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Archive for October 7th, 2011
United States: Keystone XL firm moved endangered beetles before pipeline’s approval
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 7th, 2011
Guardian: A Canadian company that is waiting for a federal permit to build an oil pipeline through the High Plains has used a technicality in U.S. environmental regulations to begin removing an endangered species--the black and orange American burying beetle--from the proposed route.
A spokesman for Alberta-based TransCanada said the company has done nothing wrong. The beetles were removed as part of TransCanada's "commitment to protecting the environment and endangered species along the Keystone XL route,"...
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Desalination Equipment Rushed to Drought-Stricken Pacific Nation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 7th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: Military airplanes from Australia and New Zealand are delivering a large desalination unit to the drought-stricken Pacific nation of Tuvalu, where water supplies have nearly run dry after six months without rain. The tiny island nation, which has a population of about 11,000 people, has declared a state of emergency, with officials predicting that drinking water could run out within days. In addition to record drought conditions caused by the La Nina weather phenomenon, officials say rising seas...
Putting a Price on the Ecosystem With Carbon Credits
Posted by Policymic: None Given on October 7th, 2011
Policymic: How much is a forest worth? A newly evolving policy mechanism, supported by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is beginning to put a price on one ecosystem service that we tend to forget about in large tracts of forest land -- carbon uptake.
REDD+, or Reducing Emissions through Preventing Deforestation and Degradation, is a policy framework in its infancy being tested in forests around the world in an effort to prevent forest loss and ensuing carbon emissions into the atmosphere....
University of Vermont awarded $20M to study lake
Posted by Associated Press: Lisa Rathke on October 7th, 2011
Associated Press: A science program at the University of Vermont has been awarded a $20 million federal grant, the largest grant in the school's history, to help study the health of the Lake Champlain basin and look at the effects of climate change on it, officials announced Friday.
The five-year National Science Foundation grant will be used to take into account the many factors that affect the Lake Champlain Basin, land use, streams and rivers of its watershed, said UVM biology professor Judith Van Houten, director...