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Archive for February 10th, 2010
Companies disclose deforestation risk in their supply chains
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Mongabay: Revealingly, some companies who are communicating 'environmentally friendly' policy and messages in their consumer marketing mix, did not disclose their impact on forests," Tracey Campbell, Director of FFD, said in a statement. "Whilst we understand that creating a robust and sustainable supply chain with full traceability is a challenge for businesses, those that have disclosed show that their forward-thinking management is managing a supply chain risk to their business over the long term ...
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South Florida’s floodgates vulnerable to rising sea levels
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Sun Sentinel: Rising sea levels already threaten South Florida's coastal floodgates, likely prompting the need for costly retrofits to protect some of the state's most populated areas, water managers warned Wednesday. While worldwide debate continues over the potential long-term effects of climate change, the South Florida Water Management District on Wednesday identified 28 flood-control structures along the southeast coast that it considers vulnerable to rising sea levels. Flood control ...
Mackenzie River’s fish contaminated with dangerous toxins: Scientists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Globe and Mail: Scientists studying burbot in the Mackenzie River, one of the country's most pristine rivers, have been surprised to discover that mercury, PCBs and DDT in the fish are rising rapidly, a finding they say is linked to climate change. The increase in the amount of harmful chemicals has been huge. In the period from the mid-1990s to 2008, PCBs have risen up to six times, DDT by three times, and mercury by 1.6 times in the burbot, a delicacy in the north described as tasting like a ...
Baltic leaders underline pledges to clean up sea
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Reuters: Regional political leaders on Wednesday underlined their commitment to clean up the Baltic Sea, which has been polluted for decades and is set to become a major oil and gas thoroughfare in the coming years. "Today some of the richest and most environmentally conscious countries on earth live on the shores of one of the world's most polluted seas," Finnish President Tarja Halonen said. "It is clear that something has to be done - and quickly." The Baltic remains for adjacent ...
Russia supports plan to clean up Baltic
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Guardian: Vladimir Putin today threw Russia's weight behind an ambitious international plan to clean up the Baltic, one of the world's most polluted seas, amid concerns from environmentalists that a gas pipeline across the Baltic seabed would disturb highly toxic sediment on the sea bed and marine habitats. Officials attending the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki said Russia's prime minister was expected to announce new clean-up measures in Kaliningrad, the Russian-controlled enclave on the ...
Critics question Vancouver’s green credentials
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Reuters: Sites for Vancouver's Winter Olympics boast low-flow toilets that use rainwater to flush, energy efficient grass-clad roofs and separate bins for compostable waste, setting them on course to meet ambitious environmental targets, Organizers said on Wednesday. But critics are giving the Games a bronze medal at best, and that was before the officials started airlifting snow to a rained-out ski- and snowboard hill just outside a snowless Vancouver. "We think it's very symbolic in ...
Ecuador: Chevron says expert biased in cleanup case
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Associated Press: Chevron Corp. has stepped up its offensive against a group that says the oil giant poisoned sections of the Amazon rain forest. After spending months discrediting the political and legal system in Ecuador, where a court is considering a fine against the company, Chevron now claims that a court-appointed expert gave biased testimony in the case. The expert, Richard Cabrera, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But lawyers representing people affected by the pollution said ...
Scientists rue errors, seek better climate report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Associated Press: A steady drip of unsettling errors is exposing what scientists are calling "the weaker link" in the Nobel Peace Prize-winning series of international reports on global warming. The flaws -- and the erosion they've caused in public confidence -- have some scientists calling for drastic changes in how future United Nations climate reports are done. A push for reform being published in Thursday's issue of a prestigious scientific journal comes on top of a growing clamor for the ...
Desertification threatens 38 percent of the world
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Mongabay: Over one third of the world's land surface (38 percent) is threatened with desertification, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. The study found that eight of fifteen eco-regions are threatened by desertification, including coastal areas, the prairies, the Mediterranean region, the savannah, the temperate steppes, the temperate deserts, tropical and subtropical steppes, and the tropical and subtropical deserts. "The greatest risk of ...
The story of coal’s dirty, deadly legacy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2010
Washington Independent: Most of us take it for granted that when we flip the switch, the lights will go on. Sure, we write the electric company a monthly check, but otherwise lend no thought to the source of the power -- like urban kids clueless that chicken originates someplace other than the freezer aisle of chain groceries. But this month, an energetic author from the rugged, coal-laden hills of southern Illinois hopes to relay the message -- utterly apropos in a country where coal generates nearly half ...