RSS Feed
Archive for February, 2011
Mud volcano flow to last 26 years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2011
BBC: Indonesian mud volcano flow 'to last 26 years' The mud buried homes, schools and farmland, and has displaced thousands of families The world's largest mud volcano, which left 13,000 families homeless, is likely to continue erupting for another 26 years, researchers have estimated.
It first erupted back in May 2006, and - at its peak - was spewing 180,000 cubic metres of mud a day, equivalent to 50 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The volcano, in East Java, Indonesia, has buried homes, schools...
Posted in 
Palm Oil Firms Demand Clarity Over Land Use
Posted by Jakarta Globe: None Given on February 25th, 2011
Jakarta Globe: Rising commodity prices are driving palm oil producers to find more land to boost output, but doing so in Indonesia may be too difficult, some producers claim.
Sime Darby, the world’s largest listed palm oil producer, wants to acquire more land, including in Indonesia, the world’s top producing nation. However, it may turn to Africa if obstacles such as a ban on forest clearing and conflicting zoning regulations prove too much of a headache.
“Sime Darby is always open to any proposition to...
Mackenzie mill suitor blamed for rainforest destruction
Posted by Vancouver Sun: Gordon Hamilton on February 25th, 2011
Vancouver Sun: Mackenzie mill suitor blamed for rainforest destruction
Greenpeace accuses Singapore-based Sinar Mas of logging practices that are killing endangered orangutans in Sumatra
The Asian forest company that's considering buying B.C.'s Mackenzie pulp mill was targeted Wednesday in a graphically disturbing ad campaign by Greenpeace over logging practices the eco-group says is killing endangered orangutans.
Singapore-based Sinar Mas, one of the world's largest forest companies, is being accused...
Amazon Traveler Battles Deforestation and Climate Change in Brazil
Posted by Planet Green: None Given on February 25th, 2011
Planet Green: In northern Brazil, there's a town called S?o F?lix do Xingu, located in the heart of the Amazon. Rane Cortez, a forest carbon development adviser with The Nature Conservancy, spent 10 days there. She was searching, but not for a lost treasure (unless you count a less-polluted world). Cortez is working with experts and locals on ways to cut carbon emissions from the destruction of forests.
Here's the deal: The cutting and burning of trees in places like Brazil for cattle ranching or logging is...
Does the Southwest face a mega-drought?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2011
New York Times: Rising global temperatures resulting from emissions of human origin could tip the southwestern United States into a period of prolonged extreme drought seen before only in distant geological history, a new study suggests.
Researchers dug deep into the region`s climate history by studying a 270-foot core of lake sediment taken from the Valles Caldera, a volcanic depression in northern New Mexico. Data extracted from the core revealed "mega-droughts" in the region lasting as long as a thousand years....
Ancient megadroughts preview warmer climate: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2011
Reuters: Ancient megadroughts that lasted thousands of years in what is now the American Southwest could offer a preview of a climate changed by modern greenhouse gas emissions, researchers reported on Wednesday.
The scientists found these persistent dry periods were different from even the most severe decades-long modern droughts, including the 1930s "Dust Bowl." And they determined that these millennial droughts occurred at times when Earth's mean annual temperature was similar to or slightly higher...
Ancient megadroughts preview warmer climate: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2011
Reuters: Ancient megadroughts that lasted thousands of years in what is now the American Southwest could offer a preview of a climate changed by modern greenhouse gas emissions, researchers reported on Wednesday.
The scientists found these persistent dry periods were different from even the most severe decades-long modern droughts, including the 1930s "Dust Bowl." And they determined that these millennial droughts occurred at times when Earth's mean annual temperature was similar to or slightly higher...
Brewers Pledge to Cut Water Use
Posted by Inter Press Service: Timothy Spence on February 24th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Beer manufacturers sell nearly 548 million litres of brew each day, but with every bottle, they are using many times that amount of water on a planet facing mounting resource challenges.
Mindful of the impact on fragile freshwater sources in an industry heavily dependent on water, brewers are pledging significant cuts in freshwater use as the demand for their products grows. They are also forging alliances with conservation groups and international organisations to urge other industries to follow...
Climate change halves Peru glacier: official
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 24th, 2011
Independent: A glacier on Peru's Huaytapallana Moutain shed half its surface ice in just 23 years, officials said Wednesday, reinforcing concerns of climate change's growing threat to fresh water resources.
"Recent scientific studies indicate that between June 1983 and August 2006, the glacier has lost 50 percent of its surface ice," Erasmo Meza, manager of natural resources and the environment in the central Andean region of Junin, told the official Andina news agency.
He said the five square kilometers...
Australia’s coral reefs threatened by climate change
Posted by News.com.au: None Given on February 24th, 2011
News.com.au: Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea near the Great Barrier Reef. Picture: Lindsay Moller Source: The Australian
SHOCKING evidence has been released claiming that nearly all of Australia's coral reefs are at risk of being wiped out in less than two decades.
The report by the World Resources Institute claims that by 2030, 90 per cent of Australia's reefs will suffer from the overwhelming effects of climate change like warmer seas and acidification.
It also outlines the threat to the rest of the world's...