’s biggest star did not sustain a head injury by slipping and falling on receding polar ice. But he is the victim of the same kind of resistance to science that has made climate change such an accelerating and intractable problem.

In hockey and other contact sports, doctors have been warning for years about the dangers of concussions, as more and more research shows how dangerous they are, how remarkably easy they are sustained, how much damage they can do to players’ brains over the course of their lives. But the NHL has done almost nothing until recently to begin preventing them. And even in taking the tiny steps that they have – short suspensions for players delivering blatant, intentional hits to the head from the blind side of an unsuspecting opponent – they do not accept the considerable body of science that says so many of these players will experience unnatural cognitive decline as they age.

Crosby — and if you’re not a hockey fan, think Albert Einstein on skates — has been sidelined for much of the past year, including sitting out Sunday’s All-Star Game in Ottawa. Despite missing it’s most marketable star for an agonizingly long stretch, the league has been slow to try to reduce the risk of brain trauma for its players. Alarmed experts and many fans have called for the elimination of all hits to the head, rules common in international hockey, but they have been met with stubborn official resistance. The NHL’s, ahem, brain trust does not believe the game needs fundamental change.

Worse, evidence has emerged that another of the NHL’s traditions — fighting — has taken a heavy toll on its practitioners’ brains. Three notable enforcers died in the summer of 2011, all under circumstances that could be linked to the head trauma that was a part of their jobs. As the New York Times’ John Branch detailed in a comprehensive three-part series, one of the league’s most fearsome fighters, Derek Boogaard, had his brain examined by researchers at Boston University after he died of a drug overdose. He was found to have advanced CTE, a disease closely related to Alzheimer’s and believed to be caused by repeated head trauma. Unfortunately, it is not something that can be diagnosed until after death. Boogard was the fourth hockey player examined by the BU researchers and at 29, by far the youngest. All four had CTE. The center has been studying football players as well, 19 in all, and 18 had CTE.

The NHL’s response to its bleak summer news was more denial. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called the research “preliminary” and defended fighting on the grounds that fans like it. To Bettman, and the team owners for whom he works, fans’ entertainment is higher on the league’s priority list than the health of its players’ brains. They don’t want to change the game and risk affecting its popularity and thus, their bottom line.

The parallels to the battleground that is climate change are startling from front to back. There is the science that people feel free to discount, even as evidence mounts pointing inexorably in one direction. There is the economic resistance to change, an unwillingness to consider a new business model. There is the inability to grasp consequences far down the road, even as cues emerge that the consequences are coming sooner than expected.

That resistance is all too familiar to climate change. Although climate science has evolved to the point where scientists are virtually certain that humans are causing the warming of the planet and there is every reason to believe that at least some potentially cataclysmic effects will result from climate change, public policy has changed little. It’s been 14 years since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, and the only thing different today is that greenhouse gas emissions have increased to even more alarming levels.

Even among politicians and business leaders who do grasp and appreciate the risks, there has been little momentum summoned for the real changes needed to keep climate change from becoming catastrophic. There appears to be a mysterious tipping point we have not yet reached when the dangers are alarming enough for society to loosen its allegiance to the atmosphere-choking status quo.

With climate, as with hockey, people seem to be waiting for the definitive A-leads-to-B line to be drawn for them. But just as it’s impossible to link one hurricane in Florida to climate change, doctors cannot say with absolute certainty that any one hit, or even any one concussion, leads to long-term brain damage and functional decline. In climatology as in medicine, science is rarely an open-and-shut case. Certainties reside in mathematics, not science. And waiting for scientific certainty when lives are on the line almost always has a very high cost.

As Ken Dryden, a Hall of Fame NHL goaltender and former member of the Parliament of Canada wrote on Grantland.com, by waiting for absolute proof . . . ,

“thousands of asbestos workers and millions of smokers died. The fact is, as a society we rarely have the luxury of waiting for science on big, difficult, potentially dangerous questions to meet its standard of proof. We need to take the best science we have, generate more and better information, then apply to it our best intuition and common sense — and decide.

“There are debates among doctors, now played out in the media, over the correlation between hockey’s blows to the head and CTE, between blows suffered now and a player’s long-term future. These debates will continue. But there can be no debate about the impact of those blows on players now. . . . This is about what we can see. This is what we absolutely know. This is about now.

“We look back on those people 50 years ago who defended tobacco and asbestos and think, How could they be so stupid? (Commissioner) Bettman and the NHL cannot wait for this generation of players to get old just so they can know for sure.”

Sound familiar? People who want absolute certainty in hockey are sacrificing the health of the current players, despite growing certainty that the news will only get worse. Climate skeptics are doing the same with the health of our planet.

his video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken January 3, 2012 from 15:01:30 to 15:08:17 GMT, on a pass from the Indian Ocean, just west of Australia, to south of Australia, west of Tasmania. The pass begins looking eastward toward southern Australia at the Aurora Australis. The crew captures the aurora just before the sun begins to come up in this short video. A few orbiting satellites pass by throughout the video as well.

Credit: NASA / ISS

Image extracted from NASA video.

Today marks the 90th anniversary of the deadly roof collapse of the Knickerbocker Theater in Washington, D.C., resulting from a massive blizzard that struck portions of the South and the mid-Atlantic.

The weight of heavy snow proved too much for the flat roof of the Knickerbocker Theater, which was built in 1917. Drifting of snow likely led to an uneven distribution of weight that added to the devastating roof collapse that killed 98 people and injured 133 others late on Jan. 28, 1922.

Photo of the Knickerbocker Theater following the collapse of the roof from NOAA’s Historical Photo Collection. Click here to see more incredible photos of Washington, D.C., covered in snow from the Knickerbocker Blizzard.

Washington, D.C., was buried by 28.0 inches of snow from the blizzard, setting a record for the heaviest snow in 24 hours. This record still stands today.

Other snow amounts include 19.0 inches in Richmond, Va., and 33.0 inches in Rock Creek Park, which sits along the Washington, D.C.-Maryland border. Railroads between Philadelphia, Pa., and Washington, D.C., were buried beneath as much as 36.0 inches of snow.

Up to 16-foot-high snow drifts occurred with the ferocious winds accompanying the storm between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

The storm shut down all forms of travel in the nation’s capitol, forcing people to travel to work on foot in treacherous conditions. A 24-hour record snowfall in Baltimore, Md., brought travel to a halt as well.

