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Archive for June, 2010
Plan to pump water into Dead Sea makes environmentalists see red
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2010
Guardian: In a plastic-lined hole in a spit of sand stretching out into the Dead Sea, something is growing in the water. Floating on top of the greenish pool – a mixture of 70% water from the Dead Sea and 30% water from the Red Sea – is a white scum of algae. This is Pool No 9, dated March 2003. Next to it is Pool No 8, with exactly the same proportions of Dead Sea and Red Sea waters, created a year ago. Here the colour of the water is red. No one knows why the two pools are ...
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Comments Off on Plan to pump water into Dead Sea makes environmentalists see redDispute Over Pesticide for California Strawberries Has Implications Beyond State
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2010
New York Times: Even as the sweet strawberry harvest reaches its peak here, a bitter disagreement has erupted between the State Department of Pesticide Regulation and a scientific review committee over the approval of a new chemical, the outcome of which could affect farmers across the country. In a report and in public testimony Thursday before the State Senate Food and Agriculture Committee, members of the review committee said the state's decision to approve the new pesticide, methyl iodide, was ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Dispute Over Pesticide for California Strawberries Has Implications Beyond StateALERT! Protest Madagascar’s Breaking of Moratorium on Illegal Rosewood Log Exports from Protected Rainforests
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on June 20th, 2010
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Despite a recent two year moratorium on further illegal logging [search] and export of precious timber from the protected areas of Madagascar, the government recently approved shipment of nearly $16 million worth of timber stolen from the country's rainforest parks. Post-coup illegal log and wildlife trade continue to threaten Madagacar's biodiversity rich rainforest [search] remnants, ecological sustainability and future potential for national advancement. Let Madagascar's transitional government, shipping industry, and French government know they will be held responsible for these ecological crimes.
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Posted in Uncategorized Comments Off on ALERT! Protest Madagascar’s Breaking of Moratorium on Illegal Rosewood Log Exports from Protected RainforestsWhere Gulf Spill Might Place on the Roll of Disasters
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 19th, 2010
New York Times: From the Oval Office the other night, President Obama called the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced.' Senior people in the government have echoed that language. Four families, with 15 children among them, at an impromptu overnight road camp during the Dust Bowl in Texas. The motive seems clear. The words signal sympathy for the people of the Gulf Coast, an acknowledgment of the magnitude of their struggle. And if this is ...
Wind in the willows ‘ratty’ making a comeback in the UK
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2010
BBC: The critically endangered water vole is showing signs of a comeback, according to a UK survey. Water voles were once common on waterways across the country, but their numbers began to decline in the 1990s and, by 2005, 90% had disappeared. The Environment Agency, which carried out the survey, said this makes it the UK's fastest declining mammal. The agency added that its recovery had been stimulated by an improvement in river water quality. It also cited success ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wind in the willows ‘ratty’ making a comeback in the UKNew Film Investigates ‘Fracking’ For Natural Gas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2010
National Public Radio: IRA FLATOW, host: You're listening to SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. I'm Ira Flatow. What would be your reaction if you opened up your tap for a drink of water and discovered not only was the murky fluid that came out unsafe to drink, but if you held a match to the tap, you could make the rushing water catch fire? That's exactly what happened to people across the country who say they were victims of a process of drilling for natural gas called fracking. Fracking is short for ...
Farmers Push Comeback of ‘Cereal of the Poor’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2010
Inter Press Service: Eshwarappa Banakar has been a farmer most of his adult life, but these days he has also turned banker – banker of seeds, that is, and especially of millet strains. Yet while his is Karnataka's first seed bank to be set up by an individual farmer, it is only one of the signs of the millet's creeping comeback in the agricultural sector of this southern Indian state. The welcome trend is partly due to the efforts of Sahaja Samrudha (Bountiful Nature), an organisation working ...
United States: Chevron vows to pay for Salt Lake City oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2010
Associated Press: Salt Lake City attorneys expect Chevron Corp. will quickly agree to a financial settlement related to last weekend's pipeline spill that dumped 33,000 gallons of crude oil into city waterways, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ralph Becker said Friday. Becker has vowed to make Chevron pay for the cleanup, and the company has repeatedly pledged to cover the city's expenses, as well as damage or reimbursement claims from others. A deal could be announced next week, said Lisa Harrison ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Chevron vows to pay for Salt Lake City oil spillConservationist: Rescuing Birds Puts Many At Risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2010
National Public Radio: Melissa Block talks with Melanie Driscoll, director of Bird Conservation at the National Audubon Society's Louisiana Coastal Initiative, about her efforts to help oil-soaked birds along the Gulf Coast and the dilemmas faced by chasing oiled birds into their habitats.
Federal approval still flowing for flawed Gulf drilling plans
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2010
McClatchy Newspapers: Despite President Barack Obama's promises of better safeguards for offshore drilling, federal regulators continue to approve plans for oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico with minimal or no environmental analysis. The Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service has signed off on at least five new offshore drilling projects since June 2 , when the agency's acting director announced tougher safety regulations for drilling in the Gulf, a McClatchy review of public ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Federal approval still flowing for flawed Gulf drilling plans