The Heat is On (Video News)

Welcome to Planet 100 for August 12, 2010. Here's what we're covering today.

WATCH VIDEO: The Heat is On

Wildfires Go Nuclear
More bad news in Russia. The fires, which have covered the capital Moscow in a poisonous haze and are hastening a thaw of Arctic ice and are now threatening to stir radioactive particles left over from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster back into the air over western Russia.

Environmentalists say the most dangerous radioactive elements left by Chernobyl are cesium and strontium which with repeated exposure could raise the risks of cancers and genetic disorders.

Via: Yahoo

Global Heat Wave
Feeling Hot this summer? You are not alone. 17 nations around the world are matching or breaking their records for high temperatures—Moscow's had what's believed to be the worst heat wave in 1000 years.

Pakistan may have set a record for all of Asia this summer with an insane 128 degrees, and nations from Ukraine to the Solomon Islands have broken their own records.

Unfortunately, these scorchers may become the norm worldwide and in the US, scientists believe that by 2040, exceptionally long heat waves could become way more common due to climate change.

Via: Huffington Post

Cho Rescue
Stand-up comedienne Margaret Cho is donating some of the proceeds of her Cho Dependent Tour to the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies who are helping to save animals in the Gulf. As Margaret points out, the well maybe capped the oil is still spreading and there's nothing funny about that.

Via: Ecorazzi

Credits:
Fires in Russia ©AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev
Chernobyl ©AP Photo
Radioactive waste ©iStockphoto/Thinkstock
Pakistan ©AP Photo/Saleem Raza
Ukraine ©AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov
Solomon ©Louise Murray/Getty Images
Margaret Cho ©AP Photo/Jeff Christensen
Oily birds ©AP Photo/Charlie Riedel