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Moon at Maximum Traction During Latest Earthquake Clusters
The moon’s gravitational impact on the earth, especially between February and April this year, coincides with the latest cluster of major earthquakes.
(13th March 2011) Many astronomers and climate scientists studying the relationship of the moon with the orbits of the earth and sun, have noted that lunar perigree can coincide with major tectonic activity.
Lunar perigree is when the moon’s orbit is closest to the earth, as on 19th March 2011, but a proxigean cycle is even stronger.
This occurs when the moon is closest in orbit to the Earth, (this year between March 18th and 21st), and also in its new or full Moon phase.
Present proxigean cycle has maximum effect
This proxigean cycle is when the moon Read more…
Recent droughts and floods have contributed to increases in food prices
These are pushing millions more people into poverty and hunger, and are contributing to political instability and civil unrest. Climate change is predicted to increase these threats to food security and stability. Responding to this, the world’s largest agriculture research consortium today announced the creation of a new Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change.
Chaired by the United Kingdom’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir John Beddington, the Commission will in the next ten months seek to build international consensus on a clear set of policy actions to help global agriculture adapt to climate change, achieve food security and reduce poverty and greenhouse gas emissions.
There is a rich body of scientific evidence for sustainable agriculture approaches that can increase production of food, fiber and fuel, help decrease poverty and benefit the environment, but agreement is needed on how best to put these approaches into action at scale. Evidence also shows Read more…
E. Asia, S. America under tsunami warning after Japan quake
03/11/2011 10:45
Biggest earthquake to hit Japan in 140 years triggers 10-meter tsunami, kills at least 6 people; 4 million homes without power; hotel collapses in city of Sendai, people feared buried in rubble; UN rescue teams on standby.
SINGAPORE – A tsunami warning has been issued for areas across East Asia and the western coast of South America following a huge earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
Among the countries for which a tsunami warning is in effect are: Read more…
The Oil-Food Price Shock
When future historians attempt to trace the origins of the current turmoil in the Middle East, they will find that one of the earliest of the many explosions of rage occurred in Algeria and was triggered by the rising price of food. On January 5, young protesters in Algiers, Oran and other major cities blocked roads, attacked police stations and burned stores in demonstrations against soaring food prices. Other concerns—high unemployment, pervasive corruption, lack of housing—also aroused their ire, but food costs provided the original impulse. As the epicenter of youthful protest moved elsewhere, first to Tunisia and then to Egypt and other countries, the food price issue was subordinated to more explicitly political demands, but it never disappeared. Indeed, the rising cost of food has been a major theme of anti government demonstrations in Jordan, Sudan and Yemen. With the price of most staples still climbing—spurred in part by a parallel surge in oil costs—more such protests are bound to occur.
China Takes Giant Step Towards Making the Yuan the World’s Reserve Currency
For years, I’ve been writing about the long-term decline of the Dollar, and the rise of the Chinese Yuan … and it’s potential to become the world’s next reserve currency.
As I pointed out in 2007, many countries have started moving out of the Dollar as the basis for international trade settlements, including:
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Venezuela and 12 other Latin American countries as well as Cuba
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Many other countries
In 2008, I wrote: Read more…
Need Versus Greed
NEW YORK – India’s great moral leader Mohandas Gandhi famously said that there is enough on Earth for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed. Today, Gandhi’s insight is being put to the test as never before.
The world is hitting global limits in its use of resources. We are feeling the shocks each day in catastrophic floods, droughts, and storms – and in the resulting surge in prices in the marketplace. Our fate now depends on whether we cooperate or fall victim to self-defeating greed.
The limits to the global economy are new, resulting from the unprecedented size of the world’s population and the unprecedented spread of economic growth to nearly the entire world. There are now seven billion people on the planet, compared to just three billion a half-century ago. Today, average per capita income is $10,000, with the rich world averaging around $40,000 and the developing world around $4,000. That means that the world economy is now producing around $70 trillion in total annual output, compared to around $10 trillion in 1960.
China’s economy is growing at around 10% annually. India’s is growing at Read more…
China’s droughts nears worst in 200 years, adding pressure to world food prices
The recent unrest in the Middle East, which has been attributed, in part, to high food prices, gives us a warning of the type of global unrest that might result in future years if the climate continues to warm as expected. A hotter climate means more severe droughts will occur. We can expect an increasing number of unprecedented heat waves and droughts like the 2010 Russian drought in coming decades. This will significantly increase the odds of a world food emergency far worse than the 2007 – 2008 global food crisis. When we also consider the world’s expanding population and the possibility that peak oil will make fertilizers and agriculture much more expensive, we have the potential for a perfect storm of events aligning in the near future, with droughts made significantly worse by climate change contributing to events that will cause disruption of the global economy, intense political turmoil, and war. Read more…
Nearly 400 dead, missing in New Zealand quake
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – New Zealand declared a national state of emergency Wednesday after one of its worst earthquake disasters left nearly 400 people dead or missing.
Rescuers worked frantically to reach survivors under collapsed buildings in the stricken city centre of Christchurch, after recovering 75 bodies. About 300 people are still missing after Tuesday’s 6.3-magnitude quake.
“New Zealanders have woken to a tragedy unfolding in the great city of Christchurch,” said Prime Minister John Key, declaring the national emergency.
“The earthquake that struck the Canterbury region at ten to one yesterday has wreaked death and destruction on a dreadful scale.”
New Zealand’s second city was a scene of “incredible carnage”, police said.
Rescuers had to amputate limbs from Read more…
Rising world food prices may soon hit Africa hard, but could be a future boon
Damaged rice is seen in a paddy field destroyed by flood- waters near a village in Manmunai West in Batticaloa district, about 199 miles east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Jan. 26. The floods inundated rice paddies, and according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, at least 15.5 percent of the main annual rice harvest could be lost.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Reuters
Johannesburg, South Africa
Global food prices reached a historic high last month, a fact that may cause even the most comfortable of Americans to cinch in their belts and cut back on spending.
But what about the world’s poor?
“Global food prices are rising to dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people around the world,” World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he announced the bank’s findings that about 44 million people in developing countries have been pushed into poverty since Read more…
Flood-hit town sees off Dianne but Carlos is on the horizon
HARD-HIT residents of Western Australia’s northern Gascoyne region are bracing for more floods after high river levels left a family stranded and crops damaged on the weekend.
At Carnarvon, 910km north of Perth, the river’s peak was among the highest ever recorded on Saturday because of rain from Cyclone Dianne.
This week, the town is expected to be affected by a re-formed Cyclone Carlos.
On Saturday, the Gascoyne River peaked at 7.1m, leaving one family with two small children stranded on its north side.
Fire and Emergency Services Authority media liaison officer Brian Halberg said the family had been evacuated by emergency workers and their home was undamaged by the floodwaters.
Flooding was much Read more…
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