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Archive for July 14th, 2010
‘Killer mushroom’ found in China
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
BBC: A tiny mushroom, little known to scientists, is behind some 400 sudden deaths in China, experts say. For 30 years, during the rainy season, scores of villagers in Yunnan province have died suddenly of cardiac arrest. Following a five-year investigation, researchers from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Beijing say they have the culprit. The mushroom, know as Little White, belongs to the Trogia genus and has three toxic amino acids, experts ...
Cambodia: Forest official raises alarm on mine plan
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
Phnom Penh Post: A FORESTRY Administration official said yesterday that a massive titanium mine proposed for Koh Kong province would threaten natural resources and local livelihoods, and vowed to pass on his concerns to Prime Minister Hun Sen. Vann Sophana, in charge of the Forestry Administration`s Coastal Inspectorate, met with villagers in Thma Bang district who stand to be affected by the mine, which the NGO Wildlife Alliance has said would cover 15,000 to 20,000 hectares. On Monday, ...
Vietnam’s Mekong paddies dry up
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The rivers that should nourish his thirsty rice paddies are too salty, and the rains are late this year. Dang Roi does not know if he will be able to salvage anything from this spring's crop. Vietnam is the world's second-biggest rice exporter and the Mekong Delta, where Roi farms, accounts for more than half of its production. But Roi's paddy fields in Ben Tre province are burning up during a drought which meteorologists say is the worst in decades. The dry season ...
Climate change to have major impacts on Western water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
Summit Daily News: Of all the current and future impacts of climate change, threats to water resources may be the most painful in the American West, according to a new report published Monday. "Protecting the lifeline of the West," written by Western Resource Advocates, a Boulder-based environmental law and policy organization, brings together dozens of studies by climate and water experts, detailing the ways in which water, energy and climate are deeply entwined in states like Colorado, Wyoming, Utah ...
Miami’s Seaquarium: No Oil Yet, But Worries Aplenty
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
National Public Radio: The Gulf oil spill is hundreds of miles away, but the Seaquarium -- Miami's 55-year-old home to dancing dolphins and killer whales -- is preparing for the worst. Several times a day, visitors can watch shows starring dolphins, killer whales and sea lions. General manager Andrew Hertz says the Seaquarium's location -- perched on Virginia Key in the middle of Biscayne Bay -- gives it an edge over other aquariums and marine parks like Central Florida's Sea World. "We pull our ...
Response: The CAP is our best hope of protecting biodiversity in the countryside
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
Guardian: The RSPB, alongside a Swedish accordion club and a Danish billiards club, is one of the groups highlighted in your editorial as recipients of payments through the common agricultural policy (CAP) (Rotten but here to stay, 5 July). But while the piece features some of the unusual recipients of CAP money, the real story is what work this money pays for. Some of this is hugely important and helps benefit wildlife and the environment – but often this money is being paid out to landowners ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Response: The CAP is our best hope of protecting biodiversity in the countrysideOil Spill’s Impact on Gulf Seafood Remains Uncertain
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
New York Times: THE oil from the broken well 40 miles off the Louisiana coast keeps getting closer to the plate. Researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi earlier this month found oil droplets in the tiny blue crabs that feed much of the larger sea life in the coastal gulf waters. And in what might be worse news, at least psychologically, oil from the spill has started to creep into Lake Pontchartrain, the sacred seafood pantry of New Orleans. The lake, on the northern edge of New ...
Exclusive: Scientist urges government to address peak phosphate risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
Business Green: Peak oil presents the world with an energy crisis once supplies start to dwindle any time from 2015. But another growing crisis is looming, with potentially devastating consequences for the world's food supply. Phosphorous is an essential nutrient for plant growth, along with nitrogen and potassium. It is a key component in DNA and plays an essential role in plant energy metabolism. Without it, crops would fail, causing the human food chain to collapse. Phosphate production is ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Exclusive: Scientist urges government to address peak phosphate riskGulf of Mexico oil clean-up by the numbers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Below are the most recent figures on the Gulf of Mexico oil clean-up, provided by the US Joint Information Center and BP as they address the worst environmental disaster in US history. COASTLINE POLLUTED: Some 553 miles of Gulf shoreline has been contaminated by oil: 313 miles in Louisiana, 99 miles in Mississippi, 66 miles in Alabama, and 75 miles in Florida. WATERS RESTRICTED: Some 81,181 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters - about one-third of the ...
BP leak puts up to 4.5 million barrels of oil in sea: IEA
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has so far spewed 2.3-4.5 million barrels of crude into the sea, the International Energy agency estimated on Tuesday as BP fought to staunch the flow. The agency also said that it was cutting its estimate of US oil production from the Gulf of Mexico by about 30,000 barrels per day for 2010 and 2011 "because of delays following the Deepwater Horizon (rig) disaster." The IEA, the oil strategy arm of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on BP leak puts up to 4.5 million barrels of oil in sea: IEA