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Archive for January 9th, 2011
How much do you affect the ecosystem?
Posted by Star Tribune: Josephine Marcotty on January 9th, 2011
Star Tribune: The human race -- you -- has become the dominant force of change on the planet. What you eat, how much you drive and even whether you pick up after your dog affects the ecosystem in your neighborhood and around the Earth.
Now, what would it take to get you to change?
An in-depth survey of 3,000 households in Ramsey and Anoka counties is providing environmental researchers at the University of Minnesota insight into just that question.
It turns out that most people really do care about their...
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Arable land remains fallow due to climate change: Study
Posted by Financial Express: None Given on January 9th, 2011
Financial Express: About 30-50 per cent of cultivable land in the country's coastal region remains fallow in rabi and Kharif-I seasons due to climate change, according to a recent study, reports UNB.
The study pinpointed the main reasons as soil wetness, water stagnancy, tidal surges, drought and increased salinity triggered by climate change as well as expansion of shrimp culture, poultry farm and brick field.
M Muslem Uddin Miah of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) carried out the study with...
Canada: Harper’s embrace of “ethical” oil sands reignites “dirty” arguments
Posted by Globe and Mail: Steven Chase on January 9th, 2011
Globe and Mail: Stephen Harper is embracing the notion that Canada's controversial oil sands are an "ethical' source of energy, strengthening his support of the maligned resource and kicking off a new chapter in the debate over what critics call "dirty oil.'
The Prime Minister told reporters Friday that his government wants to "explain to the world' that petroleum from Western Canada's oil sands is superior in respects to crude from other countries.
"The oil sands are a very important resource for our country,...
Australia: Climate change ‘long drought’
Posted by Australian: Sid Maher on January 9th, 2011
Australian: THE term "climate change" could be replaced by "climate challenges" if a federal commissioned marketing study is taken onboard.
The study of attitudes to climate change among farmers, commissioned by the Agriculture Department, found only 27 per cent of those surveyed believed human activity was causing climate change, compared with 58 per cent of urban dwellers.
As well, primary producers are "very resistant to carbon trading". "It fills them with dread, and there were strong negative reactions...
Glacier shrinkage will hit European Alps hardest, study claims
Posted by Guardian: Sylvia Rowley on January 9th, 2011
Guardian: Glaciers in the European Alps could shrink by 75% by the end of the century, according to new research into the expected impact of global warming.
The study, published in the journal Nature: Geoscience, concludes that, globally, mountain glaciers and ice caps are projected to lose 15-27% of their volume by 2100, although the extent of the damage varies widely. The analysis suggests glaciers in the Alps and New Zealand will shrink by more than 70% but shrinkage is predicted to reach about 10% in...
Canadian study sees global warming for centuries
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 9th, 2011
Reuters: Carbon dioxide already emitted into the atmosphere will keep contributing to global warming for centuries, eventually causing a huge Antarctic ice sheet to collapse and lift sea levels, Canadian scientists said on Sunday.
Even the complete abandonment of fossil fuels and halt to emissions cannot prevent devastating ocean warming in Antarctica as well as increasing desertification in North Africa, the research finds.
Even so, many of the negative consequences in the Northern Hemisphere, such...
Alaska pipeline shut down after leak discovered
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 9th, 2011
Reuters: The Trans Alaska Pipeline shut down on Saturday after a leak was discovered at the intake pump station at Prudhoe Bay, constricting supply in one of the United States' key oil arteries.
Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the operator of the 800-mile (1,280 kilometre) line which runs from the Prudhoe Bay oilfield to the tanker port of Valdez, said the leak was discovered Saturday morning. Oil producers are in the process of cutting output to 5 percent of the normal rate of around 630,000 barrels per...