By Trish Snyder

Every night I perform a ritual that started when I was in grade school by setting out my clothes for the next morning. At this time of the year, I organize quite a hefty stack:

1 set of unmentionables

1 pair of long johns

1 pair of jeans

1 camisole

1 long sleeved cotton shirt

1 thick turtleneck

1 bulky wool sweater

1 fleece pullover (optional)

1 pair of slippers with thick rubber soles

1 pair of merino wool socks

1 wool scarf (optional)

Photo credit: Morgan Harris, Trish’s 9-year-old daughter.

Lemme guess what you’re thinking: maybe I’m a lumberjack or someone who works 12-hour shifts outdoors on film sets? The truth is I run my own business as an editor/writer, which means most days I don’t leave my Toronto home. But I pile on a whack of layers to cope with my preferred office heating policy: when I’m at home alone, the furnace stays of. For me, every day is Sweater Day.

It started a few years ago when I returned to freelancing after leaving an editing job. Our thermostat had been programmed to fall to 16C after everyone left for work and school, and rise to 20C when we arrived home for the evening. That first morning of freelancing I was plugging away in my basement office when I felt a chill. I hustled up to the main-floor thermostat: by mid-morning it had slipped to 17.5C; likely a few degrees cooler in our how-very-Canadian uninsulated basement.

With less effort than it takes to dial a phone, I could have nudged that furnace to life and bumped up the temperature to a more civilized 20C. I admit I considered it: no matter what I wear, I’m chronically cold. I hate being chronically cold. Don’t I deserve to earn a living without my lips turning blue?

But then my green voice spoke up — the part of me that cycles year-round, orders organics from local farms, pays a premium for green energy from Bullfrog, and researched every element of our eco-chic kitchen renovation. My treehugger side wondered why I would heat every inch of our 1,100 square foot home when I was occupying less than 100? After all, I always remind the kids not to leave lights burning in empty rooms. I pulled on another sweater and brewed a pot of mint tea.

The kids think I’m nuts. I prefer passionate and optimistic, but the truth is I’d never force them to follow my extreme example. I just hope to show them that life is a series of choices, and every action we take has consequences for the earth. I simply wish to make more good choices than bad ones.

Some days, when the temperature hits 16C, and four layers and a blanket aren’t enough to stop my teeth from chattering at the keyboard, I cave and switch on a small electric heater for 10 minutes while I make chai and fret about the water footprint of my tea habit. Oh well, at least I’m boiling water on an energy-smart induction range.

Trish Snyder is executive editor of EcoLiving, a magazine and website produced byGreen Living and Scotiabank to help Canadians make green choices on home improvement projects. Someday she will insulate her chilly basement.

As soon as it started snowing in the mountainous regions of Jordan (around 1,000 meters above sea level), a flow of tweets and Facebook posts, along with photographs and videos, started making the rounds on social media. In Jordan, citizen journalism plays it’s role very well since almost everyone owns a smart phone connected to the Internet at all times. And netizens were not only commenting on the snow and weather, but giving their followers updates on traffic caused by snow as well as warnings of slippery roads here and there.

Hanin Abu-Shamat, @HaninSh, tweeted this photograph of snow falling in her area in Amman:

Snow in Amman, Jordan. Photo credit: Hanin Abu Shamat, shared on Flickr

Elwan Bader, @kharooof tweeted this picture from Queen Rania Street in Amman aka University Street:

A photograph of snow on Queen Rania Street in Amman. Photo shared on Twitter by Alwan Bader

@BaselAnabtawi lives in Dubai, UAE, and he tweeted this picture on behalf of his sister who lives in Amman:

Man, the view from our house in Amman! It’s snowing .. My sister just sent me this! Mashallah, enjoy it #amman

Snow from Basel Anabtawi sister’s house in Amman, Jordan. Photo shared on Twitter

The photograph tweeted by Dima Haddadin (@Haddadin) of a young man directing traffic in one of Amman’s traffic lights after it broke down gave Jordanians online a sense of pride of how the everyday citizens can help solve a big problem such as traffic. People talked about the photograph and shared it on all social networks:

A young Jordanian directs traffic after the traffic sign broke down. Photo shared by Dima Haddadin on yfrog

Netizens also shared numerous videos of snowfall across Jordan. Here are videos I shared on YouTube showing snow falling in two different areas in Amman:

All in all, snow brings joy and happiness to the people of Jordan and hope that the upcoming cold fronts would bring more snow to the lower areas in Amman, which fall below 1,000m above sea level.

Written by Ali Alhasani

(left to right: Joanie Kresich, Frances Stewart, Margot Kidder, and actress Tantoo Cardinal)

On a recent trip to the hair salon, I had the good fortune to run into Margot Kidder, one of Livingston’s colorful local celebrities.  If you were raised during the ‘70s and ‘80s, you are well aware of Margot’s film career—most notably, her role as Lois Lane in the original Superman series starring Christopher Reeves.

For decades, Margot has been a highly visible member of the small community of Livingston, Montana and over the years I would bump into her at various local events, never really having the chance to speak with her one-on-one.  It seems that everyone in Livingston knows Margot (or Margie as she likes to be called).  She can be seen regularly pedaling her bike through town, stopping to chat with the locals on her way to do whatever Hollywood actresses do… I imagine that it’s something very glamorous!

But to know Margie, as so many in this community of just over 7,000 people do, is to know that she is more than just a successful actress—she is an amazing force and committed activist for countless causes.  As a founding member of Montana Women For, a non-profit organization that encourages women to participate in democratic processes, she has tackled such issues as health care, mental health issues, and energy development. Her work on energy has focused most recently on the development of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline—the now infamous 2,000 mile pipeline that would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, which NRDC has also worked hard to block. 

Leaning back in a chair while my stylist Staci worked her magic, Margot shared stories of her recent travels around the country including one story of her arrest during the August protest of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in Washington, D.C.  (This is the kind of excitement you hope to get when you go to the hair salon!)

