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Archive for March 24th, 2011
Cutting carbon dioxide could help prevent droughts, new research shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2011
ScienceDaily: Recent climate modeling has shown that reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would give Earth a wetter climate in the short term. New research from Carnegie Global Ecology scientists Long Cao and Ken Caldeira offers a novel explanation for why climates are wetter when atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are decreasing. Their findings, published online March 24 by Geophysical Research Letters, show that cutting carbon dioxide concentrations could help prevent droughts...
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Japan: Psychological Risks Loom in Tokyo Water Warning
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2011
Greenwire: Overnight, Tokyo transformed into the world's largest psychological laboratory. Japan's now-rescinded warning yesterday that radioactive iodine in the city's drinking water exceeded standards set for infants' chronic radiation exposure was, above all, a public health threat. But it is likely that the warning's psychological effects on Tokyo could cause lasting stress to a group particularly at risk during nuclear crisis: young mothers. The mental health legacies of nuclear power accidents like...
Salmon play hidden role in forest ecology, researchers find
Posted by Calgary Herald: Margaret Munro on March 24th, 2011
Calgary Herald: Salmon may live in the water, but a new study shows they help shape the forest.
A study of 50 watersheds in the Great Bear Rainforest on British Columbia's central coast says bears, fish-catching wolves and other predators haul huge amounts of salmon into the forest that provide a potent "nutrient subsidy" that drives plant growth in the surrounding forest.
Nitrogen released by the fish favours some plants -- such as the aptly named salmonberry -- while pushing out other species, researchers...
Crisis Forces Japanese Farmers To Destroy Crops
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2011
National Public Radio: The Japanese government is asking people not to eat spinach, parsley and other produce grown near the damaged power plant because some is tainted with radiation. Dairy farmers are also dumping their milk, and drinking water has been a problem in some locations, including "” briefly "” Tokyo.
But the biggest impact following the nuclear disaster has been in the region where these foods are produced. One might expect that reports of food contaminated with radiation would create panic in Japan, but...
Salmon run helps shape ecosystems
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2011
BBC: Pacific salmon plays an important role in providing nutrients to part of the world's largest old-growth temperate rainforest, a study has shown.
The annual migration sees salmon return to western Canada to spawn, but many are caught by bears and wolves, which carry carcasses away from the streams.
This allows nutrient-rich plants to thrive in these areas.
Writing in Science, the team said a shift in salmon numbers would have "far-reaching impacts" on biodiversity.
"Along the Pacific coast,...
Obama Plan to Cap Funding for Endangered Species Act Petitions Angers Litigants
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on March 24th, 2011
Greenwire: A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal that would give the agency more leeway to delay considering new endangered species petitions is getting a chilly reception from environmentalists and others involved in litigation on the issue.
Under the plan discussed in a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing last week, the service has asked Congress to cap funding for the processing of new Endangered Species Act petitions (E&E Daily, March 17).
Such a move would have legal significance because the...
Continuing Turmoil in the Middle East Reflects Global Anxiety Over Wheat Production
Posted by ClimateWire: Tiffany Stecker on March 24th, 2011
ClimateWire: Underlying the wave of unrest across North Africa and the Middle East is the fact that some of the cries for democracy are coming from mouths in need of food. Media outlets around the world were quick to make the link between food and the protests in Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, pointing to one specific grain: wheat. Egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world, with Algeria not far behind. Together, they import more of the grain than all of South America. Even Pharaoh Ramses III's tomb was...
United States: Obama administration announces massive coal mining expansion
Posted by Grist: Glenn Hurowitz on March 24th, 2011
Grist: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on Tuesday an enormous expansion in coal mining that threatens to increase U.S. climate pollution by an amount equivalent to more than half of what the United States currently emits in a year. A statement from Wild Earth Guardians, Sierra Club, and Defenders of Wildlife put the announcement in perspective:
When burned, the coal threatens to release more than 3.9 billion tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, equal to the annual emissions from 300 coal-fired...
Can geothermal help Japan in crisis?
Posted by Reuters: Leonora Walet and Tessa Dunlop on March 24th, 2011
Reuters: Japan is sitting on enough untapped geothermal power to replace all its planned nuclear stations over the next decade.
But, battling to control its crippled Fukushima nuclear complex, and planning to build 13 more nuclear power stations, Japan has no plans to harness its estimated 23.5 gigawatts (GW) in geothermal potential -- other than to develop hot springs.
Geothermal energy, which in Asia struggles under limited government and funding support, is likely to attract interest as investors...
Palm oil giants target Africa in ‘land grab’ following Indonesia deforestation ban
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2011
Ecologist: Palm oil giants target Africa in 'land grab' following Indonesia deforestation ban Palm oil giant Sime Darby is considering setting up 300,000 hectares of plantation in Cameroon
France pushes its faith in nuclear around the world Medical profession 'oblivious' to role of chemicals in diabetes and obesity The sleepy Irish village that challenged Shell over controversial pipeline Lessons for Japan from the Chernobyl catastrophe EU 'ignoring safety risks' in financing of nuclear expansion in Ukraine...