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Archive for January 5th, 2011
Rockhampton floods expected to peak today
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2011
Guardian: Queensland residents are braced for floods to rise today as meteorologists confirmed that 2010 was one of Australia's wettest on record.
Water levels in the largest affected community, Rockhampton, are expected to peak today with the swollen Fitzroy river predicted to reach its second-highest level on record. Residents in flooded towns have worked desperately to build sandbag levees in the hope of holding back the rising waters. In Rockhampton, a rise of 20cm would inundate 400 more homes and...
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China faces tough fight against desertification
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Population pressure, drought and climate change have made China the world's biggest victim of desertification and it could take 300 years to reclaim just one-fifth of desert land, state media said on Wednesday.
Overgrazing, excessive land reclamation and inappropriate water use also make it especially difficult to halt deserts from encroaching on large areas of land in the nation's arid north and west, the China Daily reported.
"China is still a country with the largest area of desertified...
Nepal Has 11 Hour Blackouts as Climate Change Dries up its Rivers
Posted by Clean Technica: None Given on January 5th, 2011
Clean Technica: The state-run Nepal Electricity Authority has had to cut power for 11 hours a day beginning this week, because river water levels have dropped dramatically, according to AllHeadlineNews.
With its steep terrain topped by glaciers, Nepal has the greatest hydro power potential in the world, at 84,000 megawatts. To date, only a small portion of that has been developed, 600 megawatts -- enough to serve a small population who live a much less energy-intensive life than people in the US.
But, with...
Northern Ireland Water chief set to resign over crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2011
Guardian: The head of Northern Ireland Water is expected to resign over the mishandling of the water crisis that hit the province over Christmas and the New Year in the wake of freezing temperatures.
A spokesman for the state-owned company said Laurence MacKenzie remained in his £250,000 post. But it is understood he is set to step down; the announcement may come this afternoon at a board meeting on how the situation was handled.
At the height of the crisis tens of thousands of households had their water...
Study: No-till farming reduces greenhouse gas
Posted by Associated Press: Rick Callahan on January 5th, 2011
Associated Press: No-till farming, in which farmers don't plow under their fields between crops, releases far smaller amounts of a potent greenhouse gas into the air than conventional farming, according to a new study that suggests no-till may help combat global warming.
Researchers said the findings also could help farmers make more efficient use of the costly nitrogen-based fertilizers used to spur plant growth by showing them how to keep more of it in the soil.
The three-year, federally funded Purdue University...
China: Spread of deserts has slowed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2011
Associated Press: Beijing says it has made progress in slowing the loss of land to deserts, but warned that it could take hundreds of years to reclaim areas already swallowed by desertification.
The amount of land claimed by deserts and shifting sands has decreased overall between 2005 and 2009. China has lost about 660,000 squares miles of land to deserts, a forestry official said. A little more than a third of that can be reclaimed, but at the current slow rate of progress, "it will take 300 years to restore...
More rain on way as Australia sees third-wettest year on record
Posted by Reuters: James Grubel on January 5th, 2011
Reuters: Australia recorded its third-wettest year on record in 2010 due to a major La Nina weather pattern which is now causing record flooding and set to last another three months.
With summer floods swamping much of the northern Queensland state, the Bureau of Meteorology said the second half of 2010 was the wettest on record, with La Nina conditions firmly established by July. The switch to the intense La Nina occurred quickly, replacing the drought-causing El Nino pattern at the start of 2010.
But...
China may need 300 years to beat desertification
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Huge population pressures, scarce rainfall and climate change have made China the world's biggest victim of desertification, a problem that could take 300 years to reverse, state media said Wednesday.
Overgrazing, excessive land reclamation and inappropriate water use also make it especially difficult to halt deserts from encroaching on large areas of land in the nation's arid north and west, the China Daily reported.
"China is still a country with the largest area of desertified land in the...
Australia floods cause “catastrophic” damage
Posted by Reuters: Daniel Munoz on January 5th, 2011
Reuters: Australia's record floods are causing catastrophic damage to infrastructure in the state of Queensland and have forced 75 percent of its coal mines, which fuel Asia's steel mills, to grind to a halt, Queensland's premier said on Wednesday. The worst flooding in decades has affected an area the size of Germany and France, leaving towns virtual islands in a muddy inland sea, devastated crops, cut major rail and road links to coal ports, slashed exports and forced up world coal prices. "Seventy-five...
Oil, Gas Firms Find It Harder To Drill On U.S. Land
Posted by National Public Radio: Jeff Brady on January 5th, 2011
National Public Radio: Since the Deepwater Horizon accident, the oil industry has complained loudly that the government is dragging its feet in approving new offshore drilling projects. Now the industry says that it's experiencing similar problems in the Rocky Mountains.
There, companies bid for the right to drill for natural gas on federal land. In recent years, environmental groups have found they can slow down the boom-town pace of drilling by challenging those leases, as a way of protecting special places.
It's...