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Archive for November 16th, 2010
Yemenis abandon farms, seek food security in city
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2010
Reuters: As men and women pick corn and roll up the withered stalks in the fields of their tiny village near Sanaa, Humeid al-Masajidi says goodbye to a way of life his family will abandon forever.
"Starting next year there won't be any farmland here. This is the last time this land will be harvested. We've all sold the land," the 35-year-old farmer said, pointing to the fields around the village of Beit al-Masajidi, nestled beneath mountain peaks and dotted with scraggy sheep.
Yemen is grappling with...
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Cockermouth, a year on from the floods
Posted by Guardian: Matthew Connolly on November 16th, 2010
Guardian: Society Communities Cockermouth, a year on from the floods
It is one year since floods devastated the Cumbrian town of Cockermouth. How has the community coped with the aftermath?
Cumbria's the wettest place in England. It's a standing joke, the rain. At least it was. It lashed the county so hard between 18 and 20 November 2009 that bridges collapsed and more than 1,300 homes were flooded. Thousands of people were evacuated, a policeman was swept to his death, and, in Cockermouth, water levels...
Innovative biodiesel plant set for northern Alberta
Posted by Edmonton Journal: Dave Cooper on November 16th, 2010
Edmonton Journal: Northern Alberta is likely to be the site of an innovative plant which will turn non-food-grade canola, and an easy to grow plant called pennycress, into high quality biodiesel.
Alberta’s new green fuel standards call for all diesel sold in the province to contain two per cent biodiesel by next year. But Alberta, which doesn’t produce any that is suitable for cold weather, will have to import the product.
And across the country, only 10 per cent of the demand will be filled by current Canadian...
Colombia: New frogs found in hunt for old
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2010
BBC: A search for frogs believed to be extinct has instead led scientists to discover some new ones.
Three species hitherto unknown to science have been found in Colombia.
They include a poison-secreting rocket frog and two toads. All three are tiny and tend to be most active in daytime, which is unusual for amphibians.
However, the same expedition to Colombia failed to find the species it was hoping to rediscover, the Mesopotamia beaked toad.
The disappointment provoked by that non-discovery...
Climate change is top fear in North: report
Posted by CBC: None Given on November 16th, 2010
CBC: Northern Canadians are more worried about the impacts of climate change on their communities than the risk of terrorist threats, according to a report on Arctic security by the Conference Board of Canada.
The national policy think-tank's Centre for the North surveyed people across the region for the report, Security in Canada's North: Looking Beyond Arctic Sovereignty.
The report, released Monday, said much of the national discussion about Arctic security deals with Arctic sovereignty, offshore...
Preparing for Climate Change in Asia
Posted by Planetsave: Joshua S. Hill on November 16th, 2010
Planetsave: Much has been made about emerging economies like India and China refusing to take a leading role in minimizing the increase in climate change as climate change itself is effectively a result of western industrialized nations. However Asia is still going to have to make changes, regardless of who is backing the endeavor, and a new report lays out some guidelines for ways in which the region can prepare for climate change.
One of the biggest issues at stake is the 50,000 or so glaciers that populate...
Budding research links climate change and earlier flowering plants
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2010
ScienceDaily: According to research published November 16 by a University of Cincinnati faculty member, native plants in southwestern Ohio are flowering significantly earlier, a finding he attributes, at least in part, to global warming.
UC biologist Denis Conover, field service associate professor, has spent countless hours walking the Shaker Trace Wetlands at Miami Whitewater Forest over the last 18 years to survey hundreds of different plant species.
Conover's results, published in the December issue...
Arab nations to suffer most from climate change
Posted by Seek4media: None Given on November 16th, 2010
Seek4media: Environmental scientists say that the Arab nations will suffer most from the ill effects of climate change.
It is already evident as dust storms wreak havoc in Iraq, Yemen and Saudi Arabia are now suffering from floods, Egypt's coast is slowly eroding as sea levels rise.
The Middle East is already experiencing water shortage and dry weather will get even drier within the next years. Scientists are urging Arab nations to act now to avoid potential disaster in the future.
The Arab region has...
Environmental disaster hits eastern Syria
Posted by Reuters: Khaled Yacoub Oweis on November 16th, 2010
Reuters: The ancient Inezi tribe of Syria reared camels in the sandswept lands north of the Euphrates river from the time of the Prophet Mohammad. Now water shortages have consigned that way of life to distant memory.
Drought in the past five years has also killed 85 percent of livestock in eastern Syria, the Inezis' ancestral land.
Up to half a million people have left the region in one of Syria's largest internal migrations since France and Britain carved the country out of the Ottoman Empire in 1920....
India Floods, Droughts to Worsen by 2030, Government Climate Report Says
Posted by Bloomberg: Natalie Obiko Pearson on November 16th, 2010
Bloomberg: India may endure floods 30 percent more severe in magnitude and heightened drought conditions by 2030 due to climate change, which could affect crop yields, damage dams and harm infrastructure, the government said today.
“There is no country in the world that is as vulnerable on so many dimensions to climate change as India is,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in a climate-change report prepared by 220 scientists in the country.
Every India region is expected to see more rainfall by...