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Archive for June 15th, 2010
After an oil calamity, is it time for natural gas?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
Time Magazine: What's the quickest path to achieving a future in which the U.S. is no longer held hostage by foreign oil and carbon emissions are sharply curtailed? The answer might be natural gas, which some experts predict will become the dominant fuel of the 21st century. A big advantage for the U.S. is that 98% of the natural gas it consumes comes from North America, including deep pockets of shale gas found in a corridor running from North Dakota to Georgia. That means natural gas should remain ...
United Kingdom: Protests at plans for biggest reservoir in the South East
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
Telegraph: The reservoir, intended to supply water to London, would cover four square miles - making it the largest area of inland water in the South East. It would be surrounded with 25m high embankments. Thames Water intends to buy 5,000 acres of land to the south west of the village of Abingdon in Oxfordshire using compulsary purchase orders. The land is just seven miles from the Prime Minister's constituency of Witney. Campaigners, including the local Tory MP and Culture minister Ed ...
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Comments Off on United Kingdom: Protests at plans for biggest reservoir in the South EastUNEP, Kenyan government launch fund to save Mau
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation: The government of Kenya in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched a multi million dollar appeal to save the Mau Forests Complex. The appeal aims at mobilizing resources for the rehabilitation of the Mau, the largest closed-canopy forest ecosystem in Kenya covering over 400,000 hectares - the size of Mount Kenya and the Aberdares combined. UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said: "The Mau Complex is of ...
Mekong region needs better irrigation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
Vietnam News: It was time for the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta to build a flexible, multi-functional irrigation system to better respond to socio-economic development and the impact of climate change, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dao Xuan Hoc. The ministry was working towards an overall plan to build a strategic irrigation system in response to the significant negative impacts the increasing tidal range has had on agricultural production in a region that is heavily reliant ...
Rising sea levels to blame for many HCM city floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
Vietnam News: Staying one step ahead of climate change and not avoiding direct confrontation with the phenomenon was one of many adaptation strategies proposed yesterday at a conference in HCM City. The conference identified several approaches, strategies and measures to adapt to climate change as HCM City pursued its development goals, including learning from the experiences of Rotterdam City. Nguyen Thai Lai, deputy minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said the climate change ...
Landslides kill at least 58 in Bangladesh
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
Reuters: Landslides triggered by heavy rain in southeast Bangladesh buried dozens of houses and an army camp on Tuesday, killing at least 58 people, officials said. The landslides hit villages in the Cox's Bazar hill and resort district, where officials said they recorded 25 cm of rainfall in 24 hours to 9 am on Tuesday. "Among the dead were at least six army soldiers camping on a hillside at Himchhari, and four are missing," one senior Cox's Bazar official said. "The death toll ...
Climate change increases hazard risk in alpine regions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
ScienceDaily: Climate change could cause increasing and unpredictable hazard risks in mountainous regions, according to a new study from the University of Exeter and Austrian researchers. The study analyzes the effects of two extreme weather events -- the 2003 heatwave and the 2005 flood -- on the Eastern European Alps. It demonstrates what impact events like these, predicted to become more frequent under a changing climate, could have on alpine regions and what implications these changes might have for ...
The Boom In Boom: Will Oil Spill Defenses Hold?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
National Public Radio: One of the major lines of defense against the encroaching oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico is boom. That's the kind of floating device that can soak up, contain and prevent oil from reaching beaches and delicate marshlands. BP says millions of feet of boom have been deployed since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in April. But a number of local officials are questioning whether boom works -- especially in a spill as large as this one. Cleanup experts say the two main types ...
Lake Michigan climate change studied
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
United Press International: A robotic submarine is being deployed in Lake Michigan, along with other specialized tools, to determine how young fish might cope with future climate change. Purdue University scientists say they are correlating larval fish growth with various factors, including water temperatures near the lakeshore, where wind patterns might be altered by climate change and threaten fish populations. "These larval fish are very vulnerable because they are not fully developed and cannot swim ...
Wildlife-rich river threatened by sand-dredging in Borneo
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2010
Mongabay: The Kinabatangan River in Malaysian state of Sabah is home to a fabulous wealth of species, including orangutans, proboscis monkeys, and a sizeable population of the world's smallest elephant, the Borneo pygmy elephant. While local politicians have stated numerous times that the ecology of the river will be protected, locals are reporting a number of legally sanctioned sang dredging operations on the river. Dredging can affect river flows, negatively impact wildlife, and release toxins from ...
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