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Archive for November 12th, 2010
Analysis: Storms damage budgets in Central America, Mexico
Posted by Reuters: Patrick Rucker and Mica Rosenberg on November 12th, 2010
Reuters: Heavy rains and storms this year have left Mexico and Central America with hundreds of millions of dollars in repair bills, a trend officials expect to be a perennial strain on budgets as climate change sets in.
The unusually fierce hurricane season, which brought 19 major storms through the region, left local governments scrambling to find the money to rebuild roads, bridges and homes, forcing them to rethink tax cuts or seek outside aid.
Climate change models show the situation will only...
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Climate change could devastate winter tourism, speakers warn
Posted by Adirondack Daily Enterprise: Mike Lynch on November 12th, 2010
Adirondack Daily Enterprise: Standing up at the end of Wintergreen, a climate change forum, Finnish guest Mikko Myllykoski unveiled two imitation snowballs that he promptly tossed into the audience of about 80 people at Whiteface Mountain Ski Center Friday.
"I brought you two snowballs from Finland," Myllykoski said to the crowd seated in Whiteface's New York Ski Education Foundation building. He then encouraged the crowd to squeeze the fake snowballs, which crunched like snow when gripped tightly.
"They only feel nice...
UN develops guide on appropriate crops for African farmers
Posted by Ghana News Agency: None Given on November 12th, 2010
Ghana News Agency: Farmers in 43 African countries can now consult a "quick reference calendar" developed by the United Nations Agriculture Agency for advice on the most appropriate crops to plant, based on climatic conditions and soil types in the areas where they live and other factors.
The web-based tool, developed by experts in the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), covers more than 130 crops from beans to beetroot, to wheat and watermelon.
A statement issued in Accra on Friday by the United Nations...
Water Deals Heighten Concern for Farms
Posted by NYT: Felicity Barringer on November 12th, 2010
NYT: The Scissor Ridge region of the Tejon Ranch in Southern California, which environmentalists fought successfully to have preserved. Elsewhere on the ranch, developers are to build a planned community of 23,000 homes, raising the perennial issue of adequate water supplies.
Two farmers in California`s San Joaquin Valley are proposing to do with their water what farmers around the country have done for decades: sell it to developers.
The farmers pay a maximum of $500 per acre-foot of water from...
Drought in the Amazon, Up Close and Personal
Posted by NYT: Nigel Pitman on November 12th, 2010
NYT: Alvaro del Campo Choked by a long drought, rivers throughout the Amazon rainforest are at historically low levels.
You can learn a lot muddling around a forest in the middle of nowhere, but you also learn a lot once you`re back in the city catching up on your e-mail.
In the field we worried about why it was raining so little. Back in Iquitos, Peru, we discovered that our field work had coincided with the worst drought ever recorded in the Amazon basin. Reading the previous two-and-a-half weeks...
United States: Aleutian towns on track for renewable energy
Posted by Aleutian: Rose Cox on November 12th, 2010
Aleutian: A well drilled to explore for geothermal energy this summer in Akutan produced water of 359 degrees Fahrenheit just a few hundred feet below the surface. The City of Akutan will now move to the production drilling phase of the project, with a plan to develop a 10- to 12-megawatt power system to displace diesel fuel now used for heating. (Courtesy Photo, Aleutians East Borough)
A group of Aleutian entities met to explore reducing use of fossil fuels in communities along the Aleutian Chain at an...
Cholera fears in Benin’s flooded city of Cotonou
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 12th, 2010
BBC: Benin has not experienced such severe flooding for 47 years - when the rising waters were blamed on the traditional voodoo deities that many people in this small West African nation still worship.
Some 680,000 people have been affected by the floods - and more than a quarter of the country has been under water since mid-September.
"I have never seen a thing like this in my life," says school teacher Amedokpo Luis, who has taken refugee with his family in a small room in
His house was flooded...
Leaking underground CO2 storage could contaminate drinking water
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on November 12th, 2010
Science Centric: Leaks from carbon dioxide injected deep underground to help fight climate change could bubble up into drinking water aquifers near the surface, driving up levels of contaminants in the water tenfold or more in some places, according to a study by Duke University scientists.
Based on a year-long analysis of core samples from four drinking water aquifers, 'We found the potential for contamination is real, but there are ways to avoid or reduce the risk,' says Robert B. Jackson, Nicholas Professor...
Beijing to melt snow to address water shortage
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 12th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Beijing will collect and melt snow this winter in a bid to quench the water shortage that has plagued the Chinese capital for years, state media reported Friday.
Two vehicles with high-powered heaters capable of processing around 100 cubic metres (3,500 cubic feet) of snow and ice an hour will be sent to locations around Tiananmen Square, the Global Times said.
Clean snow will also be dumped into dammed sections in three rivers that drift through the city to be used for road cleaning, irrigation...
‘Breakthrough’ study in coastal river and sea flooding
Posted by Corn Wall: None Given on November 12th, 2010
Corn Wall: Experts hail 'breakthrough' university study in coastal river and sea flooding
The threat of flooding in coastal areas could be dramatically reduced by a new discovery.
Scientists at the University of Plymouth have analysed the way waves hit different types of beach materials, finding some surfaces respond differently in dissipating the strength of the sea.
They believe the findings from the three-year study could provide a breakthrough in protecting coastal towns from severe damage in the...