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Archive for March 18th, 2011
Japan raises nuclear alert level
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 18th, 2011
BBC: Japan has raised the alert level at a stricken nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale for atomic incidents.
The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site is now two levels below Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned in Tokyo the battle to stabilise the plant was a race against time.
The crisis was prompted by last week's huge quake and tsunami, which has left at least 16,000 people dead or missing.
The Japanese nuclear...
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Drink water straight from ‘the faucets of the stars’ for World Water Week
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 18th, 2011
Independent: Ahead of World Water Week (March 20-26), UNICEF has begun its 'Celebrity Tap' campaign, helping raise money for water aid and giving people the chance to win water straight from the tap of a celebrity.
The Celebrity Tap campaign features Selena Gomez, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Adrian Grenier and takes a very tongue-in-cheek approach to the cult of 'famous bottled water.'
The campaign plays on the celebrity of the participants who are "more famous than you" and continues to address the idea...
IAEA urges Japan to give more information on nuclear crisis
Posted by Guardian: Tania Branigan on March 18th, 2011
Guardian: The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has urged Japan to provide more information on its "extremely serious" crisis as the battle to regain control of a failing power plant enters a second week.
Yukiya Amano, the International Atomic Energy Agency chief, told the prime minister, Naoto Kan, that although it had been briefed, "there is the opinion in the international community that more detailed information is needed".
Earlier, as he arrived in Tokyo, Amano told reporters: "This is...
Staying above water
Posted by Financial Times: None Given on March 18th, 2011
Financial Times: As pictures of devastation in Japan continue to dominate the media, Prince William begins his tour of Australia to meet victims of last December’s river floods. These grim reminders are something many of us need to heed. Just as nuclear power is being re-evaluated in the light of Japan’s disaster, flood defences need to be re-examined.
A forecast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that sea levels may rise 59cm by 2100 appears conservative, because it does not factor Nasa-funded...
Northern Peatlands A Misunderstood Player In Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 18th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: University of Alberta researchers have determined that the influence of northern peatlands on the prehistorical record of climate change has been over estimated, but the vast northern wetlands must still be watched closely as the planet grapples with its current global warming trend.
Northern peatlands, which are a boggy mixture of dead organic material and water, cover more than four million square kilometers. The largest northern peatlands occur in the subarctic regions of Canada and Russia....
Canada: Quebec will no longer authorize fracking for oil, gas
Posted by Montreal Gazette: Kevin Dougherty on March 18th, 2011
Montreal Gazette: Nathalie Normandeau, Quebec’s natural resources minister, announced Wednesday that the Quebec government would no longer authorize any hydraulic fracturing operations in the province.
Normandeau said the ban will apply to fracking both for gas and oil, but that fracking could be done for scientific purposes.
A panel of independent experts, which the government has yet to name, will determine whether an individual fracking operation will add to scientific knowledge about the impact of the controversial...