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Archive for February, 2011
Amazon’s double dry spell worries scientists
Posted by Agenece France -Presse: None Given on February 3rd, 2011
Agenece France -Presse: A pair of unusually severe droughts have parched the Amazon in recent years, raising concern about the rainforest's future as a major absorber of carbon emissions, said a study on Thursday.
A rare drought in 2005 was billed as a once-in-a-hundred-years event, but then it was followed by another drought in 2010 that may have been even worse, said the team of British and Brazilian experts in the journal Science.
Since the droughts killed many trees, the scientists predict that the Amazon will...
Mass tree deaths prompt fears of Amazon ‘climate tipping point’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2011
Guardian: Billions of trees died in the record drought that struck the Amazon in 2010, raising fears that the vast forest is on the verge of a tipping point, where it will stop absorbing greenhouse gas emissions and instead increase them.
The dense forests of the Amazon soak up more than one-quarter of the world's atmospheric carbon, making it a critically important buffer against global warming. But if the Amazon switches from a carbon sink to a carbon source that prompts further droughts and mass tree...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Mass tree deaths prompt fears of Amazon ‘climate tipping point’Amazon rainforest hit by second ‘once in a century drought’ in five years
Posted by Daily Mail: David Derbyshire on February 3rd, 2011
Daily Mail: Amazon rainforest hit by second 'once in a century drought' in five years
The Amazon has been hit by its second 'once in a century' drought in five years, scientists say.
A study found that last year's drought was even more severe and more widespread than the disastrous water shortages that gripped the world's largest rainforest in 2005.
The extended dry season is thought to have wiped out swathes of the Amazon, killing millions of trees, amphibians, fish, birds and mammals.
Repeat offender:...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Amazon rainforest hit by second ‘once in a century drought’ in five yearsAmazon drought caused huge carbon emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2011
Reuters: A widespread drought in the Amazon rain forest last year was worse than the "once-in-a-century" dry spell in 2005 and may have a bigger impact on global warming than the United States does in a year, British and Brazilian scientists said on Thursday.
More frequent severe droughts like those in 2005 and 2010 risk turning the world's largest rain forest from a sponge that absorbs carbon emissions into a source of the gases, accelerating global warming, the report found.
Trees and other vegetation...
Two massive droughts evidence that climate change is ‘playing Russian roulette’ with Amazon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2011
Mongabay: Two massive droughts evidence that climate change is 'playing Russian roulette' with Amazon
In 2005 the Amazon rainforest underwent a massive drought that was labeled a one-in-100 year event. The subsequent die-off of trees from the drought released 5 billion tons of CO2. Just five years later another major drought struck. The 2010 drought, which desiccated entire rivers, may have been even worse according to a new study in Science, adding on-the-ground evidence to fears that climate change may...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Two massive droughts evidence that climate change is ‘playing Russian roulette’ with AmazonEU fisheries commissioner pledges to end ‘nightmare of discards’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2011
Guardian: No more fish will be thrown away by fleets in European seas under reforms soon to be presented to ministers, the EU commissioner for fisheries pledged today, in response to a high-profile campaign to end the wasteful practice of discards.
Instead, fishermen will have to land their entire catch – whether the fish are saleable or not. "We can't go on like this, with this nightmare of discards," Maria Damanaki, the EU fisheries commissioner, told the Guardian. "We need a new policy."
Her strong...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on EU fisheries commissioner pledges to end ‘nightmare of discards’Threat of urban epidemics looms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2011
SciDev.Net: Poor housing standards can allow disease vectors to thrive
An unprecedented alliance of urban planners, doctors and scientists is needed to better prepare for "the looming threat of explosive urban epidemics" in an increasingly urbanised world, according to a review paper in The Lancet.
The world's urban population will double by 2050 and most of this increase will be in developing countries, according to UN estimates.
But how this will affect infectious diseases is poorly understood. Better...
Psst… Groundwater and Surface Water Do Mix
Posted by New York Times: y FELICITY BARRINGER on February 3rd, 2011
New York Times: An article published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters this week describes a new and simple way of measuring groundwater`s contribution to small streams on the surface.
Sinking land levels in the San Joaquin Valley.
By taking snapshots of streams with a device designed to capture, through infrared radiation images, the temperatures in various parts of the water, the approach "advances the immediate detection and quantification of localized groundwater inflow for hydrology, geology...
Call for overhaul of EU fishing policy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2011
Guardian: Europe's fishing practices must be drastically reformed in order to prevent dwindling fish stocks passing the point of no return, a coalition of British supermarkets and conservationists warned today.
The unprecedented alliance, which includes Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer, members of the UK's Food and Drink Federation and WWF, is making the strongest statement from business to date on the failures of the European Union fishing policy.
It follows public anger at the practice of discarding...
EPA to regulate toxic chemicals in drinking water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2011
LA Times: The Environmental Protection Agency took steps Wednesday to curb toxic substances in drinking water, including perchlorate, a chemical thought to threaten the thyroid gland that has contaminated hundreds of public water wells, mostly in California.
The agency also moved to set standards for 16 other substances that can invade water supplies and impair human health.
Perchlorate, a remnant of California's manufacturing, aerospace and military bases, can inhibit thyroid hormone production, especially...