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Archive for May 12th, 2010
China environmentalist released after prison term
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
Associated Press: A leading Chinese environmentalist has been released after serving a three-year prison sentence on what he says were trumped up charges of blackmailing polluting businesses. Wu Lihong was named by China's legislature as one of the country's top 10 environmentalists in 2005 for his work documenting pollution in Lake Tai, China's largest freshwater lake. He was arrested in April 2007 on what his wife and friends say were charges concocted by local officials embarrassed by his ...
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United Kingdom: Drought threat to potato crop
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
BBC: A drought is threatening to significantly cut this year's Jersey Royal potato crop, growers have warned. The first yield could be cut by 50% following the worst drought on the Channel island in 34 years, the Jersey Royal Company told The Grocer magazine. Jersey has not had significant rainfall since 3 April and forecasters are not predicting rain for another two weeks. Mike Renourd, of the Jersey Royal Company, said major supermarkets were assessing the impact on ...
Glacier park turns 100, but age has not been kind
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park. The gorgeous million-acre park in northwestern Montana celebrated its 100th birthday on Tuesday. But many of its glaciers have melted, and scientists predict the rest may not last another decade. The forests are drier and disease-ridden, leading to bigger wildfires. Climate change is forcing animals that feed off plants to adapt. Many experts consider Glacier Park a harbinger of Earth's future, a laboratory where changes in ...
Canada: Summer drought possible for parts of B.C., environment minister warns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
Vancouver Sun: Environment Minister Barry Penner warned Friday of possible drought for parts of British Columbia this summer. Penner said below average snowpacks across the province could mean streams will be running much lower than normal by the summer months. "With the exception of high-elevation areas on Vancouver Island and the South Coast, snowpacks across B.C. are all below normal," said a statement released by the government Friday. "The low snowpack and smaller-than-normal ...
Current change may bring Gulf oil spill to Mexico
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
Associated Press: Mexican officials fear the Gulf oil spill could reach their coasts if the leak is not stopped by August, when seasonal currents start to reverse and flow south. So far prevailing currents have carried at least 4 million gallons of spilled oil from a damaged BP well toward the north and east, away from Mexico and toward U.S. shores. But those currents start to shift by August, and by October the prevailing currents have reversed toward Mexico. Carlos Morales, the head of ...
As Oil Continues To Gush, Despair Grows In Gulf
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
National Public Radio: Off the coast of Louisiana, the oil leak is still not under control. Oil continues to flow into the Gulf at a rate of 200,000 gallons each day. And at the mouth of the Mississippi River, globs of oil are now washing ashore.
Florida braces for oil spill impact
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Florida environmental authorities Wednesday declared a final emergency order ahead of the arrival in the state's northwest of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The order is meant to speed up the measures that can be taken to try to protect rivers and estuaries, Governor Charlie Crist's office said. "Giving local government flexibility to prepare for the oil?s possible landfall and immediate relief to our businesses will help secure Florida?s economy and beautiful ...
Hurricane could worsen huge US oil spill: experts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill could grow even more disastrous if the looming hurricane season churns up towering black waves and blasts beaches and crowded cities with oil-soaked gusts, experts warned. With just three weeks before the Atlantic hurricane season lurches into action, odds are more than 40 percent that a big storm could cross the giant spill gushing from beneath a ruptured well on the seabed. An April 20 blast sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling platform, ...
Climate change could make half the world uninhabitable
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
Telegraph: The study, published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said humans will not be able to adapt or survive in such conditions. Professor Tony McMichael, one of the authors, said if the world continues to pump out greenhouse gases at the current rate it will cause catastrophic warming. "Under realistic scenarios out to 2300, we may be faced with temperature increases of 12 degrees or even more," he said. "If this happens, our current ...
Oil Spill Shakes Up Minerals Management Service
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 12th, 2010
National Public Radio: RENEE MONTAGNE, host: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Im Renee Montagne. LYNN NEARY, host: And Im Lynn Neary in for Steve Inskeep, who's in Pakistan. Oil is still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, and the political and legal battle surrounding the spill is already well underway. We have two reports this morning. In a moment we'll hear about the many lawsuits that already have been filed. But first to Capitol Hill. Executives from three companies involved in ...