It was a hot August morning.  Margot was flanked by friends that had traveled with her from Montana to protest the development of the pipeline.  All were prepared to be arrested and each was ready with bail money—Margot secreted her money away in her bra.  After her arrest, she was contained inside a “paddy wagon” (remember…this is D.C. in August), to await transport to a police station where she would be able to post bond.  When the time came to pay her fine, Margot reached into her bra and extracted a very soggy $100 bill which she then handed over to the officer.  The officer pinched the corner of the bill holding it up and away from his body with a less than enthusiastic “thank you Miss Kidder.”  For months, Margot wore her police bracelet with the number one written on it in sharpie.  She was the very first person arrested that day.

The stories about Kidder’s activism are legendary—I’ve heard many tales about the bravery she has shown in the face of heated opposition—moments where she has walked straight into the heart of rival protest groups, facing harsh words and anger, only to come out unshaken and even more committed to her cause.  Months after our chance meeting in the hair salon, I finally get the chance to sit down and talk with her in more depth—I ask how she does it.   She just laughs and credits her 63 years on this planet and a childhood spent in the mining camps of the Northwest Territories.  I imagine years of public scrutiny have a role to play in shaping this firebrand as well.

Speaking with her, I’m struck by her immense depth of knowledge on issues ranging from electoral politics to the environment—particularly energy development.  She only half-jokingly credits much of her knowledge about the oil and gas industry on her new favorite periodical, Downstream Today, an industry magazine.  When I ask her about the recent decision by President Obama to reject the permit that would have allowed the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, she seems happy, but cautiously so, noting that the Canadian Oil and Gas industry is ruthless. She seems genuinely distraught by the vast amount of misinformation that has permeated the public discourse related to the pipeline—energy independence and job creation being chief among the myths perpetuated by the industry and other pipeline proponents.  She challenges the claims made by the oil and gas industry estimating that 20,000 jobs would be created in building the pipeline, while the government estimates construction job creation would be more in the range of 5,000.  And as for energy independence, Kidder notes that most of the tar sands oil flowing through the pipeline would be refined for export to countries in Asia and South America, not the U.S.  

Sitting with Margot, I find it impossible to disagree with her.  I’m inspired by her outright courage to stand up for what she believes and her dedication to help build a better future for everyone.  If you’ve spent time on the “front lines” of any social movement, you know how difficult it is to summon the strength to put yourself in the line of fire, and for someone who has spent so much of her life under the glare of the spotlight, I find her activism all the more stunning.  I know there is much to be learned from this woman born in the wilds of Canada, raised in the wilds of Hollywood, and given to the wilds of conservation and social justice.  I feel confident knowing that she is out there—walking into the heart of opposition, facing arrest, threats and hostility—that she is there standing up for the rights of the people to live in a free and just society.

Who knows what the next chapter of her life holds, but I’m sure it will be a blockbuster!  Actress, teacher, grandmother, environmental superhero!  That covers it… for now!

Today marks the anniversary of the Blizzard of 1978, a storm that dumped up to 40 inches of snow across the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley region.

The snow, which began around 4:30 a.m. on Jan. 25 and lasted until the early morning hours of Jan. 27, severely impacted Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky.

The snowfall impaired the entire region, seriously limiting travel. The poor conditions resulted in the shutdown of the entire Ohio turnpike, a first ever for the heavily traveled interstate. The Indianapolis International Airport also shut down due to white-out conditions, stranding some 350 travelers for over three days.

The University of Notre Dame and University of Michigan closed for the first time in history.

Those who did not venture out during the storm found themselves digging their cars and homes out from beneath massive snow drifts up to 20 feet.

Photo of the Forest Loudenslager Farm from the Marion County Historical Society.

Photo of massive snow drifts from the Marion County Historical Society.

 Public release date: 19-Jan-2012

Contact: Andrea Smith
geckoals@yorku.ca
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

From flickr.com .

Ottawa, Ontario – A comprehensive multi-disciplinary synthesis just published in Environmental Reviews reveals the urgent need for further investigation and policy development to address significant environmental, social and economic impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) and climate change. “Effects of climate change on the distribution of invasive alien species in Canada: a knowledge synthesis of range change prediction in a warming world” is the collaborative effort of a team of dedicated researchers at York University’s Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS).

“Many species’ distributions are already changing in response to a warming climate, and ecosystems are predicted to become more vulnerable to invasive species as climatic barriers are eliminated,” says author Dr. Andrea Smith, IRIS Senior Fellow, currently conducting a legislative review of invasive species policy in Canada for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network. “The interactive effects of climate change and invasive species are expected to have profound consequences for environments, economies and societies worldwide. For example, many new infectious diseases will likely spread to the Arctic, and coordinated circumpolar disease monitoring and targeted healthcare planning will be needed to handle this new pressure. Yet, these two drivers of global change are rarely considered jointly in policy and management initiatives.”

This review reveals the barriers to predicting invasive species’ range changes under climate change, including the complexity of the issue, lack of ecological data, and failure to address climate change–IAS interactions in research and policy. Despite the multi-disciplinary nature of the issue, very few studies examine the socio-economic dimensions of the problem and research has tended to focus on predictions of how the distribution of existing invasive species in Canada (including mountain pine beetle, gypsy moth, smallmouth bass and lyme disease) will be affected by climate change, rather than on potential invasive species that might expand their range into Canada.

“This is just another example of how climate change is a big threat multiplier,” notes Dr. John P. Smol, Editor of Environmental Reviews and professor at Queen’s University where he also holds the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change. “We simply have not even begun to understand all the negative repercussions of this problem.” This synthesis is the first to characterize the current state of knowledge on this critical issue in Canada. According to Smith, this knowledge synthesis approach is useful for identifying both what we know and what we don’t know, so that research, policy, and management can be targeted toward addressing those gaps. And, although knowledge of the impact of climate change on invasive species distribution is incomplete, scientific research is accumulating which can be used as the foundation for policy development.

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The IRIS research team received funding from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS — www.cfcas.ca), an independent funding body dedicated to supporting research that improves our understanding of climate change impacts on health, safety, economy and environment.

Smith’s co-authors are Dr. Nina Hewitt (IRIS Senior Fellow and York University Department of Geography), Dr. Nicole Klenk (IRIS Senior Fellow), Professor Dawn Bazely (IRIS Director and York Department of Biology), Professor Norman Yan (IRIS Core Faculty and Dorset Environmental Science Centre and York Department of Biology), Professor Stepan Wood (IRIS Acting Director and Osgoode Hall Law School), Dr. James MacLellan (IRIS Senior Fellow and York Faculty of Environmental Studies), Professor Carla Lipsig-Mummé (Director of IRIS – affiliated Work in a Warming World program and York Department of Social Science) and Irene Henriques (IRIS Core Faculty member and Schulich School of Business).

