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Drought in Southeastern Australia

Spring started warm and dry in much of Australia. In addition to high land surface temperatures in September 2006, many of the country’s agricultural areas were facing 6- to 12-month rainfall deficiencies that the Australian Bureau of Meteorology categorized as serious, severe, or lowest on record. In southern Western Australia, one of the country’s prime wheat-growing regions, rainfall between April and September was less than half the average amounts. Parts of South Australia, much of Victoria, and south-central New South Wales had been racking up deficits for 9 to 12 months or longer. Severe drought had settled over many areas.

About 70 years ago, pioneer aerial photographer Bradford Washburn flew over Alaska's glaciers, documenting their splendor while looking for mountain-climbing routes.

Now, a Boston photojournalist is following in his footsteps with a very different purpose. He's reshooting Washburn's images to demonstrate global warming's impacts. Ed Schoenfeld of CoastAlaska News reports from Juneau.

Of late, the enormous glaciers that flow down to the sea from the interior of Greenland have been picking up speed. In the last few years, enough ice has come off the northern landmass to sustain the average flow of the Colorado River for six years or fill Lake Mead three times over or cover the state of Maryland in 10 feet of water, assuming it were perfectly flat. And whether it is the glaciers' weight, speed or volume that is measured, a quickening of the their movement can be detected. In fact, the latest gravity-based measurements show that the glaciers lost roughly 101 gigatons of ice annually between 2003 and 2005, according to a paper published online in Science.

Democracy Now! | Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture ProgramBritish journalist Stephen Grey helped expose the Bush administration’s secret CIA rendition flights. He joins us to talk about his new book, “Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program.” [includes rush transcript]

A US-based environmental charity has documented what it calls the 10 most polluted places on the planet. The institute surveyed scientists and environmental bodies across the world to compile its list."These are places where life expectancy approaches medieval rates, where birth defects are the norm not the exception" the report says.

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