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Archive for October 6th, 2010
Hungarians Raced to Escape Caustic Sludge
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
New York Times: Just before he raced for refuge in the attic of his family's home here on Monday at lunchtime, Krisztian Holczer called his mother at her job at a school near here. "You won't believe what is happening," Mr. Holczer said he told her. A wave of caustic red sludge had just poured in over the back fence and was descending rapidly over the backyard, smothering chickens and hares as well as a garden of flowers, peppers, grapes and tomatoes. It rose up until it covered the tiled ...
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Dracula fish, bald bird among strange new species
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
AFP: Dracula fish, a bald songbird and a seven-metre (23 feet) tall carnivorous plant are among several unusual new species found in the Greater Mekong region last year, researchers said Wednesday. Other new finds among the 145 new species include a frog that sounds like a cricket and a "sucker fish", which uses its body to stick to rocks in fast flowing waters to move upstream, according to conservation group WWF. With fangs at the front of each jaw, the "dracula minnow" is one of ...
Scientists say climate change partially to blame for increase in rain events
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
Wausau Daily Herald: Rain and flooding that wreaked havoc on central Wisconsin in September could become more common because of global climate change, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers. More than 3.5 inches of rain fell on the Wausau area between Sept. 22 and Sept. 24. Storms that severe have occurred an average of two to four times per decade since 1950, said Steve Vavrus, a senior scientist at the UW-Madison Center for Climatic Research. But Vavrus said they are projected ...
Canada: Stop pursuing ‘fool’s gold’ in the oilsands:NASA scientist
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
Edmonton Journal: Expansion of Alberta's oilsands mining operations must be avoided if the world is going to dodge the disastrous effects of climate change in future, says one of the world's leading climate scientists. James Hansen, of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, travelled from New York to to appear Tuesday at the Energy Resources Conservation Board hearing into the proposed Total Joslyn North Mine, an open pit mine slated to produce 100,000 barrels a day. The Joslyn project is ...
A rise in river flows raises alarm
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
LA Times: The volume of fresh water pouring from the world's rivers has risen rapidly since 1994, in what researchers say is further evidence of global warming. The study, led by a team at UC Irvine, is the first to estimate global fresh-water flow into the world's oceans using observations from new satellite technology rather than through computer or hydrological models. Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study found that annual fresh-water flow ...
Bat resembling Star Wars’ Yoda discovered in Papua New Guinea rainforest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
Daily Mail: A tube-nosed fruit bat with an appearance reminiscent of the Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda has been discovered in a remote rainforest. The bat, along with an orange spider and a yellow-spotted frog are among a host of new species found in a region of Papua New Guinea. More than 200 animals and plants were revealed for the first time after two months of surveying in the rugged and little-explored Nakanai and Muller mountain ranges last year. A nyctimene tube-nosed fruit bat ...
Panel: White House Blocked Worst-Case Oil Figures
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
National Public Radio: The federal commission investigating the BP oil spill has released a draft report that is highly critical of the Obama administration's response to the spill. As NPR's Ari Shapiro tells Robert Siegel, the commission says the White House blocked worst-case oil flow estimates from becoming public.
Hungary toxic sludge heading towards the Danube
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
Guardian: Rivers and lakes in 12 European countries are in danger of being contaminated as toxic sludge from a factory in Hungary heads towards the Danube, EU officials said today. "This is a serious environmental problem," said Joe Hennon, a spokesman for the EU. "We are concerned, not just for the environment in Hungary, but this could potentially cross borders." Emergency workers have poured 1,000 tonnes of plaster into the Marcal river to try to bind the sludge that burst from a ...
Panel Blasts Government On Gulf Oil Spill Response
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2010
National Public Radio: A preliminary report released Wednesday by the federal commission investigating the BP oil spill blames the Obama administration for misrepresenting "the amount and fate of the oil" in the Gulf of Mexico. "By initially underestimating the amount of oil flow and then, at the end of the summer, appearing to underestimate the amount of oil remaining in the Gulf," the report says, "the federal government created the impression that it was either not fully competent to handle the spill or ...
ALERT! Encourage Gunns to Keep Promise to End Tasmanian Native Forest Logging & Urge Australia to End Such Logging Nationwide Now
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on October 6th, 2010
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
The announcement by Gunns Ltd. pulp and logging company of Tasmania, Australia [search] that they will discontinue their involvement with primary native forest logging in Tasmania is wonderful progress. Yet Gunns has not immediately done so and logging continues in the Huon Valley. Nor should Gunns have illusions that a paper and pulp mill industry based upon toxic chlorine-bleaching, plantation monocrops [search] and ocean dumping will be acceptable. If Gunns does in fact keep and implement its promise (a big if, given their record), a global precedent has been set that old-growth native forest logging is finished. The new Australia government must follow-up by announcing an end to all old-growth native forest logging, and to promote forest and job restoration areas.