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Archive for April, 2011
U.S. poised to lift federal protections for wolves
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on April 14th, 2011
Reuters: The gray wolf would become the first creature ever removed from the U.S. endangered species list by an act of Congress under a provision in the budget deal set to be passed by U.S. lawmakers this week.
The measure would lift federal safeguards for some 1,200 wolves in the western U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, placing them back under state control and allowing licensed hunting of the animals. It also would bar judicial review of the decision to rescind federal protections.
The provision...
Drought grows more dire in Southwest, farms hit
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on April 14th, 2011
Reuters: - Conditions for crops and livestock are growing more dire by the day in the U.S. Southwest as drought continues to grip the region.
Texas is a tinderbox, pastureland for hungry cattle is drying up, and prospects are deteriorating rapidly for wheat, corn, cotton and other crops.
"Conditions are just deplorable right now. One hundred percent of the state is currently in some form of drought," Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples told Reuters.
The threat to cattle and crop production...
African farmers ‘need more relevant climate predictions’
Posted by SciDev.Net: Gozde Zorlu on April 14th, 2011
SciDev.Net: Seasonal climate predictions have been limited in their ability to meet the needs of rural farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a study. Uncertain rainfall and climate affect 70 per cent of Sub-Saharan Africa's population, hampering efforts to promote agricultural production, improve food security and reduce poverty, according to a paper published in Experimental Agriculture this month (5 April). Farmers could use seasonal weather predictions in many ways to boost food production, said the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on African farmers ‘need more relevant climate predictions’United Kingdom: Summer drought looms following ‘driest March for 60 years’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 14th, 2011
Guardian: Water shortages may become a reality in England and Wales following an exceptionally dry March. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA
England and Wales had their driest March in more than 60 years, with some parts of Cambridgeshire having less than 2mm – less than is normally recorded in the Sahara desert at this time of year – according to figures released by the government's centre for hydrology and ecology (CEH).
Experts warned that the next few weeks could be critical for water companies, farmers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Summer drought looms following ‘driest March for 60 years’‘Red’ sky worries Iran as sandstorms wreak havoc
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 14th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Iranians are worried by crippling air pollution as "unprecedented" sandstorms mostly originating from neighbouring Iraq hit 20 provinces, forcing the shutdown of schools and government offices.
The blinding sandstorms hit western, central and southern provinces on Wednesday due to winds blowing at high speed, considerably reducing visibility to as low as 50 metres (yards) in some cities.
"Unprecedented sandstorms which entered from west are the most violent storms that have ever reached Iran,"...
Druridge Bay panorama – interactive
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 14th, 2011
Guardian: Conservation Druridge Bay panorama - interactive
Landscape photographer Mike McFarlane has created a 360-degree virtual tour of Druridge Bay in Northumberland. The panorama is part of a visual arts project commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts that aims to raise awareness of its landscape-scale conservation schemes
A single source for clean water and fuel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 14th, 2011
New Scientist: ALGAE are being put to work performing a unique double duty: cleaning up sewage waste while simultaneously producing biofuel.
All algae feast on phosphates and nitrogen-containing compounds, converting them to lipids. Some of these oils can be converted to biofuel, but only a few algal species produce lipids of the right type and quantity to be easily converted to fuel. In theory, though, algae are a perfect renewable fuel source. The main obstacle is that brewing the right nutrient mix can be...
Food price rises pushing millions into extreme poverty, World Bank warns
Posted by Guardian: Phillip Inman on April 14th, 2011
Guardian: A Kenyan farmer bags dried up maize sprouts from her planted field. The World Bank says the cost of maize has returned to levels last seen in the 2008 price boom. Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images
Food-producing countries must relax export controls and divert production away from biofuels to prevent millions more people being driven into poverty by higher food prices, the head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, said on Thursday in Washington.
Without action to increase the supply of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Food price rises pushing millions into extreme poverty, World Bank warnsA Reprieve for Western Water Users
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 14th, 2011
New York Times: The spigots on the Glen Canyon Dam have been opened wide this winter, pouring water from Lake Powell, above, downstream 357 miles to Lake Mead.
Not quite five months ago, on Nov. 27, the level of Lake Mead, the massive federal reservoir that serves faucets and fields in Nevada, Arizona and California, hit an all-time low level of 1,081.85 feet above sea level. Seven feet lower, and the first water shortage ever would have been declared in the river`s lower basin.
An unusually wet winter, however,...
Toxic mine spill was only latest in long history of Chinese pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 14th, 2011
Guardian: Workers drain away polluted water near the Zijin copper mine in Shanghang on July 13, 2010, after pollution from the mine contaminated the Ting river, a major waterway in southeast China's Fujian province Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Even on the hottest summer days, few women wear skirts in Bitian village. They do not want to expose their feet, which are covered with festering blisters from the water of the Ting River.
The pollution disaster here, in Fujian province, eastern China, has brought...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Toxic mine spill was only latest in long history of Chinese pollution