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Archive for April 27th, 2010
World’s best water purifier may be the cactus
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Y! Green: Scientists from the University of South Florida have discovered the water purifying power of the prickly pear cactus. An extract from the desert-dweller is very effective at removing sediment and bacteria from dirty H2O and, even better, it grows all around the world. The scientists aren't the first to realize this plant's ability. Nineteenth-century Mexican communities used the cactus as a water purifier. The thick gum in the cactus that stores water is responsible for the ...
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Is climate change South Asia’s deadliest threat?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
BBC: "Intense floods, droughts and cyclones have impacted on the economic performances of South Asian countries and the lives of millions of poor, it also puts at risk infrastructure, agriculture, human health, water resources and the environment," it says. This is not the first time that Saarc summit has discussed the issue. The declaration of the 14th summit in Delhi in 2007, for instance, said leaders had agreed "to commission a team of regional experts to identify collective ...
Arctic explorers get nasty surprise: rain
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Reuters: In what looks to be another sign the Arctic is heating up quickly, British explorers in Canada's Far North reported on Tuesday that they had been hit by a three-minute rain shower over the weekend. The rain fell on the team's ice base off Ellef Rignes island, about 3,900 km (2,420 miles) north of the Canadian capital, Ottawa. "It's definitely a shocker ... the general feeling within the polar community is that rainfall in the high Canadian Arctic in April is a freak event," ...
United Kingdom: Froome among riders targeted for water-bottle pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Britain's Chris Froome is among a trio of riders who have been targeted by an environmental group -- for throwing empty water bottles into the Belgian countryside during a top race. According to the Vers l'Avenir newspaper 'Coalition Nature' has lodged an official complaint with a court in Namur following last week's Fleche-Wallonne semi-classic, won by Australia's world champion Cadel Evans. Bike racers can drink several litres of fluids during one-day races and stages, and ...
Indonesia harnessing volcano power
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Indonesia's 17,000 islands are home to hundreds of volcanoes and approximately 40 percent of the earth's geothermal energy potential and the nation's government is ready to harness that hot, clean energy. The country has set a goal of bringing online 4GW of geothermal capacity by 2014, which will almost quadruple the current capacity of 1,189 MW. If you think that sounds ambitious, you're right. It generally takes three to five years just to complete field exploration and then another ...
Why don’t we hear about toxic household items any more?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Guardian: The recent headlines about compensation payments to victims of "toxic sofa" burns have reminded me of all those stories we used to hear about brominated fire retardents and other toxic chemicals that were supposedly in many of our household items. Why don't we hear about these so much any more? Have they all now been eliminated? P Grenville, by email It's certainly a good observation: you're right, we don't hear that much now about the threat of toxic chemicals in everyday ...
Can the Sahara light up Europe with solar power?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Guardian: Desertification is a dirty word, but deserts are not entirely without their uses. Plans are underway to transform swathes of the Sahara into a glimmering sea of mirrors, with the goal of piping cheap, clean and efficient solar energy into the heart of Europe. Dubbed the Desertec Industrial Initiative, it will create vast fields of concentrated solar power (CSP) plants – arrays of mirrors which focus the sun's energy to turn water into steam, and so drive electrical turbines. From ...
Reviving the spirit of Rio
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
BBC: Following the near collapse of the UN climate negotiations in December and the seeming paralysis of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in March, the whole idea of solving the world's environmental problems through multilateral negotiations seems to be in crisis. But, argue Maurice Strong and Felix Dodds, another recent development holds out the promise of reversing the trend. In two years' time, Rio de Janeiro will host another Earth Summit - 20 years ...
Beauty in Black and White: Alaska Before the Effects of Global Warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Scientific American: Toward the end of World War II, the U.S. Navy began mapping an area of northern Alaska extending south from the Arctic Sea across the North Slope and down to the forested valleys south of the Brooks Range. In an effort lasting a number of years, surveyors flew low in a small plane, snapping thousands of photographs with a large-format K-18 camera pointed out the craft's open door. About 10 years ago, Matthew Sturm of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and his colleagues obtained the ...
Experts call for hike in global water price
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2010
Guardian: Major economies are pushing for substantial increases in the price of water around the world as concern mounts about dwindling supplies and rising population. With official UN figures showing that 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water and more than double that number do not have proper sanitation, increases in prices will be – and in some countries are already proving to be – hugely controversial. However experts argue that as long as most countries provide huge ...