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Archive for July, 2011
Greenland’s Ice Sheet May Be More Stable than Previously Thought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: Research into the last prolonged warm spell on Earth — an interglacial period roughly 125,000 years ago — shows that Greenland’s ice sheet may be more stable and Antarctica’s less stable than previous studies have shown. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin conducted a detailed study of the behavior of Greenland’s ice sheet during the previous interglacial era and discovered that the melting of Greenland’s glaciers probably accounted for about half of the 13 to 20 foot increase in global sea...
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United States: Removal of Dams Expected to Replenish Salmon Population
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2011
New York Times: Beginning late this summer, one of the most promising and pure acts of environmental restoration the region and the nation have ever seen will get under way here, experts say, in the form of the largest dam removal project in American history: the demolition of two massive hydroelectric dams, one of them 210 feet high, that block the otherwise pristine flow of the Elwha River, nearly all of which is within the boundaries of this remote national park. For a century, since the first dam was built...
Climate change transforming Britain’s farms as crops of tea and olives appear
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2011
Reuters: British farmers are experimenting with crops such as olives and nectarines which have traditionally been imported from southern Europe, while the first British tea plantation has opened with a changing climate set to transform the nation’s countryside.
Flowers will bloom early and crops will be harvested sooner as Britain marches toward what the government describes as a “wetter and warmer” UK.
Britain’s first tea plantation has opened in Cornwall in southwest England, the country’s warmest...
United States: On Hudson Pollution, Back to Routine Worries
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2011
New York Times: Water tests along the Hudson River show that bacteria levels are falling near the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant in Harlem, which stopped treating sewage for a few days last week because of a fire.
But now that the raw sewage discharges from the accident have stopped, says the environmental group Riverkeeper, we’re back to worrying about the routine ones caused by rain.
Riverkeeper said that results from its sampling on Monday to test for the bacterium enterococcus, found in the intestines...
Sea Level Rise Less From Greenland, More From Antarctica, Than Expected During Last Interglacial
Posted by redOrbit: Jill Saka on July 29th, 2011
redOrbit: During the last prolonged warm spell on Earth, the oceans were at least four meters – and possibly as much as 6.5 meters, or about 20 feet – higher than they are now.
Where did all that extra water come from? Mainly from melting ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, and many scientists, including University of Wisconsin-Madison geoscience assistant professor Anders Carlson, have expected that Greenland was the main culprit.
But Carlson's new results, published July 29 in Science, are challenging...
Drought and water shortages stalk Eritrea’s refugee camps
Posted by Ecologist: Matilde Gattoni on July 29th, 2011
Ecologist: 50,000 people are estimated to be living in refugee camps in Eritrea. Growing taste for 'long life' sandwiches threatens health and environment Public sector should develop GM crops for seed companies, says leading researcher Air pollution may be ‘health timebomb’ for London’s deprived children Lamb, beef and cheese have largest food footprint Sceptics told they'd be 'foolish' to ignore potential of geoengineering Drought and water shortages stalk Eritrea's refugee camps In the second of our series...
EPA targets air pollution from gas drilling boom
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2011
Associated Press: Faced with a natural gas drilling boom that has sullied the air in some parts of the country, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed for the first time to control air pollution at oil and gas wells, particularly those drilled using a method called hydraulic fracturing.
The proposal, issued to meet a court deadline, addresses air pollution problems reported in places such as Wyoming, Texas, Pennsylvania and Colorado, where new drilling techniques have led to a rush to obtain natural...
EPA seeks to reduce oil and gas pollution
Posted by Daily Times: Chuck Slothowe on July 29th, 2011
Daily Times: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed rules to reduce air pollution from oil and gas drilling operations.
The standards would require oil and gas producers to capture emissions from hydraulic fracturing that escape into the air.
If enacted, the proposed standards would have wide-ranging effects in the San Juan Basin, one of the nation's busiest natural gas production areas.
The rules focus on smog-forming volatile organic compounds and gases such as methane and benzene....
Northwest tribes see changes in sacred ‘first foods’
Posted by OPB: Rob Manning on July 29th, 2011
OPB: Northwest tribal leaders say they're seeing climate change affect food sources that are vital to their culture.
"All we can do is try to help these plants and animals adapt. If we don't, the future of the tribes' First Foods could be at stake" says Paul Lumley of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
He's worried about the future. Rob Manning reports on how climate change is affecting tribal culture.
Gerald Lewis is a member of the Yakama Tribal Council. He says a traditional...
Freak storm, aging sewers and Chicago’s topography lead to flooding woes
Posted by Chicago Tribune: Michael Hawthorne on July 29th, 2011
Chicago Tribune: Chicago flooding Q&A: Freak storm, aging sewers and Chicago's topography lead to flooding woes
Chicago's Deep Tunnel was billed as an engineering marvel that would "bottle rainstorms," but one of the nation's most expensive public works projects was no match for the biggest rainstorm in the city's recorded history.
Last weekend's deluge quickly saturated aging sewers in the city and suburbs and soon overwhelmed the Deep Tunnel, a cavernous $3 billion backup system built to prevent flooding...