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Archive for December 16th, 2010
Government pushes solar power in six western states
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 16th, 2010
Reuters: The Obama administration on Thursday proposed special energy zones on public lands in six western states deemed good locations to build utility-scale facilities to produce electricity from solar power.
The Interior Department issued a draft environmental impact statement that looked at the effect of solar energy projects able to generate 20 megawatts of power in areas that have the highest solar potential and will do the least harm to the environment.
"As stewards of our public lands, we must...
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Climate change worse for Southeast Asia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 16th, 2010
United Press International: Southeast Asia will be the region hardest hit by climate change by 2030, an Australian government official said.
A decline in water flows from Himalayan glaciers due to climate change would trigger a ''cascade of economic, social and political consequences," warned Heather Smith, deputy director of Australia's Office of National Assessments, the country's top intelligence agency.
Smith's assessment was part of a confidential conversation on the national security implications of climate change...
Berms To Block Oil A Giant Waste, Gulf Panel Finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 16th, 2010
Associated Press: The big set of sand barriers erected by Louisiana's governor to protect the coastline at the height of the Gulf oil spill was criticized by a presidential commission Thursday as a colossal, $200 million waste of BP's money so far.
Hardly any oil ever reached the berms, government documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, who pushed the venture over the objections of scientists and federal agencies, has strongly defended it. And despite the commission's scathing report,...
Climate Change Threatens Heat-Intolerant Species
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 16th, 2010
Voice of America: Scientists are exploring the earth's ancient past for clues to how species today might respond to a warming climate and a landscape that's breaking apart.
Results of the new study suggest many species will be lost as conditions worsen - and the species which will disappear first are those that are intolerant of northern heat.
University of Michigan ecologist Johannes Foufopoulos looked at conditions in Greece 15,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age, when scores of islands formed.
"They...
CU-Boulder: Climate change may elevate zinc in waterways
Posted by Daily Camera: None Given on December 16th, 2010
Daily Camera: Rising concentrations of zinc in a waterway on Colorado's Western Slope may be the result of climate change that is affecting the timing of annual snowmelt, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The study focused on the Snake River watershed just west of the Continental Divide near Keystone, where CU researchers have observed a four-fold increase in dissolved zinc over the last 30 years during the lowest water flow months, said Caitlin Crouch.
Crouch, a master's...
Almost no oil recovered from sand berms
Posted by Associated Press: Cain Burdeau and Harry R. Weber on December 16th, 2010
Associated Press: The big set of sand barriers erected by Louisiana's governor to protect the coastline at the height of the Gulf oil spill is being criticized by a presidential commission as a colossal, $200 million waste of money so far.
Hardly any oil ever reached the berms, government documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, who pushed the venture over the objections of scientists and federal agencies, is defending it. And despite the commission's scathing report, he plans to move...
Elevated zinc concentrations in Colorado waterway likely a result of climate change
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on December 16th, 2010
Science Centric: Rising concentrations of zinc in a waterway on Colorado's Western Slope may be the result of climate change that is affecting the timing of annual snowmelt, says a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The study focused on the Snake River watershed just west of the Continental Divide near Keystone, Colo., where CU-Boulder researchers have observed a four-fold increase in dissolved zinc over the last 30 years during the lowest water flow months, said Caitlin Crouch. Crouch, a...
Conservationists explore relationship between religion and the environment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 16th, 2010
ScienceDaily: Ethical and practical support for biodiversity conservation may be found within the great religions such as Islam, or within the beliefs and traditional cultural practices of even the smallest community.
However, in order to measure and understand the potential impact of conservation ethics in religion and local culture, Stuart Harrop, Professor of Wildlife Management Law and Director of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent, has embarked on several...
Satellites give an eagle eye on thunderstorms
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on December 16th, 2010
Science Centric: It's one of the more frustrating parts of summer. You check the weather forecast, see nothing dramatic, and go hiking or biking. Then, four hours later, a thunderstorm appears out of nowhere and ruins your afternoon.
Thunderstorms can bring intense rain, hail, lightning and even tornadoes, but 'predicting them a few hours out is one of the great problems of meteorology,' says Chian-Yi Liu, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And the consequences can be more serious...
Eastern Arctic warming trend alarms scientists
Posted by Nunatsiaq Online: Jane George on December 16th, 2010
Nunatsiaq Online: You might think of scientists as calm and cool.
But the first three presenters during the opening session of the three-day ArcticNet conference in Ottawa sounded alarmed by the increasingly visible signs of Arctic warming and the limited amount of money that Canada will spend to understand what`s happening.
Ice has cracked up -- once in a while taking Nunavut hunters with it. Lakes continue to dry up, while permafrost melts and the tundra is greening, 650 scientists, officials and northerners...