Friday, 21 September 2018

News in brief - Friday 21st September

Storm Bronagh
The next named storm is set to hit the UK causing flooding and travel disruption; heavy rainfall and high winds have already affected parts of England and Wales, with flash floods and high flood alerts in many areas

Lake Victoria Disaster
An overloaded ferry on Lake Victoria (Tanzania) has capsized as crowds moved from one side of the boat to another as it docked; 86 people have drowned but it is feared that up to 200 people may have died

Save the rainforest
Greenpeace have renewed their pleas to global brands who use palm oil in their products, asking them to only buy palm oil from sustainable sources; Greenpeace stated in their recent report that 25 palm oil producing groups have destroyed more than 130,000 hectares of rainforest since 2015

A solution to glacial melting?
A report from the European Geosciences Union has suggested that building walls on the sea floor may halt the slide of undersea glaciers, slowing the rate of sea level rise; it would also help to prevent warmer sea waters reaching the cold bases of the glaciers, thereby also slowing melting rates