Environmental Reviews, published by NRC Research Press, is an electronic-only quarterly review journal that covers a wide range of important environmental issues, including climate change. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/er

For more information contact:

Corresponding author: Andrea Smith (email: geckoals@yorku.ca) Full Reference: Smith, A., Hewitt, N., Klenk, N., Bazely, D.R., Yan, N., Wood, S., Henriques, I., MacLellan, J.I., Lipsig-Mummé, C. 2012. Effects of climate change on the distribution of invasive alien species in Canada: a knowledge synthesis of range change projections in a warming world. Environmental Reviews, 20, 1-16. doi: 10-1139/a11-020. [Available Open Access on the http://www.nrcresearchpress.com website.]

About the Publisher

NRC Research Press, the publishing arm of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) since 1929, transitioned in September 2010 from NRC and the Federal Government of Canada into an independent not-for-profit organization operating under the new name Canadian Science Publishing. Canadian Science Publishing (which continues to operate under the brand NRC Research Press) is the foremost scientific publisher in Canada and one of the most advanced electronic publishing services in the world. With over 50 highly skilled experts and an editorial team comprising some of the world’s leading researchers, NRC Research Press communicates scientific discoveries to more than 175 countries.

About IRIS

IRIS (http://www.irisyorku.ca) is an interdisciplinary research centre at York University dedicated to pursuing multifaceted approaches to the contemporary challenges of sustainability. It is a focal point for sustainability-related research and action at all ten of York’s faculties. Through collaborative and interdisciplinary research, IRIS strives to push beyond traditional research methods to tackle real-world challenges with unique solutions. It supports sustainability-related research of York faculty members and students and is a leader in trans-disciplinary team-based research.

Disclaimer

Canadian Science Publishing operates under the brand NRC Research Press but is not affiliated with the National Research Council Canada. Papers published by Canadian Science Publishing are peer-reviewed by experts in their field. The views of the authors in no way reflect the opinions of Canadian Science Publishing or the National Research Council of Canada. Requests for commentary about the contents of any study should be directed to the authors.

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Not to worry you, but we are currently in the midst of our second year of La Niña conditions, with tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures running cooler than average. La Niña conditions are expected to continue through the winter before weakening during the spring or summer, according to recent forecasts.

Monthly sea surface temperature departures from average during December, 2011. The cool waters (blue) in the tropical Pacific indicate La Nina conditions. Credit: IRI.

But the study doesn’t say that La Niña causes flu pandemics. It does, however, provide insight into a relationship that could help scientists improve their public health monitoring and prediction efforts.

The study, by Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and Marc Lipsitch of Harvard’s School of Public Health, proposes that La Niña-related weather pattern shifts in turn alter bird migrations, thereby changing the interactions between bird species and between bird species and domestic animals. Birds are a main reservoir for human influenza.

According to a Columbia University press release, migration changes can influence contact patterns between birds and domestic animals, including pigs. Gene-swapping between bird and pig flu viruses was a key factor in the 2009 swine flu epidemic.

As Bryan Walsh of Time Magazine writes, “Previous studies have also shown that La Niña can alter the migration patterns, stopover points and interspecies mixing of migratory birds, all of which could favor the kind of gene swapping that can lead to new flu viruses — and those microbes, if they hit the genetic lottery, can then trigger pandemics…”

It should be noted that the study may also have just stumbled upon a coincidence, and there may not be a real relationship between La Niña and flu pandemics at all. Still, it definitely offers something to think about during this flu season. 

By January 17th, most people are in the mindset to go skiing, snowboarding, tubing or some other fun winter activity. Typically, that’s because the Rockies, the Appalachian chain and most mountains in between are covered with thick layers of powdery snow ready for afternoons of winter fun. However, if you reside anywhere along the mid-Atlantic coast and if you’ve looked outside your window lately, you’ve probably noticed that there is no snow on the ground and temperatures have been unseasonably warm- 65 degrees in January? If that isn’t proof that global warming and climate change are truly becoming more than just a threat, then I don’t know what is.

This isn’t just happening on the mid-Atlantic coast, either. Currently, only 16% of the country is covered in snow, a mere third of the normal snow coverage throughout the country according to the National Weather Service. This national trend has caused snow and ski resorts all over the country to feel the negative effects on everything from their profits to their jobs. A recent Bloomberg article discusses specific hits that Vail Resorts, Inc. has taken since the beginning of the winter season. Shares there have fallen 15% since December 23rd and the lack of snow has not even allowed them to open their back bowls for the first time in 30 years.

A ski resort in New York without snow, www.nytimes.com

In Boone, North Carolina, a smaller town nestled in the high country of the Appalachian Mountains and home to Appalachian State University (ASU), residents are also feeling the pain of the snowless winter. ASU Professor Kristian Jackson, an avid back country skier, has yet to make one trip into the high country at this point in the season due to the lack of snow.

“This season we have not had enough snow even at the highest elevations here to ski. Even in “bad” snow years, I’ve had at least two days of back country [skiing] by now, but it hasn’t happened.”

The last two winters in Boone were snow-lovers’ dreams. According to Booneweather.com, the 2009-2010 season had 83″ fall in Boone and 134″ atop Beech Mountain Resort, a popular local ski mountain. In 2010-2011, 59″ fell in Boone and Beech Mountain had 136″. So far this season, Beech Mountain has only accumulated about 20″ and the Boone area has only had a total of 4.2″ of combined snow and ice making it virtually impossible for winter athletes like Alex Crowe to have any fun on the slopes. A student at Appalachian State University and avid snowboarder, Alex is one of the many winter sports enthusiasts who is feeling the pain of the warm temperatures this winter:

“I remember specifically that I was unable to go [snowboarding] a few times due to the short and unexpected spike in temperature which made conditions unfavorable for skiing or boarding. I hope that in the future we will receive at least cooler temperatures so that the manmade snow will not melt and give favorable conditions to skiers and boarders looking to enjoy a great day on the slopes!”

