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Archive for July, 2010
Oil 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: IEAACTION ALERT ! India’s Dongria Kondh Sacred Mountain and Tribal Way of Life Threatened by Unwanted British Vedanta Mining
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on July 14th, 2010
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
Vedanta Resources, a British mining company, is set to destroy the forests, wildlife and way of life of the Dongria Kondh people. The Dongria Kondh have been struggling with all their might to protect their mountain but are being overpowered by the financial and political might of this multi-billion dollar company. They have been protesting locally for years, and have appealed for international support for their campaign to keep their sacred Niyamgiri Mountain ecologically and culturally intact.
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW:
http://forests.org/shared/alerts/send.aspx?id=india_mine
The Dongria Kondh are an indigenous tribe who have lived since time immemorial around the mountain Niyamgiri in the Indian state of Orissa. Because they revere this mountain as their god, it has not thus far suffered the deforestation and degradation experienced by similar areas in that part of the world but contains an elephant reserve with Sambar, Leopard, Tiger, Barking Deer, various species of birds and other endangered species of wildlife. However now Vedanta Resources, a British mining company, is set to destroy the forests, wildlife and way of life of the Dongria Kondh people. These local peoples have been vociferously and bravely protesting for years.
Many groups from around the world have been campaigning to ...
Posted in Uncategorized Comments Off on ACTION ALERT ! India’s Dongria Kondh Sacred Mountain and Tribal Way of Life Threatened by Unwanted British Vedanta MiningMercury poisoning, the dark side of Colombia’s gold boom
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Reuters: Colombia's gold bonanza has a dark side, U.N. experts said on Tuesday: mercury poisoning spreading from miners to the population of a northwest state where they use mercury to extract the precious metal, U.N. experts said on Tuesday. Colombia is one of the world's top mercury polluters, as 50 to 100 metric tons of mercury are lost annually in the process of capturing gold while soaring prices push miners and artisans to extract ever more of the yellow metal, analysts say. "As ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mercury poisoning, the dark side of Colombia’s gold boomBiodiversity threat to business is bigger than climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Greenwise Business: Biodiversity threat to business is bigger than climate change Greenwise Staff 13th July 2010 The threat from the decline in biodiversity should be viewed as larger and more urgent to business than climate change. That is one of the conclusions made by professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has contributed to the business perceptions of the risk posed by biodiversity loss to a major UN study launched in London today. PwC analysis shows less than one in ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Biodiversity threat to business is bigger than climate changeBiological bonanza
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
BBC: The scientists found bats, tiny rats and frogs in the Matthews Range The Matthews Range of mountains rises from the arid brown plains of northern Kenya like a green tropical island; its peaks looming above the dusty haze blanketing the otherwise featureless landscape. The flat lands that surround it stretch for almost 100km in any direction, leaving the Matthews blissfully isolated. The isolated mountain range is described as a "sky island" It has been this way ...
Customs seize thousands of dead pangolins
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Guardian: Chinese authorities have intercepted one of the biggest ever hauls of illegally smuggled pangolins, which were almost certainly destined for the dinner table. Customs officials in Guangdong boarded a suspect fishing vessel and seized 2,090 frozen pangolin and 92 cases of the endangered anteater's scales on 5 June, according to the conservation group Traffic, who have commended authorities for their work. Police have arrested the six crew members, including five Chinese ...
U.S. agriculture could be disrupted by climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Inter Press Service: Climate change is expected to disrupt agriculture in the U.S. Midwest, with high carbon dioxide promoting crop growth but stronger storms, drought, floods and migrating yields dampening yields. Overall, there are signs that crops will be stressed, and that weeds and insects will change their range. The Midwest climate has already become wetter and warmer, said Gene Takle, an atmospheric scientist at Iowa State University. That could mean a longer crop-growing season and savings on air ...