News
September 20, 2013
A standoff between environmentalists and Russian authorities in the Arctic got a few degrees hotter Thursday, with Kalashnikov-toting men reportedly seizing a Greenpeace ship sailing under the Dutch flag, hours after Moscow announced it had handed the Dutch ambassador a diplomatic note expressing concern over the activists’ protest a day earlier. The armed men, believed to be Russian border guards, boarded the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker in international waters, Greenpeace said in a statement, adding that all 25 crew members had been forced into the mess hall at gunpoint and locked there.
September 19, 2013
Greenpeace said two its international activists have been arrested after climbing a Gazprom oil platform in the Russian Arctic (the Pechora Sea), during a peaceful protest that has prompted a disproportionate use of force by the Russian Coast Guard. There are now no climbers remaining on the platform, but the Greenpeace International icebreaker Arctic Sunrise remains in the area. The two are now in custody on the Coast Guard vessel.
September 18, 2013
Two Greenpeace activists scaled the Prirazlomnaya oil platform in the Pechora sea (the Arctic waters) in a fresh protest over the potential threat to the environment from operations slated to start by the end of the year. Production at the Gazprom-owned rig, Russia's first such project in the Barents Sea, was delayed last year after similar action. Gazprom put the delay down to "technical reasons." Hydrocarbon production in its vast offshore areas is seen by Russia as vital to maintaining oil output, the world's largest, at no less than 10 million barrels per day this decade.
September 17, 2013
Indonesian volcano Mount Sinabung has erupted again, two days after thousands were forced to flee their homes following an eruption at the weekend. The volcano, in North Sumatra, spewed volcanic ash and thick smoke five kilometres into the air just after midday local time, Indonesia's Antara news agency reports. This was the second eruption in recent days and over 6,000 people have evacuated the area, taking refuge in temporary shelters across the Karo district. Reuters said a further 1,000 people had been evacuated after the second eruption.
September 06, 2013
September 6, 2013, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation provided the environmental rating of the RF cities for the year 2012 on a press-conference in RIA «Novosti. Rating for 2012 comprised 85 Russian cities. Environmental rating technique covers environmental issues and takes into account international recommendations and the experience of similar ratings for other countries and regions. The rating and estimation procedures correspond to world standards and criteria of the Organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD).
September 05, 2013
Environmental remedial actions of the season in 2013 are being completed on the Franz Josef Land Islands Federal Reserve. Particularly in order to prevent environmental disaster the pollution clean-up on the island Greem-Bell has been completed. As a result of climate change was the erosion of the shore, on which the abandoned oil stores were located. And hundreds of thousands tons of oil could dump into the Barents Sea. 8 thousand tonnes of the garbage were picked up. Those waste will be carried on the mainland by ship "Blue Spirit" belonging to AKS and sent to recycling.
September 03, 2013
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 jolted southern Japan on Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK said, with the tremor shaking buildings in the capital, Tokio. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake with a magnitude of 6.5. The quake was measured 400 km (250 miles) below the earth's surface about 580 km (360 miles) south of Tokyo, NHK said. Witnesses said it was felt along much of Japan's east coast.
August 21. 2013
Fighting for their way of life, the indigenous Sami population in northern Sweden have been camping out to block attempts by British company Beowulf Mines to start blasting for iron ore. Police broke up the blockade of around 50 people made up of locals and Sami, who sang and chanted as they were taken away. In total eight people were detained for crimes varying from resisting arrest to trespassing. One protester who preferred to remain anonymous said: “It really shows how the system works. Police come and protect the companies with any force necessary.
August 19, 2013
British police dispersed hundreds of protesters who blocked access to an oil exploration site in rural England on Monday in an intensification of an almost month-long standoff over the nascent shale gas extraction industry in Britain. A total of 36 people were detained, both in the village of Balcome and in London, in the first of two days of "direct action" against the drilling process known as fracking, which protesters fear may trigger small earthquakes and pollute water supplies.
August 15, 2013
The recent decade has seen an exceptional number of extreme heat waves around the world that caused severe damage to society and ecosystems. Examples of such events include the European heat wave of 2003, the Greek heat wave of 2007, the Australian heat wave of 2009, the Russian heat wave of 2010, the Texan heat wave of 2011, and the US heat wave of 2012.