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Archive for August, 2010
Worldwide slowdown in plant carbon uptake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 21st, 2010
ScienceNews: Droughts stifled carbon storage in vegetation in many regions during the last decade, satellite images reveal. Declines in carbon storage from 2000 through 2009 are depicted in shades of red; green denotes increases in vegetation for the same period. Stronger trends are depicted in darker colors.Zhao and Running/University of Montana Deep and extended droughts are responsible for a recent slowdown in the amount of carbon dioxide that land plants pulled from the atmosphere as they ...
Thinking green? It’s not just black and white
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 21st, 2010
Washington Post: Can a big house be green? Yes, but a smaller house will always be greener because fewer resources were used in its construction and less energy is needed to heat and cool it. This critical distinction is little understood by the general public, but in the world of green building, prudent use of resources, also called "sustainability," is a cornerstone. It means using resources to meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. From a ...
Spill bound BP, feds together
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 21st, 2010
AP: For months, the U.S. government talked with a boot-on-the-neck toughness about BP, with the president wondering aloud about whose butt to kick. But privately, it worked hand-in-hand with the oil giant to cap the runaway Gulf well and chose to effectively be the company's banker -- allowing future drilling revenues to potentially be used as collateral for a victim compensation fund. Now, with a new round of investigative hearings set to begin Monday on BP's home turf and the ...
Eyewitness: Food drop for flood victims
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 21st, 2010
Guardian: X
Australia: Oz: a climate change hotspot
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 21st, 2010
New Zealand Herald: Irrigated by one of the world's mightiest river systems, the Murray-Darling Basin yields almost half of Australia's fresh produce. But the basin is ailing and scientists fear that as climate change grips the driest inhabited continent its main food bowl could become a global warming ground zero. The signs are ominous. In the Riverland, one of the nation's major horticulture areas, dying vines and parched lemon trees attest to critical water shortages. Farmers have had their ...
Congo River Journey Ends in Boat Troubles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
NYTimes: Back in Kinshasa, and at last we have some time to relax in the mission where our journey began. It was quite a trip downriver -- our "speed" boat had broken down, so we ended up hitching a tow from a leaky pirogue with an ancient 15-horsepower outboard engine. The journey from Tshumbiri to Kinshasa took a day and a night of solid motoring, and we arrived rather bedraggled but happy to have made it in one piece. But now well rested and re-energized, for the last few days we have been packing ...
Acquiring a Taste for Recycled Water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
Inter Press Service: Many Batswana are quick to recoil at the mere mention of drinking treated wastewater. "As soon as I hear it is treated waste water, my mind will be flooded with the images of the waste water before being treated and I will never drink it," says 25-year-old Chandida Matebu, the look on her face confirming her words. "I would drink if I was not aware that it was treated. But even if it comes bottled and shipped all the way from America, I will not drink. The water would not pass ...
Damaged ecosystems amplify killer floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
Discovery: Climate change may be playing a part in record rains ravaging Asia but environment experts say the destruction of ecosystems is more directly to blame for the severity of killer floods. Widespread deforestation, the conversion of wetlands to farms or urban sprawl and the clogging up of natural drainage systems with garbage are just some of the factors exacerbating the impacts of the floods, they say. "You can't just blame nature... humans have encroached on the natural flood ...
Mont. Homebuilders Win Battle in Long-Running Well War
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
Greenland: While the state environmental agency pledged to revisit the law next year, petitioners whose challenge was rejected expressed doubt the process would quickly yield meaningful changes in the well-permitting law. "It's a huge problem, and people need to wise up," said petitioner Polly Rex, whose property neighbors a 67-home subdivision. The houses are set to be outfitted with individual, permit-exempt wells that she worries will dry up her springs and lower the Stillwater River, where ...
United Kingdom: Heavy rain sparks flash floods in Wales
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2010
Press Association: Firefighters dealt with flash floods today after heavy rain fell on parts of Wales. Forecasters warned of further downpours tomorrow as more wet weather was on the way. Crews were called out in South Wales after heavy rain during the morning. A spokesman for Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: "We have had several incidents of flooding this morning in and around the Swansea and Neath areas. "We have had about 30 flood-related calls that were affecting ...
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