GLOBAL MELTDOWN
The catalogue of disasters that are happening right now
Across the planet, rising temperatures are taking their toll
CARBON DIOXIDE
New research has found that levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - the main cause of global warming - are higher than at any time in the past 625,000 years. HOTTEST EVER
This year is expected to be the warmest ever recorded; 1998 was the hottest so far, but the past three years currently occupy the next three places.
DESERTIFICATION
The giant Kalahari desert, already four times the size of Britain, threatens to become larger still, covering farmland in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
EXPANDING OCEANS
The level of the world's seas and oceans is rising twice as fast as in the past, as their waters expand in rising temperatures and glaciers melt.
OCEAN EXILES
The people of the Carteret Islands, a scattering of atolls off Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific, have started to leave as their homes succumb to rising seas.
HURRICANES
Hurricane Epsilon - the 14th of the year - is forming in the Atlantic, even though the worst recorded hurricane season by far formally ended on Wednesday.
GLACIER MELT
Greenland glaciers have suddenly started racing towards the sea and melting. Much the same is beginning to happen to glaciers in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
WATER SHORTAGE
Areas such as the western USA, which depend on mountain snows for their water supplies, are running short as less snow falls - and what does fall melts earlier.
DISAPPEARING SPECIES
Sealife and birdlife have declined catastrophically this year along America's north-west Pacific coast, after a similar meltdown in the North Sea.
CORAL REEFS
Corals on the Great Barrier Reef are bleaching out and dying as sea temperatures rise and scientists fear that the whole reef may perish by 2050.
Also in this section
Eskom, has the strategic intent "to be the pre-eminent African energy and related services business, of global stature."
As outlined on its website, Eskom's "Future Business Model has two major portfolios, namely the energy portfolio and the related services portfolio. These two portfolios represent the following businesses:
The Energy Portfolio:
- Electricity: the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity as well as the building and operating of power stations, transmission and distribution networks. The building and marketing of Pebble Bed Modular Reactor units as well as the sale of energy-efficient lamps and other appliances is also included.
- Coal: transportation and exporting of coal.
- Gas: building and operating gas pipelines, distribution of gas, sale of liquid fuel appliances such as Amazing Amanzi products.
- Renewable energies: exploring technologies relating to other sources for energy generation such as solar, wind etc.
The Related Services Portfolio:
- Telecommunication: possible participation in the second network operator (SNO), offering a full range of telecomms products and services to business and residential customers, in competition with Telkom.
- IT Services: will provide hardware, infrastructure creation, infrastructure (networks) operations and management services as well as explore e-business opportunities.
- Financial Services: participating in financial markets, raising finance for Eskom and non-Eskom clients. Management of equity investments on behalf of Eskom subsidiaries.
- Trading: Buying and selling of electricity, gas and other commodities, using sophisticated financial instruments."