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Archive for October 13th, 2010
Climate Change, Deforestation and Corruption Combine to Drown a Region
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
ClimateWire: "I think, after terrorism, the biggest threat we have is the environmental decay." Tariq Yousafzai, a water and environmental engineer with detailed knowledge of his country's water infrastructure, sees evidence of climate change in the flood disaster that inundated one-fifth of his country. But a more immediate concern of his is the massive deforestation that has silted up the waterways and left Pakistan more vulnerable to storms than ever. The scene at this reservoir created ...
Posted in 
: After the Deluge, Blackouts Spread
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
ClimateWire: The devastating floods that swept the whole of this nation damaged or destroyed hundreds of bridges and knocked out several miles of key highways. Much of the nation's cotton and wheat harvest was devastated. Less appreciated, however, is the severe blow the flooding dealt to Pakistan's electricity supply. "The power sector in Pakistan was very heavily damaged," said Mehfooz Qazi, a deputy engineering adviser on the power sector at the Ministry of Water and Power. "The majority ...
The clean up of the River Thames
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Telegraph: Standing statue still on the shoreline, the heron is almost impossible to spot against the reeds behind it. Only once our boat draws near does the bird stir, flapping its broad, grey wings to lift itself into the air. Other smaller birds dart across the skyline before settling in the water while there is the occasional plop as a fish breaks the surface. It is an idyllic riverside scene that is found in many places through out the English countryside. The difference on this occasion is ...
The night the river roared in ‘like a demon.’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Climate Wire: The first in a four-part series on Pakistan's flood disaster. "Allah was angry with us when the rain came." Sumaira Bibi unhesitatingly leans on theology to explain what happened here on the night of July 29, when her world was drowned. Her husband was out of town for work. The 37-year-old mother was left with her five children and sister-in-law to settle in for the night. Then the incessant rain began to swamp this city in northwestern Pakistan, about 50 miles from the ...
Wanted: A new planet by 2030
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Business Green: The ever-increasing demand for natural resources means that by 2030 we will need two Earths to meet the needs of the global economy, according to the latest version of WWF's flagship biodiversity study published today. The biennial Living Planet Report is based on the campaign group's Living Planet Index, which measures the current state of biodiversity, and its ecological footprint assessment, which analyses humankind's impact on the natural world. The latest version of the ...
World must tackle water-shortage threat: Adviser
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Reuters: Water shortages will be the world's most pressing problem in the next decade, compounded by a growing global population, Britain's chief scientist John Beddington said on Tuesday. Climate change is forecast to disrupt rainfall patterns, leading to more severe droughts and floods, posing problems for the supply of fresh water. The world's population of about 6.6 billion is forecast to rise by 2.5 billion by 2050, while growing wealth and urbanization is fuelling demand for ...
WWF Living Planet map of ecological footprints worldwide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Guardian: A global map of the relative ecological footprint per person in 2007. The darker the colour, the higher the footprint * Western lifestyles plundering Earth's tropics at record rate, WWF report shows
Western lifestyles plundering tropics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Guardian: Living Planet report shows planet's resources are being used at 1.5 times the rate nature can replace them – but long-term decline of animal life appears to have been halted * WWF Living Planet map of ecological footprints worldwide * Join our campaign to tackle the global diodiversity crisis The Earth's population is using the equivalent of 1.5 planets' worth of natural resources, but the long-term decline of animal life appears to have been halted, a WWF report ...
Clean ponds are the first step to improving UK water quality
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Guardian: I've lost count of the number of times in the last five years that I've come across news items about alien water plants. Every time I do, my heart sinks a little. This week, for example, the government put out a call to help fight the weeds that are taking over our waterways. I don't want to decry efforts to eradicate alien plants but, from a biodiversity perspective, aliens are a small concern compared with the all-pervasive damage from water pollution. From my work with ...
Living Planet: The world is not enough
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2010
Independent: Wildlife in the tropics, especially in poorer countries, is rapidly disappearing as human demands on natural resources soar beyond what the Earth can sustain, a new report reveals. In an authoritative and ominous warning, the 2010 Living Planet Report of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the definitive survey on the state of the planet's health, signals that that tropical ecosystems are being degraded and tropical species are declining at an increasingly rapid rate, with the ...