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Archive for January 3rd, 2011
Forest of Dean protesters fight big woodland selloff
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2011
Guardian: There's been nothing quite like it in the ancient Forest of Dean since the last time a Conservative government tried to privatise Britain's largest oak forest.
In 1993, the threat to sell off 42 square miles of woodland between the rivers Severn and Wye in Gloucestershire was only repelled after huge protests by locals and ramblers. At the rally today more than 3,000 people, backed by celebrities, bishops, leading conservationists and politicians, pledged to defend "the people's" trees from what...
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Australia floods: It’s like living in the middle of an ocean
Posted by Telegraph: Bonnie Malkin on January 3rd, 2011
Telegraph: Trisha Hollingworth knew that it was time to evacuate her home on the outskirts of Rockhampton when she awoke to floodwaters lapping at the front steps. She had been told that the water was coming, but the speed with which it arrived took her by surprise. The front garden, where she had celebrated New Year's Eve with a barbecue with her neighbours, was one foot under water by the morning of January 1. Two days later, the rust-coloured water had reached the fifth step of her home, just inches shy...
Globalisation burdens future generations with biological invasions
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 3rd, 2011
Science Centric: A new study on biological invasions based on extensive data of alien species from 10 taxonomic groups and 28 European countries has shown that patterns of established alien species richness are more related to historical levels of socio-economic drivers than to contemporary ones. An international group of 16 researchers reported the new finding this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The publication resulted from the three-year project...
Arkansas Mysteries: Why Did Thousands Of Fish And Birds Suddenly Die?
Posted by National Public Radio: Mark Memmott on January 3rd, 2011
National Public Radio: The news that thousands of red-winged blackbirds fell dead from the sky in Beebe, Ark., on New Year's Eve follows the report that "hundreds of thousands" of fish were found dead in the Arkansas River, near Ozark, Ark., over the weekend.
There's no evidence connecting the two incidents. Beebe is about 40 miles northeast of Little Rock. Ozark is about 125 miles away from Beebe, to the west near the Oklahoma border.
The carcasses are being tested. The thinking as of now is that the birds might...
Australia: Supplies flown into Queensland’s flooded Rockhampton
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2011
BBC: Military aircraft are flying supplies into the Australian city of Rockhampton, where rising flood waters have cut off all but one access route.
Waters have been gradually submerging parts of the city of 77,000.
More than 20 towns in Queensland have been cut off or flooded across an area larger than France and Germany, with more than 200,000 people affected.
Authorities have now confirmed three deaths caused by flood waters in the past few days.
Officials have said that the crisis could...
Electricity-hungry water providers need to get with the power
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2011
Age: Merging water utilities and power companies makes a lot of sense.
As the newly installed Baillieu government grappled with what to do with Victoria's money and energy-devouring reverse osmosis plant at Wonthaggi, Australia's chief scientist, Penny Sackett, was on Lateline talking about her newly released report Challenges at energy-water-carbon intersections. During the interview she expressed doubts as to whether energy, water and carbon budgets were being dealt with holistically around the nation,...
Natural disasters ‘killed 295,000 in 2010’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2011
Agence France-Presse: The Haiti earthquake and floods in Pakistan and China helped make 2010 an exceptional year for natural disasters, killing 295,000 and costing $130 billion, the world's top reinsurer said Monday. "The high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change," said Munich Re in a report. The last time so many people died in natural disasters was in 1983, when 300,000 people...
Better planning for heat waves
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2011
Climate Central: Three Things You Should Know
1) The number of heat waves in the U.S. and around the world has increased, a likely consequence of rising average global temperatures.
2) Heat waves can cause heat-related illnesses and can increase the risk of death.
3) When preparing for a coming heat wave, policy makers should consider different communities' needs and the socioeconomic links between heat waves and deaths, says a new study.
The Debrief
New Yorkers keep cool in a local fountain during...
Battle Heats Up Over Alaskan Petroleum Reserve
Posted by National Public Radio: Jeff Brady on January 3rd, 2011
National Public Radio: The battle over whether oil companies should be allowed to drill in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is nothing new -- but the fight over nearby public land called the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is.
The NPRA is huge -- about the size of Indiana. Originally, it was set aside for the military, then in the 1970s it was reserved for domestic oil production.
Today, there are a few native villages in the NPRA, and about 30 wells have been drilled there -- but it is mostly undisturbed....
Water, water everywhere
Posted by Telegraph: Editorial on January 3rd, 2011
Telegraph: Parts of Australia are enduring the worst floods for decades in a country that until recently was afflicted by a prolonged drought. In Northern Ireland, a corner of the United Kingdom blessed with an abundance of rainfall, thousands of homes have been without water over Christmas after mains pipes burst when a freeze was followed by a rapid thaw. The Australians have spoken of an inundation of "biblical proportions"; the people of Ulster bemoan the "Third World conditions" they are facing. Only when...