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Archive for August 20th, 2010
Should Science Take Sides In The Gulf?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
NPR: Some scientists say they're being locked out of research on the oil spill because they refuse to sign confidentiality agreements. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the problems of doing scientific research when a lawsuit is pending. Is there a way to keep science independent?
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Pakistan: Flood Disaster May Require Largest Aid Effort in Modern History
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
NYT: One of the largest humanitarian relief efforts ever attempted is now mobilizing to help Pakistan cope with what its government and U.N. agencies are calling the worst natural disaster in modern memory. The death toll is much smaller than in past disasters: About 1,600 are believed dead so far. But experts say initial assessments show the scale of damage and human suffering left by torrential monsoon rains over the past three weeks dwarfs the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2005 Kashmir ...
In the Atlantic, Tiny Plastic Debris
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
NYT: Global production and disposal of plastics of all kinds has grown roughly five-fold since the early 1980`s, but that increase is not reflected in the amount of plastic debris found in the western North Atlantic, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science. Giora Proskurowski Plastic pieces collected in a surface plankton net tow. Pieces are typically millimeter-size fragments of once-larger items. Dragging plankton nets across the ocean surface, researchers ...
‘Virtual Shellfish’ Aid In Studying Oil’s Effects
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
NPR: More than 4 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from the well drilled by the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, and though some of that oil has now disappeared, scientists are trying to figure out what the remaining oil is doing to marine life. A damage assessment for a place the size of the Gulf is a huge and complicated job, but out of sight does not mean out of mind. Researchers at Mote Marine Lab have developed a "virtual shellfish" -- a device that captures ...
Canada: RBS faces wrath of climate activists
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on August 20th, 2010
Independent (UK): Climate change protesters set up camp close to the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters yesterday, accusing the state-owned bank of using taxpayers' money to finance the fossil fuel industry. Activists expect up to a thousand protesters to join the camp just outside Edinburgh ahead of a planned day of mass action against RBS on Monday. A spokeswoman for RBS said it was in the vanguard of lending to renewable energy projects. "As a major international bank we provide ...
Major study charts long-lasting oil plume in Gulf
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
AP: A 22-mile-long invisible mist of oil is meandering far below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, where it will probably loiter for months or more, scientists reported Thursday in the first conclusive evidence of an underwater plume from the BP spill. The most worrisome part is the slow pace at which the oil is breaking down in the cold, 40-degree water, making it a long-lasting but unseen threat to vulnerable marine life, experts said. Earlier this month, top federal officials ...
United Kingdom: Climate change campaigners turn up the heat on RBS chiefs
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
Herald Scotland: Climate change protesters will today step up a mass campaign outside the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters as hundreds more activists pour into the site near Edinburgh. As many as 400 people are now camping on the bank`s campus at Gogarburn, and organisers promise to disrupt "business as usual" for RBS in the days ahead. The activists behind the Camp for Climate Action accuse the state-owned bank of funding "the most environmentally damaging project in the world" through its ...