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Adnan Abidi / Reuters
Garbage dumps like this one in New Delhi, India, are often ways for the poorest to scrounge a living by recycling material. In one way those jobs are part of the "green economy" celebrated by the U.N. on June 5, World Environment Day. But those jobs usually don't translate into better lives in the long run.
Roberto Escobar / EPA
An Ibis flies over a nest site at the La Barra bird reserve in Metapan, El Salvador, on June 5. Eco-tourism is one tried-and-true way to green an economy, especially in poorer countries.
Granted it’s not as well known in the U.S. as Earth Day but today, June 5, is World Environment Day. It also has a much more international following than Earth Day given its origins with the U.N. Environment Program 40 years ago.
This year’s theme -- “Green Economy: Does it include you?” – aims to get folks to think about, and act on, creating businesses and jobs around sustainable and socially inclusive criteria.
Visit the U.N.’s World Environment Day website for more: www.unep.org/wed/
Bikas Das / AP
Victoria Memorial Hall, an icon in Calcutta, India, is lit up in green on June 5 to commemorate World Environment Day.
Juan Carlos Ulate / Reuters
A Blue Jeans Dart Frog rests on a leaf at the Braullio Carrillo National Park, 31 miles east of San Jose on June 5. According to a recent poll, Costa Ricans would agree to pay higher taxes if it is used for actions to promote the environment, according to local media. Costa Rica, with more than 30% of its territories held in national parks, celebrates World Environment Day today.
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Old mother earth gets its day. Says the UN.
MSNBC made a big deal out of warm temperatures in April. I'm waiting for it to run a story on the cold temperatures in June.
Temperatures 10 degrees below normal and new low records being set.
http://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/article_d2ec4370-affe-11e1-82c6-0019bb2963f4.html
http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/sub-zero-temps-hit-western-wyoming/article_36a0de69-b2df-501d-a393-5ee1c9ed72d8.html
And the apple crop has been devastated in Ontario from cold weather, 80% of the crop is gone.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2012/06/05/apple-crop-worse-than-estimated.html
And blueberries are being hit from the cold too.
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/06/06/news/down-east/dismal-spring-weather-may-undermine-down-east-wild-blueberry-production/
And even tropical fruits like bananas have suffered from the cold.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/389949/bananas-being-imported-from-india/
Cold weather in the tropics? Now that's a story!
It is cold weather that is dangerous as it reduces our food supply. Warm weather is no big deal. Now that the Earth is entering the 30 year cooling portion of a natural 60 year warming cooling cycle things are going to get interesting.
During the cooler 1950s, 60s and 70s violent tornado numbers were higher than during the warmer 80s, 90s and 2000s. Did you know that tropical cyclone numbers went down during those warmer decades? that right. Storms are bigger and stronger in cooler weather. It is the interaction between cool dry air and warm moist air that fuels storms. That's why when Pacific waters are cooler (La Nina) there is a greater chance of tornado outbreaks like the super outbreak in 1974 and the one in 2011.
Yep. Those cooler decades lead to scientists and the media claiming a new ice age was coming. Then during these warming decades the claim was the exact opposite.
I have lived in the same central Texas city my entire 50 years. The only thing I can truly say has been different during these warming years is that we didn't experience the dust storms like we did in the 60s and 70s. Cooler weather can actually mean more drought and with west Texas dry the wind blew sand into central Texas. That hasn't been happening since I graduated high school. I'll be curious to see if those dust storms return in the next 10 to 20 years.