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Archive for February 6th, 2010
Study: Eastern Trees in the Midst of a Growth Spur
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2010
Time Magazine: Basic biology suggests that plants might grow faster in a world with more carbon dioxide, and field experiments bear that out: when you pump extra CO2 into a field or a forest, trees and other vegetation tend to get bigger. There are plenty of caveats attached: without other nutrients, the size and health of CO2-enriched plants can be compromised, and in some cases noxious weeds like poison ivy do better than the greenery you might prefer. But perhaps the biggest question of all is ...
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Canada: Olympic organisers desperate for climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Winter Olympics chiefs will not sanction a desperate last-minute venue switch despite unseasonably warm temperatures continuing to curse Cypress Mountain, the host of the freestyle events at the Games which begin on Friday. The host city enjoyed highs of 11 degrees again on Saturday while meteorological officials said that the warm weather, which has led to 300 dumper trucks and even helicopters being used to transport snow from higher elevations, will continue right up to the opening ...
United Kingdom: £740-a-bird cull of ruddy ducks ‘a waste of money’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2010
Guardian: A controversial UK cull of ruddy ducks, a US native that has been compared to a "feathered lager lout" for its displays of thuggish and amorous behaviour, has cost the British taxpayer more than £740 for each dead bird. Figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show that shoots of the chestnut-coloured bird have cost taxpayers £4.6m, yet only 6,200 have been killed. The disclosure has sparked an outcry from ornithologists and animal activists ...
Ethiopia: Dam Critics Won’t Go Away
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2010
Inter Press Service: Ethiopia is building a 240-metre high dam on the Omo River that is intended to end the country's electricity shortage and supply power to neighbouring countries. Not everyone's happy. The Gilgel Gibe III dam will hold back 14.7 million cubic metres of water. Its 1,870 MW generating capacity will be a significant boost for the Ethiopian Electric Power Company (EEPCO) which has plans to extend electricity supply within the country and export power to other countries in East ...
Heavy rains bring Spanish wetlands back to life
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on February 6th, 2010
Independent (UK): An environmentally valuable expanse of Spanish wetlands that dried up through mismanagement of water resources and drought is once again awash with water due to heavy rainfall, an official said Tuesday. Over 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of the wetlands of the Tablas de Daimiel National Park are flooded, the highest level since 1997, up from just 67 hectares on January 7, a park spokesman said. The heavy rains also put out an underground peat fire which had raged at the ...
United Kingdom: Food, Inc: saved from the bin
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2010
Telegraph: My pulse is racing. I have found a new way to save money on food -- and help to save the planet in the process. I had thought there was nothing more I could do to cut back on bills and waste as I am already a devotee of markets, pound shops, supermarkets' yellow cut-price stickers and recycled leftovers. But the next logical step has just been delivered to my door: a box full of items that supermarkets cannot sell but are still fit to eat. According to Approved Food, the leading ...
Action Alert: PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Logging Violence and Corruption Flare in Ramu, Madangs Mighty Rainforests
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on February 6th, 2010
TAKE ACTION!
Local landowner initiated court case has shut down logging for two months. The PNG Forest Authority's review of the granting of the right to log to notorious Rimbunan Hijau [search] of Malaysia in Ramu River valley expected soon. Industry and corrupt government officials pulling out all stops to re-grant permit to this violent and corrupt criminal-enterprise. Massive cash payments and brutal violence to intimidate communities resisting logging is rife. Yet local protest to logging continues to intensify in Madang [search], as do calls to end all industrial primary rainforest logging in PNG.
TAKE ACTION!
Donate to Ramu/Sogeram Landowners Resisting RH & primary rainforest logging