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Archive for February, 2010
Bangladesh: Government against climate aid via World Bank
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2010
IRIN: Bangladesh has voiced strong opposition to plans by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to provide close to US$100 million in climate change aid - because of its delivery through the World Bank. "We are strongly against the World Bank's involvement in handling the climate fund. DFID should give the money straight to the Bangladesh government rather than giving it to the World Bank to disburse it," Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque told IRIN on 16 ...
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Comments Off on Bangladesh: Government against climate aid via World BankUnited States: Hampton Roads in ‘dire straits’ because of global warming predictions, says expert
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2010
Daily Press: Sobering evidence of how storms will have an increasingly devastating effect on the Peninsula as the century progresses is outlined in a new model by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. "This is an important issue for us to get moving on," Eric Walberg, physical and environmental planning administrator with the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, told the Hampton City Council last week. The hydrodynamic model produced by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Hampton Roads in ‘dire straits’ because of global warming predictions, says expertLess fog puts redwoods at risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle: A gradual decrease in summer fog along the California coast over the past century may be endangering the region's giant redwoods and affecting the ecology of the area surrounding the trees, according to a study by UC Berkeley scientists. "The redwoods along our coast are highly dependent on fog as a source of water during the summer when water in the ground is scarce," Todd E. Dawson, one of the study's two authors, said in an interview. "Foggy nights are needed to rehydrate the trees ...
Indonesia: Palm estate is forest, says ministry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2010
Jakarta Post: The Forestry Ministry is drafting a decree to include oil palm plantations in the forest sector to comply with international standards in mitigating climate change. The ministry said it believed the policy would not lead to massive forest conversion into palm oil plantations as many critics feared. "By definition, oil palm plantations will be defined as forest, but its management will be under the Agriculture Ministry," head of research and development at the ministry, Tachrir ...
Climate change threatens fog and redwoods -study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2010
Reuters: The coastal fog that gives San Francisco its romantic ambience is thinning out, a boon to drivers but a real threat to the giant redwoods there, researchers reported on Monday. It in unclear if natural climate variations or human activity is to blame, but the result could be the loss of trees, they reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Fog prevents water loss from redwoods in summer, and is really important for both the tree and the forest," ...
Loft insulation: Australia’s burning issue
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2010
Guardian: 'How can we sleep when our beds are burning?" sang Peter Garrett in 1987, when he was vying with Michael Hutchence for the title of Australia's most famous rock star. Now, having joined the government as environment minister, the former singer with Midnight Oil has a very real fire to put out. Garrett is a good man with an impossible task, trying to retain his street cred while doing all the boring but important things that junior environment ministers have to do, such as worrying ...
Decline in fog threatens California’s iconic redwood ecosystems
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2010
Mongabay: A surprising new study finds that during the past century the frequency of fog along California's coast has declined by approximately three hours a day. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the researchers are concerned that this decrease in fog threatens California's giant redwoods and the unique ecosystem they inhabit. "As fog decreases, the mature redwoods along the coast are not likely to die outright, but there may be less recruitment of new trees; ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Decline in fog threatens California’s iconic redwood ecosystemsEndangered songbird’s numbers rise 25%
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2010
Guardian: Wildlife-friendly farming has helped the population of one Britain's most threatened songbirds increase by 25% in the last seven years, it was announced today. The cirl bunting, which was once found across large parts of southern England, is now restricted to a small area of the south Devon and Cornish coast, the RSPB and Natural England said. Populations crashed in the second half of the last century, largely as a result of intensive agriculture. There were 118 known pairs in ...
Cold weather kills off Florida wildlife
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2010
Guardian: Comatose iguanas have been dropping from the trees and pythons have frozen to death in their tracks in Florida's unusually harsh winter, wildlife officials said today. Parts of the Sunshine State saw their second snowfall of the season this weekend, with the extended cold spells killing off a host of tropical intruders, including iguanas, Burmese and African pythons and invasive fish. State wildlife officials said more than half of the green iguanas, which are native to South ...
BA yet to gain official approval for biojet fuel from food scraps
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2010
Guardian: The biojet fuel British Airways is planning to produce in its new plant in London has not yet been certified for use by the UK authorities, the airline has admitted to the Guardian. BA said today that it would build what is believed to be Europe's first plant to manufacture "biojet fuel" using food scraps and other waste in an attempt to cut greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft. But the airline admitted that the Ministry of Defence body, DStan, which regulates aviation fuel ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on BA yet to gain official approval for biojet fuel from food scraps