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Archive for May 9th, 2010
Nigeria: Don urges action on desertification
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Champion: A University teacher, Prof. Joshua Kayode has advised Nigerians to embrace tree planting as a way of curbing the impending desert encroachment that is ravaging some parts of the country The University of Ado Ekiti(UNAD) Professor of Botany, said it was better the country realized the importance of forest and tree planting in time to prevent the country from being devastated by high rising deforestation Delivering the 26th Inaugural Lecture of the University entitled: ...
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Lawyers on the prowl after US oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Armies of lawyers are turning their sights to the massive oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico, eagerly seeking damages from the companies at the center of the disaster. Lawyers who faced a massive onslaught of demands after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005 are now flooded with calls from oil workers and local fishermen eager to receive compensation for their losses. Judy Guice, an attorney based in Biloxi, Mississippi, said the oil spill "has the ...
One winter of heavy snow doesn’t fix global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Kansas City Star: Tom Watson is a terrible golfer. Sound absurd? It should. But using the type of flawed logic some climate-change deniers use, it is a reasonable statement. Forget decades of empirical data. Instead, look at his performance in last year's British Open. Watson battled for the Claret Jug on the final day only to lose in a tie-breaker after bogeying on 18. Based on this singular occurrence, this must mean that Watson isn't that talented, and his backlog of success must all be misleading ...
Greenland glacier slide speeds 220 percent in summer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Reuters: A glacier in Greenland slides up to 220 percent faster toward the sea in summer than in winter and global warming could mean a wider acceleration that would raise sea levels, according to a study published Sunday. A group of experts led by Ian Bartholomew at Edinburgh University in Scotland said the variability was much stronger than earlier observations of glacier movement in Greenland. The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, is a new piece of a puzzle to ...
Oil spill could ravage precious Gulf Coast mangroves
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The BP oil slick menacing the US Gulf Coast poses a direct threat to vast expanses of mangrove forest critical to many of the region's fragile ecosystems, experts say. Some 2,000 square kilometres (800 square miles) of US coastal mangrove habitat are concentrated in three states most threatened by the estimated 5,000 barrels-a-day of crude oozing into the Gulf: Louisiana, Texas and the southern tip of Florida. "The oil will basically kill the trees," said Jerry Lorenz, a marine ...
United Kingdom: Garden ponds unwittingly polluted by tap water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Guardian: British garden ponds are unwittingly being polluted by people topping them up with tap water, a survey has found. Around half of 250 ponds examined are in "poorer" condition, three in 10 are "good" and only one in 10 was rated as "excellent", said the organisers of the Big Pond Dip, Pond ConservatioLord and Lady Hollinscoughn. Water boatmen, beetles, snails, alderflies and damselfly larvae are among the pond life affected by the problem, which occurred in more than half the ...
Canada: British consumers unwitting users of fuel from tar sands, study says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Guardian: British motorists are unwitting users of diesel and petrol derived from the Canadian tar sands whose carbon-heavy production methods make it particularly damaging to the environment, Greenpeace claims. The green group is calling for urgent action by the European Commission to strengthen Fuel Quality Directive regulations to restrict the import of petroleum products which are made in a carbon-intensive way. The move comes as the tar sands producers appear to be trying to use the ...
Flights to offshore wildlife refuge in La. halted
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2010
Associated Press: Federal officials have halted flights to the Breton National Wildlife Refuge off the Louisiana coast, saying aircraft hired by news organizations threaten the birds nesting in the barrier islands. A statement Saturday from the Coast Guard and other officials overseeing the oil spill cleanup said the flights and landings threaten the very birds that the media are covering. All access to the refuge has been closed as cleanup crews assess the damage from oil leaking from a well in ...