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Archive for January 4th, 2011
No clear winner in hydro vs coal power debate
Posted by China Daily: None Given on January 4th, 2011
China Daily: The argument that hydropower construction may contribute more pollution than thermal power plants has stirred controversy among the country's top authorities, reported Chinese media on Sunday.
Ling Jiang, deputy director of the department of pollution prevention and control under the Ministry of Environmental Protection said recently that hydropower was not as clean as people thought and might cause more pollution than thermal power, said a report by China National Radio.
He said the development...
Posted in 
Something fishy in Arkansas
Posted by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Tony Norman on January 4th, 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: If you live in Arkansas and you're not a conspiracy theorist, then you're simply not paying attention.
Things are happening in Arkansas that wouldn't have happened in an episode of "The X-Files" because the writers would have considered it too improbable.
Since September 2010, the town of Guy, Ark., has been rocked by nearly 500 shallow, but very noticeable, earthquakes.
Professional geologists yawn at this because of the many fault lines in the area. In fact, Arkansas experienced an estimated...
United States: Green energy first: New York firm seeks tidal power plant in East River
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2011
Christian Science Monitor: Wind and solar power get the lion’s share of attention in the realm of green energy. But Monday marked a milestone for another renewable energy source, tidal power, with the nation’s first-ever application to build a tidal power plant licensed to transmit energy onto the nation’s electrical grid.
Ocean power surges forward Will Google wind power project harm wildlife? Depends on location.
On US border, a surge in tidal-power projects
Verdant Power, a New York company, filed an application...
: In pictures: Floodwaters inundate Rockhampton
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2011
Guardian: Australia Floodwaters inundate Rockhampton
Queensland city cut off as floodwater hits an area the size of France and Germany, affecting 200,000 people in more than 20 towns and cities
Video: Australia’s floods leave city of Rockhampton cut off
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2011
Guardian: Australia's floods leave city of Rockhampton cut off
Water levels in Queensland continue to rise amid warnings that the flooding may last weeks
Australian floods likely to last weeks, warns Queensland premier
Military helicopters supply food and medicine to city of Rockhampton after floods hit Queensland killing three people
In pictures: Floodwaters inundate Rockhampton
China says will take 300 years to turn back deserts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2011
Reuters: At the current rate of progress it will take 300 years to turn back China's advancing deserts, a senior official said on Tuesday, bemoaning the low level of investment in fighting a serious environmental problem.
Over a quarter of China's land area is covered by desert, or land which is turning into desert in which soil loses its fertility, putting crops and water supplies at risk for the world's second-largest economy.
"The area of land being desertified is enormous, and prevention work most...
Australia: Labor releases carbon farming draft laws
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2011
AAP: The federal government has released draft laws outlining how its carbon offset scheme will work for farmers, forest growers and landholders. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet released the proposed legislation and "methodology guidelines" for the scheme on Tuesday. "While there is still work to be done, the government is making these early drafts available now to give stakeholders more information on how the proposals described in the consultation paper released last November would work in practice,"...
Australia floods force evacuations, recede in coal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2011
Reuters: Floodwaters eased in Australia's major coal mining region on Tuesday to allow some mines to slowly resume production, although most remain idle as devastating floods affect some 200,000 people and force towns to be evacuated.
Floods have submerged or disrupted life across an area the size of France and Germany combined, according to the premier of Queensland state, and more people evacuated their homes on Tuesday as others built moats and sandbag levees to stop waters surging downstream.
The...
Malaysian customs seizes 1,800 trafficked reptiles
Posted by Mongabay: Morgan Erickson-Davis on January 4th, 2011
Mongabay: Malaysia contains an amazing array of plants and animals, including this water monitor. Photo taken in Sabah by Rhett A. Butler
Malaysia ended 2010 with the confiscation of 4.3 metric tons of reptiles near the Thai border on December 20th, reports the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network, TRAFFIC. The confiscation was the largest of the year and consisted of over 1,800 monitor lizards, snakes, freshwater turtles, and tortoises.
All of the species seized are protected under CITES (the Convention...