RSS Feed
Archive for April 7th, 2011
Wild Atlantic salmon ‘under threat’ from escaped farmed fish and sea lice
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
Guardian: Young wild Atlantic salmon are being killed by sea lice before they breed, leading to a slump in their numbers, the Salmon and Trout Association claims. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Fish farms are being frequently hit by parasite infestations and mass escapes that threaten the survival of the UK's wild salmon stocks, a leading anglers' group has said.
Official inspections have revealed that scores of salmon farms around the Scottish coast have had infestations of the sea lice parasite that breached...
Posted in 
More biodiversity equals cleaner water, but why?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
Mongabay: More biodiversity equals cleaner water, but why?
New study shows how greater biodiversity more efficiently scrubs pollutants from freshwater.
A new landmark study not only proves that adding more species to a freshwater stream linearly increases the ecosystem's ability to clean pollutants, but also shows why. The study, published in Nature found that by increasing the biodiversity of a lab controlled mini-stream from one algae species to eight caused the ecosystem to soak up nitrate pollution...
Precedent-Setting Evidence Of The Benefits Of Biodiversity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
REDORBIT: New evidence that biodiversity promotes water quality suggests that accelerating species losses may compromise water quality
Frequent reports of accelerating species losses invariably raise questions about why such losses matter and why we should work to conserve biodiversity.
Biologists have traditionally responded to such questions by citing societal benefits that are often presumed to be offered by biodiversity--benefits like controlling pests and diseases, promoting the productivity of...
Pa. seeks more tests for drilling pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
Associated Press: Prodded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Pennsylvania says it's expanding the scope of water tests for radium and other pollutants from the state's booming natural gas drilling industry.
The Department of Environmental Protection's acting secretary, Michael Krancer, tells EPA that he's requiring additional tests by some drinking-water suppliers and wastewater treatment facilities.
Radium, which exists naturally underground, is sometimes found in drilling wastewater that gushes...
China detects low levels of radiation on spinach
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Chinese authorities have detected extremely low levels of radiation from Japan's crippled nuclear power plant on spinach, but the amount of contamination posed no health hazard, the government said.
The health ministry issued a statement late Wednesday saying tests on the vegetable grown outdoors in Beijing, the northern city of Tianjin and in the central province of Henan had revealed traces of radioactive iodine-131.
Recent rainfall caused radioactive particles in the air to accumulate on...
Climate change poses major risks for unprepared cities
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
ScienceDaily: Cities worldwide are failing to take necessary steps to protect residents from the likely impacts of climate change, even though billions of urban dwellers are vulnerable to heat waves, sea level rise and other changes associated with warming temperatures.
A new examination of urban policies by Patricia Romero Lankao at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., in conjunction with an international research project on cities and climate change, warns that many of the...
Biodiversity Improves Water Quality In Streams
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
redOrbit: Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so.
Bradley Cardinale used 150 miniature model streams, which use recirculating water in flumes to mimic the variety of flow conditions found in natural streams. He grew between one and eight species of algae in each of the mini-streams, then measured each algae community's ability to soak up...
Budget fight and squabble over energy riders intensify as shutdown nears
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann, Saqib Rahim AND Dina Fine Maron on April 7th, 2011
ClimateWire: Congress lurched closer to a government shutdown yesterday when negotiations stumbled over cuts to energy spending and other programs before temporary federal funding expires on Friday. President Obama stepped into the debate yesterday and objected to a Republican plan to extend current spending for one week, through April 15, while slashing $12 billion between now and then. Among those cuts, $632 million would come from energy and water programs. Obama insisted yesterday that the measure be abandoned,...
Why melting ice in the Arctic could cause temperatures in Britain to plummet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
Daily Mail: A massive pool of melted ice water in the Arctic Ocean is threatening to spill into the Atlantic and potentially alter the key ocean currents that give Britain its moderate climate, scientists have warned.
The average temperature in Britain could possibly fall by several degrees as a result, it is claimed.
Oceanographers yesterday said that the unusual accumulation has been caused by Siberian and Canadian rivers dumping more water into the Arctic and from melting sea ice.
Global warming?...
McKinsey accused of driving deforestation with poor REDD+ advice
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2011
Business Green: Management consultancy McKinsey & Co has been accused of giving inaccurate and unethical advice to countries such as Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, potentially driving deforestation while allowing the countries to generate revenue from new UN-backed forestry protection schemes.
A report released by Greenpeace yesterday claims McKinsey has drawn up strategies that could help rainforested nations continue with logging practices, while still gaining access to millions of dollars from the United...