Global

Energy without borders

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New Scientist
Energy without borders
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Iceland has lots of geothermal energy, Norway has hydropower. The wind blows hard in Scotland and the sun always shines in North Africa. Helen Knight explores plans to connect these diverse sources to a single network

Plans to supply all of Europe's electricity from renewable sources has come a step closer thanks to progress in efforts to build a continent-wide supergrid connected to North Africa and theMiddle East.

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World radio day: an opportunity to celebrate an unsung hero

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Amy O'Donnell
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 World Radio Day celebrates radio's role in empowering people in remote communities – not just as a source of information, but increasingly as a way to make their own voices heard

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Millennium development goals: Two down, six to go

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Millennium development goals: Two down, six to go
Millennium development goals: Two down, six to go
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The United Nations has met two of its eight development goals, well ahead of the 2015 deadline. Six goals are left.

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World’s nations achieve UN goal to improve access to safe drinking water

World’s nations achieve UN goal to improve access to safe drinking water
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UNITED NATIONS — The world’s nations achieved a U.N. goal of cutting in half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water five years ahead of the 2015 target, the United Nations announced Tuesday.

A report issued by the U.N. children’s agency and the World Health Organization said over 2 billion people gained access to safe drinking water between 1990 and 2010

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Spike in Food Prices Projected by 2013

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JOANNA M. FOSTER
Spike in Food Prices Projected by 2013
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In 2008 and in 2011, the world was rocked by riots and by revolutions coinciding with spikes in food prices. Now researchers are projecting that by 2013, food prices will soar to unparalleled heights, causing widespread hunger in the most vulnerable populations and social unrest, with an enormous potential for loss of human life.

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Soil erosion increasing global warming threat-UNEP

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reuters // Reuters
Soil erosion increasing global warming threat-UNEP
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LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Global warming will get worse as agricultural methods accelerate the rate of soil erosion, which depletes the amount of carbon the soil is able to store, a United Nations' Environment Programme report said on Monday.

Soil contains huge quantities of carbon in the form of organic matter. which provides nutrients for plant growth and improves soil fertility and water movement.

The top metre of soil alone stores around 2,200 billion tonnes of carbon, which is three times the level currently held in the atmosphere, said the UNEP Year Book 2012.

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U.S. will lead new effort to cut global warming from methane, soot

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Brian Vastag
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With global efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions stalled, the United States and five other countries are starting a new program to cut other pollutants — including methane, soot and hydrofluorocarbons — that contribute to global warming.

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Tracking How the World Guzzles Water

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JOANNA M. FOSTER
Tracking How the World Guzzles Water
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Arjen Hoekstra and Mesfin Mekonnen/PNAS Early EditionHumankind’s average annual water footprint from 1996 to 2005. 

With the world’s freshwater supplies under mounting pressure from pollution and galloping consumption, understanding the how, where and why of water use is more important than ever.

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Pace of Ocean Acidification Has No Parallel in 300 Million Years, Paper Says

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JUSTIN GILLIS
Pace of Ocean Acidification Has No Parallel in 300 Million Years, Paper Says
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A new scientific paper suggests that the ocean is acidifying at a rate that is many times faster than at any time in the last 300 million years. The change is occurring so rapidly that it raises “the possibility that we are entering an unknown territory of marine ecosystem change,” said the paper, published this week in the journal Science.

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