In Washington, D.C., NRDC has partnered with Protect Our Winters, a winter sports advocacy group that has set out to make it known that the winter sports industry will soon be nonexistent if climate change goes unchecked. My previous two blogs here and here discuss NRDC’s work with POW. Their goal is to convince lawmakers that not only does lack of snow prevent winter athletes from enjoying their favorite pastime, but it also is causing the entire winter sports industry to suffer from decreased sales, falling share prices and even lost jobs. Snowsport-related businesses –and their employees—across the country are losing money due to a severe lack of snow on mountains so far this ski season.

While it may be easy to sit back and say, “this is just one winter, next year there will be plenty of snow to ski on,” the reality is that with climate change and global warming, these extreme weather patterns are going to continue to become even more extreme. Maybe next year we will have another snowmageddon like 2010, but it is becoming ever more likely that it will be another warm, dry one.  If you are one of the thousands of Americans who like to ski, snowboard, snow tube or just enjoy making snowmen, then take the POW Pledge. This pledge is the key to making sure winter stays around for good because after all, who wants balmy 50 degree winter season with no snow when you could be tearing down fresh powder at your favorite slopes?

The flash floods caused by the typhoon in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in Northern Mindanao and Negros Oriental caused the deaths of 1,257 people, according to government data. Over 45,000 homes have been damaged, leaving thousands homeless.

Flood victims have utilized Facebook to help search for their missing loved ones. Photos and profiles of missing relatives and friends continue to be posted in the Facebook pages Sendong Missing Persons and Missing Persons of CDO and Iligan.

The Sendong Missing Persons page has since gathered 1,787 likes and 5,341 conversations as of this writing. The administrators, however, have advised the users of the page to coordinate with authorities and not rely on Facebook alone in finding their loved ones.

As noted earlier in Global Voices Online, blogs and social media networks have also been used to mobilize assistance for relief operations for the victims of Typhoon Sendong. Accounts of these efforts are also beginning to be posted online:

@mindanaoan @IamPinkEm my husband told me a story while they were distributing food at canitoan earlier today,wen evacuees receive food they would say “salamat au sir ha [thank you very much, sir], merry christmas” my husband said its heart warming for them to be greeted merry christmas by ppl hu lost everything

Various images and accounts of the destruction have continuously found their way online. In Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Foundation University video manager Mark Anthony Besario was able to capture the devastation brought by rampaging flood waters and posted this online in Youtube.

Pinoy Dog-Lover shares stories of how dogs saved humans during the disaster. One account is set in Iligan City:

Before the furious flood waters swept through their village, [the dogs] Aspins Loloy and Jackie immediately woke up their humans — scratching the door and barking loudly. Because of the dogs’ warning, Marrietta and her family were able to get to safety. They lost their home, but unlike most families affected by the flood, their family is still complete.

Ryan Chua uploads a photo of the devastation in Brgy. (village) Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro:

LiaAndanarYu comments on a photo of the same community: “There once was a home here. Kennedy Pacana of Tibasak, CDO owned that home. Then came Sendong”

Written by Karlo Mikhail Mongaya

Governments fall, parliamentary speakers come and go, and as one season fades another always begins. That, at least, was what Kyrgyz internet users thought prior to former presidential candidate Arstanbek Abdylayev’s startling announcement that “there will be no winter”.

Abdylayev, who collected less than 1% of the vote in the recent presidential elections, was offering sniggering journalists a “vision from the cosmos” of a “new era beginning from the Kyrgyz, starting in 2012” when the phrase popped out of his mouth. Within days, online videos of the press conference had gone viral, and Kyrgyz users of Gmail and Facebook had promptly updated their statuses to “Зима не будет “, or “there will be no winter”.

If the appearance was a bid to gain greater visibility for Abdylaev and his “For the People” party, it was a stunning success, with news of his Nostradamus-like premonitions rippling accross the Russian-speaking swathes of the internet. According to Meerim Nazarova [ru] at the independent news outlet Kloop.kg:

“A clip [of a press conference] originating in Kyrgyzstan has accrued further fame via the [satirical] Russian Internet show “This is harasho”. The show’s host Stanislav Davydov commented on the video sent to him in a comic manner. Davydov’s show has already been viewed by over a million users.”

Davydov, a kind of Russian Russell Brand, was vicious in his takeoff [ru/eng], referring to Abdylaev as a new “Kyrgyz Hitler” due to his aide Mirlan Asakeev’s questionable claim that “life started with the Kyrgyz”. Davydov then twice repeated the clip of the “For the People” chief predicting apocalyptic floods in the West and the end of seasonal change as the world knows it ,  before concluding that Abdylayev is a “liar, because, as we all know, winter is close”.

YouTube user Toxic959 has uploaded a surprisingly catchy hip-hop ’remix’ of Abdylayev and Asekeev’s performance here. 

In Bishkek, it is snowing, by the way.

Bad PR

On the Kyrgyz video portal blive.kg, the comments section swelled:

“Where did they find Adam’s DNA?” asked [ru] one user, greenrun, in response to Asakeev’s estimation that the inhabitants of the Garden of Eden were “63.5%” Kyrgyz.

“Kill these two idiots [Abdylayev and Asakeev]. They are a discrace to the nation,” raged [ru] another user, Scanner.

“Maybe if he had won the election, we wouldn’t have had a winter,” mused [ru] a third, unbliver.

But alongside the wise cracks and the death threats, there was a growing sense of exhaustion at the lengths public figures were prepared to go to gain access to the media spotlight.

“I just want to say how awful living here has become,” said [ru] Blacky. “I would rather drown in Europe than [stay] and get connected to [the Kyrgyz cosmic force] AYAN!!! Good luck to Adam’s children!!!”

And it isn’t as if the surreal December 6 press conference is the first time that the erratic behavior of Kyrgyzstan’s elite  has caught the world’s attention.

In April of this year, Jamestown foundation blogger and analyst Erica Marat wrote [eng]:

“Tired of continuous showdowns that threaten to disintegrate the ruling coalition, Kyrgyz MPs decided to sacrifice seven sheep in front of the parliament building. According to local traditions, offering the blood of a slaughtered sheep expels devils that a human being is not able to oust just by virtue of his or her own effort.”

The act was futile, as borne out by the fact that Kyrgyzstan’s ruling coalition is once again the subject of uncertainty, but it did ensure a slew of comic headlines at the nation’s expense, such as the New York Times’ “Kyrgyzstan: A Sacrifice to Save Democracy”.

