Environment

  • Nuclear mattersFederal loans notwithstanding, Georgia nuclear power plant faces hurdles

    The Obama administration has signaled its interest in expanding the U.S. domestic nuclear power industry by giving $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for a Georgia nuclear power plant expansion; critics say that the American tax-payer is at risk; that the original nuclear reactor design has been rejected by the NRC, and that there is no solution for the nuclear waste problem

  • Cold war offered odd benefit: it limited species invasions

    During the cold war, when an Iron Curtain divided the European continent, there were few introduced bird species in Western Europe; following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the removal of the Iron Curtain, trade and the movement of people between east and west increased – and with it the introduction of non-native bird species; these non-native species do not have natural enemies in the local habitat, so they do damage to agriculture and domestic birds, and carry disease

  • Climate change experts argue for international geoengineering effort

    Solar-radiation management (SRM) would involve releasing megatons of light-scattering aerosol particles in the upper atmosphere to reduce Earth's absorption of solar energy, thereby cooling the planet; another technique would be to release particles of sea salt to make low-altitude clouds reflect more solar energy back into space; long-established estimates show that SRM could offset this century's predicted global average temperature rise more than 100 times more cheaply than achieving the same cooling by cutting emissions

  • Security professionals -- ISC West and Public Security & Safety Expo March 23-26

  • Experts: U.K. must act now to prepare for rising sea level

    A joint study by the leading U.K. civil engineering and architectural associations says that steps must be taken now to protect coastal towns from rising sea levels; the reports says policy makes should consider three options for tackling rising sea level: “retreat” -- moving critical infrastructure and housing to safer ground; “defend” -- building town or city-wide sea defenses; and “attack” -- extending the existing coastline and building out on to the water

  • Maximum height of extreme waves up dramatically in Pacific Northwest

    A new assessment concludes that the highest waves in a "100-year event” along the Pacific Northwest’s coast may be as much as 46 feet, up from estimates of only 33 feet that were made as recently as 1996, and a 40 percent increase; the new findings raise special concerns for flooding, coastal erosion, and structural damage; "The Pacific Northwest has one of the strongest wave climates in the world, and the data clearly show that it's getting even bigger,” says one of scientists involved

  • Large dams linked to more extreme weather patterns

    A new study looked at the magnitude of the biggest storms near 633 of the world's largest dams before and after construction; they found that in many places the level of precipitation in the most extreme rainfall events grew by an average of 4 percent per year after a dam was built, with the relationship especially strong in semi-arid regions

  • Border Security Expo & Conference, Phoenix, Arizona – April 23 & 24, 2010

  • Scientists seek homes in the Seattle area in which to install quake monitors

    Scientists want to install seismic monitors in homes in the Seattle area to measure ground-shaking; with detailed information on the way the ground shakes in a particular spot, it may be possible to design buildings tailored to their exact locations; the instruments also will help construct "shake-maps" to pinpoint areas of heaviest damage after major earthquakes

  • Rising seasRise in sea levels forces drastic changes on Florida

    If sea levels rise by only two feet, Florida stands to lose almost 10 percent of its land area and the homes of 1.5 million people; the zone which is vulnerable to 27-inch rise in sea level includes residential real estate worth $130 billion, half of Florida's beaches, two nuclear reactors, three prisons, 37 nursing homes, and much more; the Florida government is considering changes to building codes and other precautionary measures.

  • Rising seasRise in sea levels threatens California ports, infrastructure

    Scientists expect ocean levels to rise by at least 16 inches over the next 40 years, causing flooding and endangering facilities throughout the state of California; the California Climate Change Center has estimated that nearly half a million people, thousands of miles of roads and railways, and major ports, airports, power plants, and wastewater treatment plants are at risk; in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region, sea level rise could expose $96.5 billion of infrastructure to damage.

  • Environmental sensor network trials in Japan

    DoCoMo will launch the trial operation of a network of environmental sensors on 21 December that measure pollen, carbon dioxide (CO2), ultraviolet (UV) sunlight, and other atmospheric conditions

  • Climate change threatens Canada North's infrastructure

    Climate change is felt more acutely in the arctic, and a Canadian government's report says that winter roads melting earlier in the spring could force communities to airlift supplies, while increased snowfall and changing ice conditions can add stress to buildings as well as energy and communications infrastructure

  • Climate change will lead to more wars and deaths in Africa

    Researchers predict that spikes in temperature will lead to a 54 percent rise in the incidence of civil conflict in Africa by 2030, resulting in an extra 393,000 combat deaths;

  • Dutch build sand dunes to fight rising seas

    More than eighteen million cubic meters of sand are dredged from the bottom of the ocean and brought back to land to form new dunes; the new dunes -- each 30 to 60 meters wide, and rising up to 10 meters above sea level -- are built along a 20-kilometer stretch of the shore

  • Nuclear mattersLos Alamos lab's toxic waste seeps toward New Mexico's water sources

    Radioactive debris has been found in canyons that drain into the Rio Grande, but officials at the Los Alamos National Laboratory say there is no health risk; to comply with New Mexico's clean up orders, the lab has installed about 300 monitoring wells and gauges, contaminated soil is being removed from canyon bottoms, wetlands are being planted, and small dams built to arrest the flow of polluted storm water

  • U.S. Congress holds hearings on geoengineering

    Geoengineering -- the effort to design systems which would change the world's climate -- was once a fringe phenomenon; it has been moving into the mainstream, though, as more and more scientists are growing increasingly concerned that, even if we commit to cutting emissions drastically, we have already waited too long, and that by the time we actually reduce emissions, enough greenhouse gases will have accumulated to cause serious climate disasters

Homeland Security NewsWire’s Education, Training, Certification Special Report –

The Long View

  • Planetary securityNew ideas for deflecting Earth-threatening asteroids

    As scientists use better equipment to make more accurate observations of space, they find more Earth-threatening objects loitering in Near Earth Orbit; a debate is growing as to the best method to deal with this threat

  • Dire climate scenario: Mass migrations and war

    Lord Nicholas Stern, the eminent economist, says severe climate shifts and sea-level rises would "transform where people can live": "People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases" (7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit)

  • Planetary securityDoomsday seed vault's stores are growing

    In 1903, U.S. farmers planted 578 varieties of beans; by 1983 just 32 varieties remained in seedbanks; 46 countries collaborate to rescue some 53,000 of the 100,000 crop samples identified as endangered

  • Nuclear mattersHow long will the world's uranium deposits last?

    At current consumption rates, the planet's economically accessible uranium resources could fuel reactors for more than 200 years; further exploration and improvements in extraction technology are likely to at least double this estimate over time; if we extract uranium from seawater, and build breeder reactors, then supplies will last 30,000 to 60,000 years

  • Planetary safetyThe worst possible disaster the Earth could experience

    Forget Texas-size asteroids hitting the earth in full force; lurking at the edge of our galaxy are giant molecular dust clouds roughly 150 light-years across; if our solar system hit one of these dust clouds, it would take 100,000 years to emerge on the other side

  • Interplanetary securityScientists say comet killed off mammoths, saber-toothed tigers

    There is a consensus in the scientific community that the dinosaurs dies off 65 million years ago as a result of a meteorite hitting Earth, sending heavy clouds of smoke and soot which blocked the sun for months, leading to the death of plants on which dinosaurs relied for food; researchers say that 12,900 years ago, a shower of meteorites hitting North America caused the extinction of mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and other large mammals

  • Shape of things to comeSolar submarines

    A Swiss company is seeking investors to find a project to build a solar-powered submarine; the submarine will bring people "into contact with the attractive idea of emission free mobility"