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Archive for September 13th, 2010
Arctic fox joins polar bear on new list of Arctic species in danger of extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
Telegraph: The animals have become an icon of the environmental movement, as their numbers reduce with the melting ice caps. But they are not the only ones. A new report by a major US conservation body has warned that other animals are in danger of going extinct as well. Sea ice in the Arctic fell to its lowest level since records began in 2007 and scientists predict the area could be largely ice free in summer within 10 years. The US Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) claim 17 ...
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South Korea: ‘Climate change to cause more freak weather’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
Korea Herald: CLIMATE change was behind the wild weather fluctuations in the first half of this year, the Korean Meteorological Administration said Sunday. This year's spring was cooler than usual. The average temperature in April was 9.9 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1973. There was also less sunshine this spring. The country saw an average total of 176.5 hours sunshine in April, far below the usual 215 hours. In Busan, the city's March sunshine duration was 117.4 hours, the ...
Citizens group cites global warming as catalyst for flooding in SouthCoast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
Herald News: When Mount Hope Avenue was deluged by floodwaters, it wasn`t just bad luck. It was a glimpse of our future in a world changed by global warming, officials with Environment Massachusetts said. "The floods this spring are just a taste of what is to come unless we tackle global warming," said Charles Keller, field associate for the group. "Global warming is making extreme weather events more likely." Environment Massachusetts is a statewide citizens group promoting the importance ...
EPA holding upstate NY hearings on gas drilling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
AP: Hundreds of people on both sides gathered Monday for what are expected to be contentious public hearings on a federal environmental study of a natural gas drilling technique aimed at tapping a rich formation beneath much of the Northeast. Opponents of the process -- hydraulic fracturing, or fracking -- carried signs saying "Kids can't drink gas" and "Protect our water. Stop fracking America." Supporters, including union workers eager for jobs, carried signs that said "Yes to science, ...
Element of BP claims process to be reviewed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
AP: The administrator of the $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill said Monday he might waive the current requirement that wages earned from helping out in the cleanup be subtracted from people's spill claims. Doing so would be a key concession following strong criticism from residents about the claims process. Fund czar Kenneth Feinberg told hundreds of people who packed a convention center in Houma, La., that he is reconsidering that requirement. He said ...
GE asks EPA to let it continue dredge tests in ’11
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
Associated Press: General Electric told federal environmental officials Monday that it should be allowed to finish the test phase of Hudson River dredging next year to collect more data, instead of starting the far larger, second phase of the massive Superfund cleanup. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it wanted to start the second phase of the PCB cleanup next year. In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, GE argued that an independent review panel's findings show that it ...
Australia: Climate change could affect sustainable logging rate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
ABC: A number of conservation groups are calling for an immediate end to the logging of forests in areas with low and intermediate rainfall. This follows the Environmental Protection Authority releasing a report which says declining rainfall from climate change could make logging in some south west forests unsustainable. The WA Forest Alliance's Jess Beckerling says the report confirms the fears that climate change, declining rainfall and a history of unsustainable logging had ...
Russia: Not a food crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
NYT: Russia's misguided decision to ban exports of wheat for the next 12 months has sent a destabilizing shock through agricultural markets, pushing prices of grains to their highest levels since 2007 and 2008, when food shortages sparked rioting around the world. The situation in poor grain-importing countries in Africa is tense. In Mozambique, the government backtracked on its decision to raise bread prices by 30 percent after riots in which more than a dozen people died. Still, the world need ...
Summit Failure on Water, Sanitation Would Be Recipe for Disaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
IPS: A weeklong international conference here has transmitted a strong political message to next week's U.N. summit meeting of world leaders: what good is the fight against poverty, hunger, maternal mortality and child deaths if water and sanitation are not given the high priority they deserve? When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the European Forum last week that the number of hungry people worldwide has risen above a billion "for the first time ever", he also unwittingly turned the ...
Gulf oil spill energizes foes of NY shale drilling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2010
Reuters: Critics of natural gas drilling in New York on Monday urged U.S. regulators to enact tougher regulations, saying the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico proves the industry cannot be trusted. More than 1,600 officials and citizens were due to testify over two days at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stakeholder meeting in Binghamton, in upstate New York. Critics and supporters of drilling turned out to voice their opinions as part of the EPA's two-year study on possible ...