“The best traditions in the world”

Another of Abdylayev and Asakeev’s boasts was that “Kyrgyzstan has the best traditions in the world.” While most foreigners in these parts attest to the hospitality of the countryside Kyrgyz, who are always on hand to thrust a bowl of kymyz in the direction of stray travellers, it is an altogether different national tradition that is currently the focus of the world media.

According to a November 14 post by Voice of Russia [rus]:

“A month campaign to fight bride kidnapping has been announced in Kyrgyzstan, where, according to the ombudsman of the republic, the number of kidnapped girls is now estimated at 15,000-16,000… the Kyrgyz authorities will organize meetings with locals to explain them that marriage by abduction is illegal, and also discuss the situation with the police. Bride kidnapping is a crime, no matter what reasons people use to justify it.”

But a recent article by the young journalists at Kloop [eng] shows they face an uphill struggle in making their message heard. In a distressingly ironic report, Azat Ruziev, Diana Rahmonova and Bektour Iskender detail how a student from the provincial town of Karakol, Kymbat Barkan kyzy, was stolen by unknown men while en route to a regional campaign against the practice of bride kidnapping.

For those unfamiliar with what the crime entails, a December 9 video by Vice News offers an accessible if somewhat dumbed-down report on the phenomenon, while the second issue of the Bishkek-based English-language magazine the Spektator covers a disturbing kidnap for marriage with documentary-maker and journalist Anthony Butts.

The women’s rights organization Equality Now helped spark the campaign into life.

Written by Chris Rickleton

Grebe photo courtesy of Photos.com.

By Vickie Frantz, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

Dec 16, 2011; 12:20 PM ET

Migrating grebes slammed into ground in a St. George, Utah, Walmart parking lot on Dec. 15, killing nearly 1,500.

The birds were attempting to land and may have confused the parking lot for a lake, according to Lynn Chamberlain, Outreach Manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife.

The birds crashed landed sometime around 11 p.m. MST Monday (1 a.m. EST Tuesday).

“There were 2-4 inches of snow on the ground and there was heavy cloud cover,” said Chamberlain. The snow was lightly falling and the birds dropped to a lower elevation to avoid the storm.

Chamberlain said that this is not the first time this has happened.

“It has happened before and it is always the same kind of birds in the same kinds of conditions.”

It is possible that the grebes spotted the parking lot lights while looking for a place to land. The reflection of the lights on the snow may have given the parking lot the appearance that the surface was water.

The Utah Department of Wildlife employees worked at the scene to remove the birds that were killed and to rescue any of the survivors. Residents of Cedar City assisted the Department of Wildlife by bringing rescued birds to their office in cardboard boxes. Between 3,000 and 3,500 grebes survived the impact and have been rescued, Chamberlain said.

Once landed, the grebes need to be on water to take flight. The surviving birds were released into nearby bodies of water in Washington County.

“We would not have been able to rescue so many birds without the help of the residents.”

Named Lolong, the giant crocodile was captured in Agusan del Sur province in southern Philippines and transferred to Bunawan Eco-Park and Research Center drawing more than 500 people a day. A visit by a team from National Geographic confirmed Lolong’s status as the world’s largest saltwater crocodile in captivity although it has to wait for half a year before Guinness World Records officially recognizes it. Lolong’s capture was Top 9 in the list of most shared stories on Facebook this year.

Filipinos also followed the story of Lolong and their online conversations made the giant crocodile a trending topic on the internet. Filipinos also compared Lolong to corrupt politicians whom they tagged as bigger ‘crocodiles’ in government.

Thailand’s worst flooding in the past half century killed more than 600 people and displaced thousands of residents and workers from their homes and factories. The flood disaster also inundated the country’s estimated 3,000 crocodile farms. So aside from flood warnings, authorities and media networks also published crocodile alerts to remind the people to watch out for crocodiles which escaped from flooded parks and farms.

Here are some crocodile sightings and news reports: In Chonburi, crocodiles escaped from the Million Years Stone Park & Pattaya Crocodile Farm. After four days, the park chief said they recaptured 29 crocodiles but some were still missing. The park announced a reward of 5000 baht for those who can provide information about the whereabouts of the escaped reptiles.

In the ancient city of Ayutthaya, around 100 crocodiles escaped from farms during the floods and authorities have issued a 1,000 baht bounty for each crocodile caught alive.

Crocodile farms near Bangkok were also flooded and fear quickly spread among residents who learned about the missing crocodiles. As floodwaters recede, crocodiles have been found in dry grounds looking for food. In Bang Bua Thong District, a crocodile was found in a Soi that was flooded with 50 centimeters of water.

Escaped crocodile in Siem Reap. Photo from triple j Mornings

Cambodia also suffered from a flooding disaster which was reported to be the worst in a decade. triple j Mornings reported on Facebook the presence of crocodiles in some of the flooded streets.

Oh hai pals! Back from Cambodia where beautiful land, wonderful locals and incredible food sustained me for a week. And floods. Siem Reap suffered it’s most intense wet season in living memory, resulting in stuff like this… a coupla crocs from a nearby farm escaping and paddling through the city streets. Believe. See you tomorrow for less snappy adventures.

Written by Mong Palatino

“Visiting parks earlier may not be a big deal, but it may serve as a bellwether for more severe human adjustments required to cope with climate change,” says study author Lauren Buckley, a biology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. (Credit: iStockphoto)

UNC-CHAPEL HILL (US) — Peak visitation at US national parks is four days earlier on average than 30 years ago, one example of how global warming may be influencing people’s “weather-related” behavior.

Photo #NH 86118 by the U.S. Navy from www.history.navy.mil. In this image the USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1942.

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which would later lead to America’s involvement in World War II.

Weather played a key role in the Japanese bombing of the U.S. naval base. Clear to partly cloudy skies allowed the Japanese to execute their plan with few problems.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii.

AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said the weather played a major role. “Unfortunately, conditions were pretty conducive for the Japanese to attack that day. With good visibility and only scattered to broken cloud cover, they had a relatively clear window for the attack.”

On the flight over, the Japanese attack commander heard a Honolulu weather report stating “clouds mostly over the mountains. Visibility good,” as the fleet neared Oahu, according to National Geographic. When the clouds broke, pilots reported seeing a “long white line of coast,” referring to Oahu’s Kakuku Point.

