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Archive for May 19th, 2010
Smallest waterlily in the world saved from extinction – by Kew Gardens
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Guardian: Plant experts at Kew Gardens have rescued the smallest waterlily in the world from the brink of extinction. The thermal waterlily has not grown in the wild since the last specimens vanished two years ago from its only known habitat, a hot spring in southwest Rwanda. After a year-long struggle, a Kew Gardens biologist worked out a way to grow the plants at the botanic gardens, paving the way for their reintroduction in the wild. Carlos Magdalena, the plant scientist who ...
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Attorney seeks to combine 100-plus oil lawsuits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Associate Press: An attorney wants more than 100 lawsuits filed against BP and other companies involved in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill combined quickly in a single federal court to avoid what he called legal chaos that could delay potential payments of billions of dollars in damages. Louisiana lawyer Daniel Becnel on Wednesday asked a federal judicial panel in Washington state to order the lawsuits in five Gulf Coast states centralized in New Orleans or a federal court elsewhere in Louisiana, ...
Climate change will worsen lake pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Vermont Public Radio: (Host) A new study warns that climate change will aggravate Lake Champlain's pollution problems. The report for The Nature Conservancy says the lake's levels are higher because of increased precipitation. And the researchers say the wetter weather may cause more phosphorus pollution to wash off the land and harm the big lake. VPR's John Dillon has more: (Dillon) The study for the Adirondack and Vermont chapters of The Nature Conservancy is one of the first to forecast ...
Wave power firms roll out next-generation devices
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Business Green: Scotland's dream of becoming the "Saudi Arabia of marine energy" took another step towards reality this week after two of the UK's leading wave energy firms unveiled full-scale demonstration devices. E.ON and Pelamis yesterday launched the first prototype of the 750kW Pelamis P2 marine hydropower device, which the two companies hailed as the first wave energy generator to be purchased by a commercial utility. The P2 will be towed from Edinburgh to the European Marine Energy ...
Google-funded hot rock ‘water’ drill could reduce cost of geothermal energy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Guardian: A novel drill that is inspired by a jet engine and uses super-heated water to carve through rock could help harness to make clean energy from underground rocks more economically viable, according to its backers at Google. Potter Drilling is part-funded by Google.org - the internet search giant's philanthropic arm - and wants to use its technology to develop geothermal energy, which involves tapping the energy from hot rocks deep in the Earth. Geothermal energy is seen by ...
Man-made climate change blamed for ‘significant’ rise in ocean temperature
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 19th, 2010
Independent (UK): The world's oceans are warming up and the rise is both significant and real, according to one of the most comprehensive studies into marine temperature data gathered over the past two decades. Measuring the temperature of the oceans has not been easy, but the scientists behind the latest study believe there is now incontrovertible evidence to show that the top few hundred metres of the sea are warming -- and that this temperature rise is consistent with man-made climate ...
Unexpected consequence: Increased CO2 could affect nutritional value of crops
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Yahoo Green: A new study published in the journal Science states that rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere aren't just affecting climate, but could affect the nutrition contained in the world's food crops too. Scientists at the University of California, Davis found that increased CO2 could reduce the protein content of crop plants by as much as 20 percent. This slash in nutritional value happens because higher concentrations of CO2 interfere with a plant's ability to convert nitrates into proteins, ...
Concern Grows That Oil Could Reach Florida, Cuba
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
National Public Radio: BP said Wednesday that it hopes to begin shooting a mixture known as drilling mud into the blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico early next week. Engineers hope to start the procedure known as a "top kill" by Sunday. It could take several weeks to complete, but if it works it should stop the oil that's been gushing since the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded off the coast of Louisiana on April 20 and sank two days later. "Let's all keep our fingers crossed. Let's ...
Gulf oil ‘reaches major current’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
BBC: The first oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill has entered an ocean current that could take it to Florida and up the east coast of the US, scientists say. A "small portion" of oil sheen is in the Loop Current, which circulates in the Gulf, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. Diluted oil could appear in isolated parts of Florida if persistent winds pushed the current that way, it added. European scientists warn the spill could reach Florida ...
Action to save Baltic Sea is lagging: WWF
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Action to save the Baltic Sea is lagging far behind schedule, environmental group WWF said Wednesday, a day before regional ministers are to meet on the protection of the highly polluted sea in Moscow. "Efforts by coastal states to implement the common programme of action for the Baltic Sea are well behind schedule and schedules are being pushed further forward," WWF said in a statement, citing a monitoring report it commissioned from Gaia Consulting. Even simple measures, like ...