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Archive for May, 2010
New Zealand steps up efforts to tap geothermal potential
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Business Green: New Zealand today moved a step closer to exploiting the huge untapped potential of its geothermal resources when energy firm Mighty River announced it has been given the go-ahead to construct a NZ$400m (£194m) geothermal power station near Taupo in the centre of the North Island of the country. Groundwork on the project -- a joint venture with the Tauhara North No.2 Trust -- is expected to start before the end of the year, with the 110MW power station scheduled to become operational ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on New Zealand steps up efforts to tap geothermal potentialClimate change devastating lizards worldwide: 20 percent estimated to face extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Mongabay: Lizards have evolved a variety of methods to escape predators: some will drop their tail if caught, many have coloring and patterning that blends in with their environment, a few have the ability to change their colors as their background changes, while a lot of them depend on bursts of speed to skitter away, but how does a lizard escape climate change? According to a new study in Science they don't. The study finds that lizards are suffering local extinctions worldwide due ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change devastating lizards worldwide: 20 percent estimated to face extinctionWildlife death toll from BP oil spill likely includes dolphins
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Mongabay: The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking its toll on the region's wildlife: brown pelicans, sea turtles, several species of fish, and now dolphins have been found dead. The National Marine Fisheries Service reported today finding six dead dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama since May 2nd. Officials are saying the deaths could be related to the oil spill or may be due to natural deaths from calving. They are currently testing tissue samples to determine if oil ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wildlife death toll from BP oil spill likely includes dolphinsWorld’s Lizards Under Threat from Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
LiveScience: Lizards may like to laze around in the sun, but a hotter planet is bad news for these reptiles, a new study suggests. A major survey of lizard populations worldwide has found an alarming pattern of population extinctions attributable to rising temperatures. If current extinction trends continue, 20 percent of all lizard species could go extinct by 2080, the new study found. The current and projected losses are directly attributed to climate warming since 1975, according to the ...
Dolphin, turtle deaths eyed for links to oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Reuters: Scientists are examining samples from seven dolphins and over 100 sea turtles found dead along the U.S. Gulf Coast in the past two weeks to see if they were victims of the giant oil spill in the region, wildlife officials said on Thursday. All of the deaths are being investigated as suspected casualties of the oil gushing unchecked since April 20 from a ruptured wellhead on the floor of the Gulf off Louisiana because of their proximity in time and space to the spill. But none ...
Study: Global Warming Is Driving Lizards to Extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Times Magazine: Species can respond to global warming in two ways: adapt and survive, or die. Biologists foresee climate change driving many species to extinction over the next century, especially those that are unable to adjust rapidly enough. Plants and animals evolved to survive in specific ecological niches, and while some may adapt to new environments - and many have already - for many others, it will take time. But the changes driven by human-generated greenhouse gases may be coming on too ...
Climate change to kill off a fifth of world’s lizards: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Global warming could kill off as many as a fifth of the world's lizards by 2080, with potentially devastating consequences for ecosystems around the world, a study released Thursday said. Researchers who conducted a major survey of lizard populations worldwide said in a study published in the May 14th issue of Science that lizards appear to be especially sensitive to the effects of climate change and are dying off at an alarming rate. The loss of the lizard populations could ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change to kill off a fifth of world’s lizards: studyObama to force BP to pay more cleanup costs for Deepwater disaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Guardian: Barack Obama has set out new measures to force BP to pay more of the costs of the cleanup operation for the Deepwater oil rig disaster. BP, which has released the first underwater footage of the spill, told the City this morning that the cost of dealing with it had now hit $450m. The company's eventual bill looks set to rise steeply after the White House proposed scrapping a cap on its liability for the spill. Boosted by a poll that showed the public did not regard this as ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama to force BP to pay more cleanup costs for Deepwater disasterLizards face extinction from global warming – study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Reuters: Lizards are in danger of dying out on a large scale as rising global temperatures force them to spend more time staying cool in the shade and less time tending to basic needs like eating and mating. Scientists warn in a research paper published on Thursday that if the planet continues to heat up at current rates, 20 percent of all lizard species could go extinct by 2080. "The numbers are actually pretty scary," said lead researcher Barry Sinervo from the University of ...
U.S. response to spill frustrates environmentalists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 13th, 2010
Reuters: The U.S. government response to the BP oil spill has frustrated environmental groups and Gulf Coast conservationists, who say they're getting scant information about the disaster's potential ecological effects. "There's a lot of concern now about the marine impact and we're not getting a truly transparent response from NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)," Aaron Viles of the Gulf Restoration Network said on Thursday. Viles acknowledged that this kind of ...