Former Director of History for the U.S. Naval Institute Paul Stillwell explained that the weather played an interesting part in the attack on Pearl Harbor. “Obviously the weather did not deter the Japanese attack. They crossed the North Pacific in rough seas, and had to refuel their ships from oilers on the way over. But as far as the weather for the attack, it was clear.”

Stillwell also explained the biggest weather impact was actually indirectly beneficial for the U.S. “The USS Enterprise (CV-6) was coming back from Wake Island and was scheduled to arrive the morning of the 7th, but was delayed because of rough seas,” he said. “The vessel was behind schedule returning to Pearl Harbor, and because of this was not present for the attack. The Enterprise played a substantial role throughout the remainder of the war, and had it been in port that day, things may have been very different.”

A crowd listens during a ceremony aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Friday, Sept. 2, 2011, marking the 66th anniversary of the end of the war. The battleship has been moored in Pearl Harbor for the past decade. It overlooks the spot where the USS Arizona sank during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous speech on Dec. 8, 1941 about the horrifying attack on Pearl Harbor the previous day. In his speech he stated “that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks” in advance.

Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa had been feeding information about the naval base’s ship movements as well as weather conditions back to enemy forces according to the U.S. Naval Institute. After deciding the highest number of ships would be in port on the morning of December 7, he notified his commanding officers to move forward.

Former Navy Corpsman Milton Moyer recalled where he was when he heard the news. “I was at home in Gettysburg when we found out about the attack. We didn’t have a radio at the time, but a friend of ours came by the house around 7 p.m. and told us.”

Moyer stated the weather was fairly standard for that time of year. “There was nothing extraordinary about it, which made it even more strange. It was a day like any other day, yet we were under attack. It was just a typical December day for us, but then we were at war.”

BANGKOK, 17 November 2011 (IRIN) – Thousands of Thais – with noses pinched and fingers crossed – are tossing mud balls into fetid flood water, in the hope of improving the quality of stagnant water following weeks of flooding.

According to the EM Research Organization (EMRO), the Japanese company that invented the balls, they purify water, reducing odour and improving sanitation levels. 

The tennis ball-sized treatment has stirred debate in Thailand and prompted calls for controlled studies to see whether it really works on flood water – and whether it could help in future disasters.

“Given the fascination, how it has gained traction here in Thailand, it’s really worth it to study it, to understand what its efficacy could be,” Maureen Birmingham, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Thailand and acting resident coordinator for the UN system, told IRIN.

The Thai government, private companies and relief groups have been distributing for free what is known as EM, or effective micro-organisms, either in liquid or mud-ball form to survivors of flooding that has crippled much of Thailand, with 567 dead and more than 5 million still affected as of 17 November.

“I am surprised how many people come here,” said Hisanori Asami, a Bangkok-based representative with EMRO Thailand, working with the Royal Thai Army to distribute the liquid to the public. “Every day, 20,000 litres disappear. People bring 2-litre or 10-litre bottles.”

The mud balls are composed of a culture of microbes that includes lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and phototrophic bacteria, as well as molasses, dried dirt and an organic matter such as rice. They work by re-establishing high populations of beneficial micro-organisms and preventing the increase of bad microbes, restoring natural ecosystems, Asami said.

The treatment has been tested in rivers and ponds, but not flood water, according to Asami. In the absence of data, WHO does not have a position on whether people should use mud balls, Birmingham said.

Does it work?

Photo: Courtesy of EMRO

Local authorities get ready for a toss

The question being asked in Thailand – where for years EM has been used for agricultural and waste-management purposes – is whether the mud balls are effective in improving the smell and clarity of flood water in particular, said Pathom Sawanpanyalert, deputy director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences at Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health.

“Some people believe that EM might be most effective used on small, enclosed quantities of water, not in a huge volume of water – and probably not in running water,” Pathom said. “If it’s in a very well-controlled environment, it might be efficacious, but used in a real-life situation, whether it’s effective or not, that’s a bigger question.”

Thai health officials are in talks with WHO and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) about a possible independent study on mud balls in the Thai floods, said Claire Quillet, a water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) specialist with UNICEF.

“Thailand is the best place to study this now,” Quillet said. “It doesn’t mean we will have a solution right now, but at one stage, it could help countries in other parts of the world.”

EM technology, developed in the 1980s by a Japanese professor named Teruo Higa, has multiple uses in the 120 countries where it is distributed. It works as a fertilizer enhancement, a composting additive, and even as an alternative to household cleaning products, according to EMRO.

It has been used in some natural disasters as well, including the 2010 Haiti earthquake and flooding in Poland. In those cases, it mainly served to reduce foul smells, according to case studies on the company’s website.

In a crisis such as a flood, the psycho-social benefits of making and using mud balls are worth better understanding as well, Quillet said. Volunteers in Thailand have gathered en masse to combine the liquid with dried dirt to make mud balls, a do-it-yourself process outlined on YouTube.

“The communities that are making them are happy to make them,” Quillet said, “and happy to solve the problem that Thailand is facing now.”

es/ds/mw

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Although, a lot of money has been invested in drainage systems for Bangkok over the last 20-30 years so overflows are generally drained quickly, we still have a couple more days of high tides to go.

The two key factors that BP (Bangkok Pundit) has been able to determine on which areas will flood are whether they are low-lying areas or not and whether they are near the Chao Phraya River and other canals. It is not an exact science. Whether you live near or close to the river and canals is usually fairly obvious, but how do you know whether you live in a low-lying area.

Below is a map showing the land elevation in Bangkok which identifies the low-lying areas in the city

But some bloggers believe the flooding disaster has been exaggerated. Tasty Thailand criticizes those who are spreading panic and wrong information

You have to laugh when you read the Twitter posts from some westerners in Bangkok. They’re tweeting and retweeting every rumour they hear about the latest floods in Bangkok (most of which are not true) and desperately trying to figure out if they should leave.

