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Archive for September, 2010
Deep within a French glacier, a melted menace
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 19th, 2010
Washington Post: IN SAINT-GERVAIS, FRANCE From time immemorial, the Tete Rousse Glacier has sparkled majestically on the slopes of Aiguille de Bionnassay, an icy symbol of the Alpine heritage that molded the culture and produced the prosperity of this mountaineering town in the shadow of Mont Blanc. But the glacier, a 20-acre mass lying within a bowl-shaped rock formation at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet, has suddenly turned menacing. Partly because of global warming, a giant pocket of ...
Nile Mystery: Just Whose River Is It?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 19th, 2010
National Public Radio: All great mysteries begin at the end and end at the very beginning. And for thousands of years, the Nile River was perhaps the world's greatest mystery. Anyone can see where it ends, pouring northward through Egypt and into the Mediterranean Sea. But locating the origins of this magnificent river befuddled nearly everybody. Not until the Victorian Age did Western explorers find what had eluded so many. The 19th century explorers who helped solve the mystery of the Nile's source ...
ALERT! Tanzania’s Proposed Serengeti Highway Threatens Greatest Wildlife Migration on Earth
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on September 19th, 2010
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
The government of Tanzania has approved a major commercial highway across Serengeti National Park. The northern Serengeti located near the Kenya border is the most remote and pristine area in the Parks entire ecosystem. Serengeti National Park's locally and globally significant ecosystem is driven by migration of wildebeest, elephant and zebra; and will be utterly devastated by the plan, as will be local livelihoods and well-being. There is a growing local and international support network protesting the project, and together we should be able to ensure it never commences.
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
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Comments Off on ALERT! Tanzania’s Proposed Serengeti Highway Threatens Greatest Wildlife Migration on EarthHouseholders could be charged to water gardens
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2010
Birmingham mail: HOUSEHOLDERS could be charged to water their gardens, under proposals to prevent global warming to be considered by a West Midlands MP. Caroline Spelman (Con, Meriden), the Environment Secretary, is to examine plans to put a water meters in every home. The idea was drawn up by Oxford University academic Lord Krebs, chairman of the Environment department`s adaptation sub-committee, who said the public had to learn that water was not an "infinite resource" and suggested there ...
Mystery bird: Bufflehead, Bucephala albeola
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2010
Guardian: Male bufflehead, Bucephala albeola, photographed at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, Huntington Beach, southern California, USA. This small diving duck, which occasionally pops up in the UK, is also known by a variety of other (mostly cute) common names; little black-and-white duck, bumblebee duck, buffalo-headed duck, butterball, and spirit duck. Question: There are several interesting features about this species' reproductive habits, particularly regarding its nest choice and the ...
Vinci says undeterred by Russian environmentalists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2010
Reuters: France's Vinci, the world's largest construction group, said on Saturday it was undeterred by environmental protesters who forced President Dmitry Medvedev to suspend its $1 billion project in Russia. Vinci is building a 15-km toll section of the road between Moscow and St.Petersburg, a project seen as a litmus test for infrastructure investors since it is the first concession deal involving a major foreign firm. Medvedev in August halted plans for the motorway in the face of ...
Canada: Edmontonians should plan for food and fuel shortages: Expert
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2010
Edmonton Sun: The threat of water, oil and food shortages does not exclude Edmonton, an urban design expert warned city officials Friday. Craig Applegath, a Toronto architect and an expert in urban design, says Edmonton must consider making some drastic changes now to offset water and fuel shortages in the future because of climate change. He suggests planners should build neighbourhoods that are more dense and are more energy efficient. Edmonton`s power plant should also be backed up ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Edmontonians should plan for food and fuel shortages: ExpertProfessor says climate change could make interior Alaska more like midwest Canada
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 17th, 2010
Associated Press: The projected warming of the planet could give Fairbanks the same weather as midwest Canada, according to a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor. Rich Boone, an ecosystem ecologist at the College of Natural Science and Mathematics, used the climate around Saskatoon, Canada, as an example of what might be in store for Alaska's interior, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. Fairbanks faces a roughly 11-degree Fahrenheit temperature increase by 2100 if moderate ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Professor says climate change could make interior Alaska more like midwest CanadaCritics Fault Oil and Gas Pipeline Regulator’s Industry Ties
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 17th, 2010
Greenwire: The top federal regulator of oil and gas pipelines is facing withering criticism for her ties to industry and her agency's floundering response to recent oil-pipeline spills in the Midwest and last week's deadly gas pipeline explosion in California. Cynthia Quarterman, chief of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, is having her work and that of her agency compared with the infamous Minerals Management Service, whose lax oversight of offshore drilling was ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Critics Fault Oil and Gas Pipeline Regulator’s Industry TiesWorld’s Rainforests Act as Rain-Collecting Umbrellas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 17th, 2010
LiveScience: With billions of overlapping leaves, stretching sometimes for hundreds of feet above the ground, the canopies of the world's rainforests act like giant umbrellas - catching rain before it has a chance to reach the forest floor. It turns out that these arboreal umbrellas intercept almost 2 trillion gallons of rain each year, a new study that could improve our understanding of the impacts of climate change finds. That's about 20 percent of the rain that falls from the sky over the ...