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Archive for February 23rd, 2011
Revealed: the cost of electricity from coal
Posted by West Cape News: None Given on February 23rd, 2011
West Cape News: The hidden costs of generating electricity from coal have been calculated in groundbreaking research by Harvard Medical School`s Centre for Health and Global Environment.The results of the study Full Cost Accounting for the Life Cycle of Coal released this week by co-author Dr Paul Epstein in Boston reveal that the health, environmental and other costs of using coal costs the United States are 500 billion dollars per year.
The study tracks the multiple health, environmental and climate change...
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Vines spreading at trees’ expense in tropical forests, scientists say
Posted by LA Times: Amina Khan on February 23rd, 2011
LA Times: Vines may be proliferating at the expense of trees in tropical forests across the Americas, scientists have found. This shift in abundance could affect the water in the ecosystem and how carbon is stored in the plants, potentially drying out forests and resulting in more carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere.
The report, published online last week in the journal Ecology Letters, surveyed eight studies on the state of woody vines in tropical forests from the Savannah River system and the Congaree...
Ecuador: Legal tussle over alleged rain forest pollution turns to document disclosure
Posted by Philadelphia Daily News: Chris Mondics on February 23rd, 2011
Philadelphia Daily News: The epic battle over accusations that Chevron Corp. polluted a large expanse of the Amazon rain forest played out before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Tuesday as the energy giant sought the release of thousands of pages of confidential documents it said could shed light on improper tactics of plaintiffs' attorneys.
Lawyers representing Chevron asked the Third Circuit to uphold a lower-court opinion that records be released. They are being held by Philadelphia trial lawyer...
Climate change to blame for protests?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2011
Reuters: Egyptian and Libyan protesters shout slogans against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during a demonstration outside the Libyan Embassy in Cairo. Gaddafi is facing international pressure after reports of violent attacks against protesters in Tripoli.
London - A string of Arab uprisings are giving a foretaste of the likely havoc that climate change will cause without greater effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions, a British foreign ministry official warned.
Soaring food prices, stoked by Russia's...
New Zealand quake sends 30 mln tons of ice loose from glacier
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2011
Reuters: The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck New Zealand on Tuesday, killing at least 75 people in Christchurch, also shook loose 30 million tons of ice from the nation's longest glacier, sending boulders of ice into a nearby lake.
Tour boat operators in the area said parts of the Tasman Glacier calved into the Tasman Lake immediately after the quake, breaking into smaller icebergs and causing 3.5 meter-high (11-foot) waves.
"It was approximately 30 million tons of ice, it's just a massive, massive,...
China’s drought area to see rain or snow
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2011
Reuters: Most of China will see rain or snow in the next few days, which could help to relieve the severe drought that has hit many of China's wheat growing provinces, the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, citing the country's weather bureau.
Some areas in Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces, which were severely hit by the drought, could see heavy rain or snow, it said.
Toxins from South African mines threaten city
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2011
Reuters: Toxic liquids building up in defunct gold mines beneath Johannesburg could reach environmentally dangerous levels by June 2012, officials and scientists said yesterday. Work is to begin immediately on a chain of pumping stations and treatment plants. Water has already started leaking from abandoned mines west of Johannesburg in the so-called Western Basin. Water accumulating in shafts dug more than a century ago has been reacting with rocks to produce sulphuric acid, heavy metals, toxins and radiation....