The reality is, most flooding in Bangkok is still around the same level as yesterday and most Bangkokians are getting on with their lives. Some areas close to the Chao Praya River have seen small amounts of ‘flooding’ this morning (around a foot or less), but that’s because high tide came in at 9:09am. By now, most of it is already receding as the high tide lowers and the water gets sucked back out or dries off by itself. But, there are still those twats on Twitter trying to make more of it than it is

Bangkok Bugle reacts when this picture was uploaded

No doubt the audience seeing the subsequent report will only see the flooding in the background. In my opinion this reporter is breaking the most important rule in journalism – to report the truth. What viewers saw was not the entire picture. I’d love to know which television station this reporter works for, and indeed what the editor would say when presented with this image. No doubt the report was dramatic – floods lapping at the walls of one of Bangkok’s tourist icons – but is that really what was happening at the time? It just goes to show you shouldn’t believe everything you see – or read for that matter.

Greg to Differ thinks social media can also contribute to the confusion

The flood crisis in Thailand is, as of right now (and probably for the next few weeks), still a big problem, but it’s a very strange big problem. If I wasn’t watching the news and monitoring the internet, I’d have no idea anything was amiss at all. Inner Bangkok remains dry, sunny, and business as usual (except now when I’m writing this, and it’s raining). However, we are very, very lucky; many parts of Bangkok’s outer areas are disaster zones, with chest-deep water, abandoned homes, random electrocutions and hungry crocodiles swimming around.

One thing that’s both exacerbating and helping the situation is the ubiquity of social media. I’ll start by saying that the net positive effect far outweighs the negative effects, as vital information is able to flow freely and instantaneously to the community and the world, alerting people of dangers and creating wide and effective support networks.

But it can also have a negative effect. The beauty and curse of social media like Twitter or Facebook is that it’s unfiltered and unverified. Rumors and misinformation can travel quickly and cause panic

Sakon Nakhon asks if the disaster is natural or man-made

Word in the media is that all this flooding is not really a natural disaster, but the result of man made stupidity. Supposedly a decision was made to not release water from dams to insure sufficient water for farming. When the heavy rains did arrive, water from the dams had to be released in large volumes to avoid bursting of the dams.

This is really just speculation, but the decision definitely was at least a contributing factor.

The Cross-border Programme writes about the situation of migrants in flood-affected villages

We travel across the university campus to a quiet corner, and come upon a large football stadium where some 200 migrant workers and their families are provided shelter separately from the Thai population. There are many Cambodians here, and we meet with friends from other NGOs who are also supporting migrants affected by the flood with access to services. The floods have served to further marginalize migrant workers.

Below is a video animation which provides helpful information about the floods

Some netizens insist the flooding is not only limited to certain areas of Bangkok

@wayne_hay Many headlines saying things like “Bangkok escapes flooding” Please correct. Large parts of Bangkok ARE flooded, just not CBD

@thai101 Everyone thinks they’re part of inner Bangkok until their house floods and people are still talking about how dry inner Bangkok is.

The government has published a special report informing residents how to cope with the floods. The Thai Red Cross Society continues to receive donations for flood victims

Written by Mong Palatino

In the words of Carl Sagan, “The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.” But to us, it’s everything. The place where we live, love, work and play. The place where we are born and where we die. From space, Earth is big, blue and beautiful; fragile and inspiring. It’s the only planet we’ve ever been to. In honor of Earth Day, take a moment to enjoy some spectacular images of our home, available for download, in our gallery below. And take a moment to appreciate the only home we’ve ever known.

LATEST IMAGE: Blue marble   This spectacular ‘blue marble’ image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (0.4 square miles) of our planet. Much of the information contained in this image came from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite. Visualization date: August 2, 2002. Download image: 1920 x 1200 | 1600 x 1200. Credit: Image and caption adapted from NASA’s Visible Earth catalog. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Centerl Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds). Enhancements by Robert Simmon (ocean color, compositing, 3D globes, animation). Data and technical support: MODIS Land Group; MODIS Science Data Support Team; MODIS Atmosphere Group; MODIS Ocean Group. Additional data: USGS EROS data Center (topography); USGS Terrestrial Remote Sensing Flagstaff Field Center (Antarctica); Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (city lights).

Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowing On Mars

PASADENA, Calif. — Observations from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.

“NASA’s Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration.”

Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars’ southern hemisphere.

“The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water,” said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson. McEwen is the principal investigator for the orbiter’s High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and lead author of a report about the recurring flows published in Thursday’s edition of the journal Science.

Some aspects of the observations still puzzle researchers, but flows of liquid brine fit the features’ characteristics better than alternate hypotheses. Saltiness lowers the freezing temperature of water. Sites with active flows get warm enough, even in the shallow subsurface, to sustain liquid water that is about as salty as Earth’s oceans, while pure water would freeze at the observed temperatures.

“These dark lineations are different from other types of features on Martian slopes,” said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Scientist Richard Zurek of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Repeated observations show they extend ever farther downhill with time during the warm season.”

The features imaged are only about 0.5 to 5 yards or meters wide, with lengths up to hundreds of yards. The width is much narrower than previously reported gullies on Martian slopes. However, some of those locations display more than 1,000 individual flows. Also, while gullies are abundant on cold, pole-facing slopes, these dark flows are on warmer, equator-facing slopes.

The images show flows lengthen and darken on rocky equator-facing slopes from late spring to early fall. The seasonality, latitude distribution and brightness changes suggest a volatile material is involved, but there is no direct detection of one. The settings are too warm for carbon-dioxide frost and, at some sites, too cold for pure water. This suggests the action of brines, which have lower freezing points. Salt deposits over much of Mars indicate brines were abundant in Mars’ past. These recent observations suggest brines still may form near the surface today in limited times and places.

When researchers checked flow-marked slopes with the orbiter’s Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), no sign of water appeared. The features may quickly dry on the surface or could be shallow subsurface flows.

“The flows are not dark because of being wet,” McEwen said. “They are dark for some other reason.”

A flow initiated by briny water could rearrange grains or change surface roughness in a way that darkens the appearance. How the features brighten again when temperatures drop is harder to explain.

“It’s a mystery now, but I think it’s a solvable mystery with further observations and laboratory experiments,” McEwen said.

These results are the closest scientists have come to finding evidence of liquid water on the planet’s surface today. Frozen water, however has been detected near the surface in many middle to high-latitude regions. Fresh-looking gullies suggest slope movements in geologically recent times, perhaps aided by water. Purported droplets of brine also appeared on struts of the Phoenix Mars Lander. If further study of the recurring dark flows supports evidence of brines, these could be the first known Martian locations with liquid water.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is managed by JPL for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory operates HiRISE. The camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., provided and operates CRISM. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More images here