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Archive for May 10th, 2011
Flood Pictures: Mississippi River at Its Worst
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2011
National Geographic: People watch as floodwaters from the Mississippi River gush through newly opened gates in the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Norco, Louisiana, on Monday. The spillway, built in response to the Great Flood of 1927, diverts water from the Mississippi into Lake Pontchartrain.
At Memphis (map), Tennessee, the swollen Mississippi river crested Tuesday at nearly 48 feet (14.6 meters)--not quite a foot below the record flood level.
The Mississippi River originates at Lake Itasca in Minnesota (map) and flows...
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War-Torn Liberia Signs Timber Deal with E.U
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2011
New York Times: Liberia, home to 45 percent of the rain forests in West Africa, signs a deal with the European Union to prevent illegal timber exports and develop a sustainable forestry industry. Illegal logging flourished during the country`s long civil war but led to crippling sanctions against the timber industry. [BBC]
A vote to end oil industry subsidies could come as soon as next week, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, says. The legislation would save the federal government $21 billion over a decade...
Methane Gas Is Contaminating Drinking Water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2011
REDORBIT: A report released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday reveals that a controversial natural gas production technique, which is key to a century of U.S. domestic supply, is causing contamination of drinking water.
Scientists from Duke University collected 68 drinking water samples that showed potentially harmful levels of methane in drinking water near drilling sites in Pennsylvania and New York.
"In aquifers overlying the Marcellus and Utica shale formations of northeastern...
Understanding of Climate Change Sketchy, But Concern Real
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2011
Inter Press Service: The rains were kind to Cambodian farmer Tep Van last year, when the monsoon season doused his land with enough water to soak his fields and grow his precious rice crop. But he’s not sure he can count on the same luck this year.
"In the past, we didn’t have to worry about the weather," Van said, standing beside his field several kilometres outside the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. "But lately, it’s been a big problem."
A few seasons ago, the rains were scarce. His parched crop withered without...
Protests after Chile backs giant dams in Patagonia’s valleys
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2011
Guardian: The Pascua River in Patagonia - Chile plans to dam the river to generate electricity. Chilean authorities have approved a £1.8bn plan to dam two rivers in Patagonia for hydroelectricity, triggering angry protests and claims that swathes of pristine wilderness will be destroyed.
The HidroAysén project envisages five dams to tap the Baker and Pascua rivers, an isolated area of fjords and valleys, and generate 2.75 gigawatts of power for Chile's booming economy.
The government has championed the...
ALERT! Tell Old Forest Loggers and Apologists to End Primary Rainforest Logging
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on May 10th, 2011
By Ecological Internet's Rainforest Portal
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
As world's forest protection policy glitterati meet in the Congo to finalize the final logging of much of Earth's large and contiguous rainforests; let loggers, governments, UN and NGOs supporting primary forest logging known that industrial forestry can never be ecologically sustainable. Achieving global ecological sustainability depends critically upon maintaining intact forest ecosystems, ending first time industrial primary logging and other industrial development. The best path to global forest sustainability is to protect all standing primary and old growth forests, helping them to expand, and be used standing by local communities to advance themselves through small scale community businesses including ecotourism, eco-forestry, carbon payments, etc. It is simply unacceptable ecologically that the fate of Earth's last old forests continue to be first time industrial logging albeit with FSC certification, NGO approval and REDD+ funding. The second email for the alert takes Rainforest Action Network further to task for refusing to acknowledge and discuss concerns with their full-on support for primary forest logging through their FSC membership.
See related facebook page:
Greenpeace and RAN Out of FSC Primary Forest
http://www.facebook.com/oldforests
April Saw Wild Climate Extremes In The United States
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2011
redOrbit: April 2011 was an extreme climate month of historic flooding, a record-breaking tornado outbreak and devastating wildfire activities in much of the United States, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDD) say.
The monthly analysis provided by NOAA, based on records that date back to 1895, showed that the average U.S. temperature in April was 52.9 degrees F, which is 0.9 degrees F above the long-term average (1901-200); and the precipitation was 0.7 inches above the long-term average,...
Feds announce plans for 250 imperiled species
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2011
Associated Press: The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a deal with environmentalists to work through a backlog of more than 250 imperiled animals and plants in order to determine which merit federal protection.
Interior Department officials said the proposal stemmed from a court agreement with WildEarth Guardians, one in a handful of groups that have filed hundreds of legal actions against the agency over its handling of species such as the greater sage grouse and Canada lynx.
Those are in a long list...
Water Efficient Methods Revolutionise Sugarcane Growing
Posted by Inter Press Service: Nitin Jugran Bahuguna on May 10th, 2011
Inter Press Service: When their sugarcane crops failed to deliver a good yield three years ago, Kantabai Chavan and her husband Baban decided to try a new strategy.
Discarding their forebears' conventional farming methods, they began planting stem cuttings in December, a full month later than they used to. They also switched from the "wet" method to "dry," in which the cuttings are planted in dry soil and later irrigated.
The couple also opted to plant on straight lines, replacing the traditional "zigzag" or serpentine...
Flooding peaks in Memphis; downstream danger lurks
Posted by Philly: None Given on May 10th, 2011
Philly: As the Mississippi River approached its high point Tuesday in Memphis and attention turned to a time-consuming clean up, farmers downriver built homemade levees to protect their crops and engineers diverted water into a lake to ease the pressure on New Orleans levees.
Inmates in the state's largest prison were evacuated to higher ground and officials contemplated whether to open another spillway north of Baton Rouge.
The soaking in Memphis was isolated to low-lying neighborhoods, and forced...