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Archive for May, 2010
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 ...
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Comments Off on Man-made climate change blamed for ‘significant’ rise in ocean temperatureUnexpected 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, ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Unexpected consequence: Increased CO2 could affect nutritional value of cropsConcern 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 ...
La.’s state bird, brown pelican, imperiled by oil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Associated Press: Hounded by hunters and fishermen, driven to near-extinction by chemical pollution, the brown pelican has survived a century of human abuse -- only to face another challenge from the giant oil spill threatening to devastate the Gulf of Mexico marine environment. The odd-looking seabird with a distinctive pouch beneath its foot-long bill was removed from the federal endangered species list only last November. Now its recovery could be undermined by millions of gallons of oil polluting ...
Fishing Ban Is Expanded as Spill’s Impact Becomes More Evident
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
New York Times: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration greatly expanded the fishing ban in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday in response to spreading oil from the BP well blowout. The prohibited area now covers 19 percent of the gulf, nearly double what it was, according to the agency. Officials are already seeing some impact on fish and wildlife in the region. Rowan W. Gould, the acting director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said 156 sea turtle fatalities had been recorded in the gulf ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fishing Ban Is Expanded as Spill’s Impact Becomes More EvidentUS oil spill in Loop Current ‘heading for Florida’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has entered the Loop Current, a powerful conveyor belt that flows clockwise around the Gulf towards Florida, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. Scientists monitoring the massive slick via ESA satellites say that oil has for the first time hit the current and is likely to reach Florida within six days. "We have visible proof that at least oil from the surface of the water has reached the current," said Bertrand Chapron, a scientist at the ...
NAMIBIA: Will Farm Project Mean the River Runs Dry?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 18th, 2010
Inter Press Service: A proposed irrigation scheme promises greater food security for Namibia, but should the 10,000 hectare Katondo Farm Project be completed, it could threaten the health of the Okavango River. Thihako Mukena paddles his mokoro slowly across a soccer field, pointing with a smile towards the goalposts that barely clear the water's surface. Heavy rains in Angola months earlier have meandered down the Okavango to his doorstep: the river is at its highest point in nearly fifty years. His ...
United States: Spill reinforces oil bad will for American Indians
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 18th, 2010
Associated Press: Like many American Indians on the bayou, Emary Billiot blames oil companies for ruining his ancestral marsh over the decades. Still, he's always been able to fish -- but now even that is not a certainty. An oil spill -- 5 million gallons and counting -- spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has closed bays and lakes in Louisiana's bountiful delta, including fishing grounds that feed the last American-Indian villages in three parishes. It is a bitter blow for the tribes of south ...
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