Horror of all horrors!

Just when we had thought we have had enough of major disasters for a while, comes the monster triple whammy for Japan. An 9.0 earthquake bigger than anything experienced in the country followed by a devastating tsunami and then an on-going related series of nuclear “accidents”. It raises the nuclear spectre again and could lead to renewed interest in cleaner renewables.  If you look at Munich Re reports you will be able to see the world is definitely receiving more – and more frequently – disasters or natural catastrophes. The big question is still how many of them are “natural” and how many are man-made, or at least contributed to in some way by what we humans have been doing to the atmosphere, the earth and the climate.  For the last two issues we have had reports of research findings of the link between geological events and a changing climate. No need to labour the point, so we spread the word wider on the food security issue with a new role for Sir John Beddington. The Carbon tax issue in Australia won’t go away, but Dr Frank Jotzo gives it a new slant. Melting ice-sheets come into NASA’s view and the US wants APEC to drive greenhouse gas reductions.An OECD survey puts ten countries into the green spotlight and the UK Guardian looks at the benefits of going green. Then there’s cloud computing with a green tinge, geothermal boldly coming above ground, and ancient treasures under greater threat of climate change. What’s new under the sun? – Ken Hickson