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Archive for October 1st, 2010
Pakistan floods give US military chance to repair its image
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Guardian: The Chinook helicopters, travelling in pairs, swooped and curled between the lush valley walls of the Hindu Kush. The aftermath of Pakistan's epic flood scrolled underneath: torn bridges, crushed houses, entire fields swept away by the racing waters. Inside the helicopters about 70 highland peasants, mostly fathers and their sons, gripping one another in terror and wonderment. Some poked fingers in their ears against the deafening engine roar; others peered out of the open hatch, ...
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Swat valley after the floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Guardian: X
Death toll rises as storm lashes eastern U.S
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Reuters: Tropical storm Nicole lashed the eastern United States with heavy rain and high winds again on Friday, causing more flooding and leaving one Pennsylvania woman dead in a weather-related traffic accident. The woman drove her car into a rain-swollen creek, bringing the U.S. death toll from the storm to at least six, after five people were killed earlier this week in North Carolina. The governor of North Carolina declared a state of emergency, with officials there warning that ...
Plants That Move: How A New Zealand Species Disperses Seeds In A High Alpine, Wet Environment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
redOrbit: High in an alpine meadow, Gesine Pufal, from the University of Wellington, New Zealand, crouched low to the ground and splashed some water from her water bottle on a low green plant cushion, then sat back waiting to see if something would move. Sound crazy? Many hikers passing by her may have thought so, but Pufal was trying to find potential plant species that possess a type of plant movement called hygrochasy. Although the ability to move is typically thought to be a characteristic ...
Remnants of tropical storm Nicole wallop East Coast with huge rainfall
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: Homeowners from North Carolina to Vermont will spend the weekend cleaning up from the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole, which dumped rain-forest quantities of precipitation on their communities over several days. Some of the eye-popping totals include 22.5 inches of rain in five days in Wilmington, N.C., 10.5 inches of rain in 24 hours in Moscow, Pa., and 9.5 inches of rain in Jim Thorpe, Pa., in the same time period. The heavy rain began even before Nicole swept inland from the ...
Osama Bin Laden in climate change warning
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Australian: OSAMA bin Laden has expressed concern about global climate change and flooding in Pakistan. The remarks came in an audiotape aired on the internet, his first public remarks since March. "The number of victims caused by climate change is very big . . . bigger than the victims of wars," said the voice, whose authenticity could not be immediately verified and was made available by SITE Intelligence Group last night. The tape - the first time bin Laden has spoken publicly ...
North America’s risky race to exploit oil sands and shales
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Yale Environment 360: The most direct path to America's newest big oil and gas fields is U.S. Highway 12, two lanes of blacktop that unfold from Grays Harbor in Washington State and head east across the top of the country to Detroit. The 2,500-mile route has quickly become an essential supply line for the energy industry. With astonishing speed, U.S. oil companies, Canadian pipeline builders, and investors from all over the globe are spending huge sums in an economically promising and ecologically risky ...
Floods: UK to train experts from India, Pakistan
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Press Trust of India: The University of Edinburgh in the UK is launching an initiative to provide research opportunities and training for experts from India and Pakistan to develop skills and knowledge needed to reduce the impact of floods and other events linked to climate change. The university''s Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme will aim to address challenges including the impact changes in monsoon patterns are having on the rural poor, through research into solutions such as ...
United Kingdom: Inland waterways under threat from spending cuts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Guardian: Canals and towpaths will close, rivers could become unnavigable and tunnels could collapse if the government imposes 25% cuts as expected on Britain's inland waterway network, say the independent authors of a two-year study published today. The bleak warning from the Inland waterway advisory council (IWAC) says Britain's unique 5,000km long system of pre-Victorian canals and navigable rivers, which includes the Norfolk broads and much of the river Thames, is already financially ...
Population 4x More Important Than Climate Change on Water Shortage
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 1st, 2010
Treehugger: We're well aware of the fact that humans have a significant impact on water supplies -- from groundwater pumping to altering the course and flow of the world's rivers, we are no small player in how much fresh water exists on the planet. However, would we ever have guessed that we were four times more significant than climate change on water supplies? A new report shows that we really need to focus far more on humans than warming temperatures if we want to avoid major water conflicts in the ...