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Archive for June 16th, 2010
NEWSCIENTIST.COM: Zoologger: The biggest living thing with teeth
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2010
New Scientist: Zoologger is our weekly column highlighting extraordinary animals -- and occasionally other organisms -- from around the world. Species: Physeter macrocephalus Habitat: oceans throughout the world, especially where there are lots of big animals to eat In the chill darkness 2 kilometres below the surface of the Southern Ocean, one of nature's greatest battles is being fought. One of the combatants is a kraken -- the largest invertebrate known to exist, a colossal squid, ...
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Gulf Coast welcomes Obama’s pledge to restore land
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2010
Associate Press: After 50 years of watching wetlands created by the fertile Mississippi River turn into open water, Louisiana residents finally got what they'd long awaited: A U.S. president saying he'll fight to save what little is left along their eroding coast. Though details were vague, President Barack Obama's pledge to restore the Gulf Coast's degraded coast line has multibillion-dollar implications for the region's culture and economy and could preserve wildlife endangered by the BP oil spill ...
Freak floods in US predicted by 2009 climate change report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2010
Mongabay: A rash of flash floods has struck the US during this spring: Rhode Island, Tennessee, Arkansas, and most recently Oklahoma have all faced devastating floods that have resulted in the loss of property and in some cases tragic deaths. While flash floods have occurred throughout US history, the number of big floods this year appears abnormal at best, but not unexpected by researchers. Climatologists warned last year that an increase in floods and severe storms is very probable as the world ...
Barack Obama’s pound of flesh: $20bn compensation and no BP dividends
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2010
Guardian: Barack Obama wrung an apology from BP and an agreement for the oil company to make a $20bn down payment into a special compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill today after a four-hour meeting at the White House. The payout is only the start of BP's pain. The White House was insistent that the $20bn (£13.5bn) was not a cap, and the company's chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, announced that BP would not be paying dividends this year. Svanberg's appearance at the White House was ...
Drilling Poses Risk To Pennsylvania Water Supplies
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2010
National Public Radio: Two years ago, Pennsylvania opened the door to a natural gas drilling technique that's caused controversy in some Western states. At the time, environmentalists worried that high-volume hydrofracking could contaminate water supplies, but the state and industry insisted that fracking was safe. Now, after a spate of accidents, Pennsylvania regulators are tightening up the rules governing fracking.
Climate change ‘dangerous for alpine regions’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2010
Asian News International: A new study has suggested that climate change can cause increasing and unpredictable hazard risks in mountainous regions. Researchers from University of Exeter and Austria said that the Alpine glacier loss in 2003 and floods caused by heavy rains in 2005, both due to climate changes, could pose serious dangers to life in the alpine regions. The two events demonstrate what impact events like these, predicted to become more frequent under a changing climate, could have on alpine ...
When Global Warming Comes Calling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2010
Bernama: The global warming is one of the most critical environmental threats of the 21st century. However, climate change is here to stay and the earth will naturally adapt to the change. S. Piarapakaran, a vocal environmental activist explained, the Earth in fact has been exposed to climate change all this while but it was in a slow pace that allowed the earth's inhabitants to adapt to the changes. The current fast rate of change however does not give ample time to both humans ...