Environment

• Thursday, January 5th 2017 - 07:50 UTC

  Beijing's “airpocalypse” red alert for smog and yellow alert for fog

  

  On Wednesday, Beijing was under a “red alert” for smog, the highest of four levels, and a “yellow alert” for fog. Other areas, particularly in northern China were still under red alert as of Wednesday for both fog and smog. The high pollution has been going on for a number of weeks, causing flight delays, and leading to traffic bans, as part of what is called “smog season” or “airpocalypse.”

• Wednesday, January 4th 2017 - 11:17 UTC

  Valparaiso hillsides' fire “under control”, but heat and strong winds are still threatening

  

  A large fire that burned 150 homes in the historic port city of Valparaiso, Chile, has been “practically” brought under control, an official said Tuesday. Monday's fire forced dozens of residents to take refuge in shelters and devoured green hillsides in the Laguna Verde neighborhood, on the southern outskirts of the colonial city.

• Wednesday, January 4th 2017 - 09:59 UTC

  Summer storm strikes Montevideo and coast line causing chaos and 19 injured

  

  At least 19 people injured one of them seriously, was the result of the summer storm with winds of up to 120km that struck the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, and the eastern coast line to almost the border with Brazil, some 350kms away. The report from the national Healthcare system, SAME, said that most patients are from Montevideo and three from the adjoining seaside resorts.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2017 - 10:08 UTC

  Wildfire burns home and forces evacuation of hundreds in Valparaiso

  

  A wildfire ravaged woods and burned 100 homes in the hilly Chilean port city of Valparaiso, where authorities evacuated hundreds of people. At least 19 people were reported hurt after the fire broke out on the outskirts of the historic port city, the government said.

• Wednesday, December 28th 2016 - 04:32 UTC

  Falklands a century ago, record prices for exports: wool and whale oil

  

  The Penguin News with background information from the Jane Cameron National Archives has published an interesting article about the Falkland Islands, economy and trade, a century ago in the midst of the First Great War. Wool from a flock of almost 700.000, and whale oil were the Islands main exports in 1916, while coal with soaring prices the main import. A century ago there were 61 births and 17 marriages.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2016 - 08:56 UTC

  Only 7.100 cheetahs left in the world, fears of quick extinction

  

  The sleek, speedy cheetah is rapidly heading towards extinction according to a new study into declining numbers. The report estimates that there are just 7,100 of the world's fastest mammals now left in the wild.

• Monday, December 26th 2016 - 14:33 UTC

  Falklands government secures environmental planning contract with Aedis

  

  The Falkland Islands Government have secured the services of Tees Valley based building control firm Aedis. The contract will see Aedis delivering a raft of professional consultancy services based upon their building control expertise. This includes providing a remote plan checking service to help the Falkland Islands Environmental Planning Department ensure all new building work complies with the necessary building regulations.

• Monday, December 26th 2016 - 04:05 UTC

  Uruguayan government fights climate change: only official met forecasts are to be reported

  

  The Uruguayan government seems to have found the clue to climate change phenomena: it is looking into the legal aspects of limiting weather information, forecasts and warnings, to the official reports from the national Met Office, Inumet (veiled censorship?), which has on several occasions missed to anticipate some serious climate events.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 05:42 UTC

  China ready to work with Argentina as Supreme Court halts constructions of two dams

  China is ready to to join forces with Argentina after the construction of two hydroelectric dams in the province of Santa Cruz was put on hold by the Supreme Court over environmental concerns, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 00:54 UTC

  Scientific circumnavigation of Antarctica takes off from South Africa

  

  An international scientific voyage, comprising 60 researchers from 30 different countries (including Argentina), has set off from South Africa on a three-month tour of the Antarctic to study the extreme environment and impact of climate change on the Southern Ocean.