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Archive for May, 2010
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 ...
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Comments Off on United Kingdom: Garden ponds unwittingly polluted by tap waterCanada: 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 ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: British consumers unwitting users of fuel from tar sands, study saysFlights 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 ...
United States: Denver’s water chief praised as ‘great mind’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 8th, 2010
Associated Press: Denver's vast and powerful water empire, once seen as a Western bully bent on expansion at any cost, was reeling from defeats and beset by rivals when Hamlet "Chips" Barry took over as manager in 1991. Barry, who died May 2 just four weeks away from retiring, guided the city-chartered utility known as Denver Water through a radical transformation. These days, it's viewed more as a collaborator with other districts and environmentalists, an advocate for conservation and a pioneer in ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Denver’s water chief praised as ‘great mind’Canada: Climate change a game changer for Epcor
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 8th, 2010
Edmonton Journal: Where others see drought, Epcor president and CEO Don Lowry senses opportunity. "As time marches on, the scarcity of water will increasingly become an issue, and the requirement to manage it wisely," Lowry said Friday. Speaking to reporters at Epcor's annual meeting in Edmonton, Lowry said water's true value as a precious commodity will become more apparent in coming years and the city-owned company is poised to take advantage at home and abroad. "I look around the rest ...
More than 2M gallons of oil-water mix collected
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 8th, 2010
Associated Press: The Coast Guard says about 2.1 million gallons of an oil-water mix has been collected since a spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP PLC chief operating officer Doug Suttles has said the mix collected is about 10 percent oil and the rest water. The Coast Guard said Saturday that nearly 190 vessels are involved in the cleanup efforts. More than 160 miles of boom to contain the oil has been put out and crews have used nearly 275,000 gallons of chemicals to break up the oil on the ...
Greenland oil rush looms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 8th, 2010
Bloomberg: Cairn Energy is betting $400 million this year on striking oil off Greenland, a campaign that will be closely watched by producers such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron that hold rights off the island. The potential rewards may justify the cost of Arctic drilling: Greenland's waters could hold 50 billion barrels of crude and gas, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates, enough to meet Europe's energy demand for almost two years. More companies are on the way. Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil were ...
Third of all plants and animals face extinction
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 8th, 2010
Times (UK): ANIMAL and plant species are being killed off faster than ever before as human populations surge and people consume more, a United Nations report is expected to say this week. It will warn that the expansion of countries such as China, India and Brazil is adding hugely to the environmental threats already generated by developed western nations, and that a third of species could face extinction this century. The report is one of the starkest issued by the UN and the decision to ...