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Archive for February, 2010
WWF welcomes new protected areas in Ukraine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Environmental group WWF on Wednesday welcomed Ukraine's decision to designate large swathes of land as protected, but warned that key areas, such as the Danube delta, were still under threat. Over the past 10 months, the Ukrainian government has established 29 new protected areas, bringing the total number of protected nature zones in the country to 38, WWF said in a statement. "With these additions, Ukraine's protected area system now covers 3.7 million hectares, or ...
International cooperation saving Siberian crane: UN
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The threat of extinction for the majestic Siberian crane is receding thanks to cooperation among countries including China, Russia and Iran, the UN said Wednesday. The bird, which has pure white plumage and stands about 1.4 metres (4.6 feet) tall, is considered to be in serious danger of extinction with an estimated population of just 3,000 to 3,500 left. "The future of the Siberian crane is looking brighter thanks to the international effort by China, Iran, Kazakhstan and ...
United Kingdom: The stranglers: the five plants threatening Britain’s waterways
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Guardian: Do you know what's lurking in your garden pond? OK, so it may well be frozen over right now, but have a look at the pictures above. See anything familiar? Although I think I could just about identify parrot's feather, having spent ages fishing it out of my own pond, but I wouldn't have had a clue about the others. The government's new Be Plant Wise campaign (or scotland.gov.uk/beplantwise if you're in Scotland) is warning that five non-native aquatic bullies - floating pennywort, New ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United Kingdom: The stranglers: the five plants threatening Britain’s waterwaysEnvironmental disaster warning as oil spill reaches the Po, Italy’s biggest river
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Associated Press: An oil spill that fouled a tributary in northern Italy reached the Po river today, with officials warning of an ecological disaster as they scrambled to contain the sludge before it contaminated the country's longest river. Milan regional officials said the cause was sabotage at a former refinery turned oil depot, since the cisterns were opened and the oil allowed to flow unimpeded into the Lambro river near Monza. The cisterns "were opened by someone who was familiar with the ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Environmental disaster warning as oil spill reaches the Po, Italy’s biggest riverCan we trust the IPCC on the big stuff?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
New Scientist: EVER since the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report on the impacts of climate change was discovered to contain a major error - that the Himalayan glaciers will be largely gone by 2035 - there has been a media feeding frenzy to find other mistakes. But it misses the point to focus on individual errors sprinkled through the report's 1000 or so pages (see "Digging devils from the details"). How solid are its headline findings? The IPCC presented the second section of ...
Oil spill threatens ‘ecological disaster’ in Italy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2010
Associated Press: An oil spill that fouled a small river in northern Italy reached the Po River on Wednesday, with officials warning of an ecological disaster as they scrambled to contain the sludge before it contaminated Italy's longest and most important river. Milan regional officials said the cause was certainly sabotage at a former refinery turned oil depot, since the cisterns were opened and the oil allowed to flow unimpeded into the Lambro River near Monza. The cisterns "were opened by ...
Heatwave to end summer – and a record beckons
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2010
Age: Perth is inching towards claiming its second hottest summer on record, with temperatures expected in the high 30's all week. It is already one of the hottest summers Perth has ever recorded, but there's still a final sting in the tail. As the record for Perth's hottest-ever summer goes down to the wire, the city is set to face a heatwave from today as temperatures stay in the high 30s, or early 40s, to close out summer. It is forecast to be 36 degrees today, with the ...
‘Terminator’ carp threatens Great Lakes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2010
Guardian: The fight looks utterly unequal. In the red corner: the combined might of North America, including the US and Canadian governments, the US army, the governors of eight American states, two Senate cÂommittees and the supreme court. In the blue corner: one fish. The way things are looking, the fish is winning. At stake is the health of the Great Lakes, the world's largest body of fresh water. Environmentalists warn of ecological disaster, courtesy of Asian carp, an invasive ...
Disaster Blamed on Chaotic Urban Planning
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2010
Inter Press Service: Prominent Portuguese environmentalists blamed the Dantesque scene in the tourist island of Madeira Monday, in the wake of flash floods that claimed at least 42 lives over the weekend, on seriously flawed urban planning. One of the worst storms in the history of the small hilly Portuguese archipelago, which lies around 500 km off the coast of Morocco in northwest Africa, caused raging torrents of brown mud to drag trees, rocks and cars down streets, destroying houses, bridges and roads ...
Indigenous Groups Step Up Protests Over Mining Project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2010
Inter Press Service: When 5,000 indigenous Dongria Kondhs trekked Sunday to Niyam Dongar hill, the abode of their presiding deity Niyam Raja, and designated it as inviolate, it meant they were stepping up their resistance to a controversial alumina refinery and bauxite mine project here. They carried out religious rituals to Niyam Raja - the sacred dispenser of law, and then put up a totem pole in the area located in Niyamgiri hills in their homeland Lanjigarh, a bauxite-rich hilly area in Kalahandi of ...