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Archive for June 7th, 2011
Environment white paper is a step in the right direction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 7th, 2011
Guardian: The environment white paper is a step in the right direction but the real test will be wider green policies. It shows what can happen when you keep the pressure up. Stung by the reaction to its efforts to sell off the public forest estate and the furious response to its red tape challenge, the coalition government now looks desperate to prove itself. That's just where we want it.
It is still a long way from being the greenest government ever, not that there's a lot of competition. But its new...
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The benefits and costs of a “golden age” of natural gas and fracking
Posted by Ecocentric: None Given on June 7th, 2011
Ecocentric: A Chesapeake Energy natural-gas well site near Burlington, Pa. Shale natural gas--usually the most boring of fuels--has been one of the hottest energy topics in 2011, alternately lionized as a cleaner-burning and plentiful power source and demonized as a poisoner of local water supplies, and even worse for the climate than coal. That debate will continue to run hot--just last week New York filed suit over potential shale gas exploration in the Delaware River Basin--but there's little doubt that...
China drought retreats after heavy rains
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 7th, 2011
Telegraph: The rains shrank the area of farmland affected by drought by 39 percent to 8,880 square miles, including in the major rice-growing central and southern provinces of Hubei and Hunan, the People's Daily reported, citing the national flood and drought relief office.
Parts of China along the Yangtze River basin and nearby have been enduring their worst drought in 50 years or more, with rainfall 40 to 60 percent less than normal over recent months, damaging crops and cutting power from hydroelectric...
China chemical spill taints city’s water supply
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 7th, 2011
Associated Press: Customers stock up on bottled water in a Hangzhou supermarket.
Carbolic acid spilled into a river that supplies drinking water to the Chinese city of Hangzhou, knocking out supplies to more than half a million people in the suburbs and creating a run on bottled water in the city of 9 million.
A tanker truck carrying 20 tons of the caustic chemical overturned late on Saturday night. The chemical, also known as phenol, was washed by rain into the Xin'an river about 90 miles (145km) south-west...
White paper to redress biodiversity loss with wilderness areas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 7th, 2011
Guardian: The white paper on the natural environment will recommend the creation of wilderness areas.
The government should hold a competition to create 12 wilderness areas to enhance ecological protection in England, the first white paper on the natural environment in 20 years will propose on Tuesday.
Stung by accusations that it has failed to live up to its promise to be the "greenest-ever" government, the coalition will try to redress the continuing loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitat in England...