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Archive for November 6th, 2011
Study: Chesapeake Bay Seeing Signs of Dead Zone Recovery
Posted by Yahoo!: Rachel Bogart on November 6th, 2011
Yahoo!: According to the Washington Post, researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have found the Chesapeake Bay is showing signs of recovering from its pollution problem.
Researchers specifically noted that they have found that oxygen-depleted dead zones, polluted areas that cannot support animal or plant life, have continued to decrease since nutrient pollution limits were established in the 1980s. Here are some facts about the Chesapeake...
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Thousands Protest Keystone XL Pipline Project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 6th, 2011
New York Times: Thousands turned out on Sunday at the White House for a protest against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta some 1,700 miles to Texas. Opponents say that oil sands processing contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, and that the pipeline itself could threaten a precious aquifer.
The dam-maker: China involved in 289 dam projects worldwide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 6th, 2011
Mongabay: China is currently involved in 289 hydroelectric projects worldwide, as reported by International Rivers. Most of the dams are planned for hydropower, and over half are considered 'large' projects. The list includes completed dams, one currently under construction, and ones in early planning stages.
While dams are often considered 'green' power, those in the tropics emit significant greenhouse gases from vegetation rotting in hydroelectric reservoirs. In fact, a recent study found that a dam in...
Frozen Microscopic Worlds Come Alive as Earth Warms
Posted by LiveScience.com: Wynne Parry on November 6th, 2011
LiveScience.com: As our planet warms, a world locked in permafrost will come alive, and researchers worry the tiny inhabitants of the frozen soil will start churning out greenhouse gases, magnifying global warming.
"Nobody has looked at what happens to microbes when the permafrost thaws," said Janet Jansson, a senior staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. She led a study that recorded what happened when chunks of Alaskan permafrost thawed for the first time in 1,200 years.
"We...
Thawing microbes could control the climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 6th, 2011
New Scientist: As the Arctic permafrost melts over the coming decades, long-frozen microorganisms will thaw out and start feasting on the soil. The first have already begun to wake up "“ and early signs are that they will have a major impact on how Earth's climate changes.
As the Arctic permafrost thaws, runaway global warming may ensue, because the huge amounts of organic carbon the permafrost contains will escape into the atmosphere.
To find out how the permafrost's microorganisms will respond to a thaw,...
Oilsands pipeline ‘huge attack’ on climate
Posted by CTV: None Given on November 6th, 2011
CTV: Warning that the $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline constitutes "a huge attack on our climate," American actor Mark Ruffalo joined a Washington protest Sunday that planned to encircle the White House.
"If we're honest about climate change, we need to face this head-on," the Academy Award-winning actor said in an appearance on CTV's Question Period. "And exploiting the tarsands is not the way to do it."
Ruffalo, who has joined actors Darryl Hannah and Robert Redford in a stand against the pipeline,...
Bracing for a Bullfrog Invasion
Posted by New York Times: Josie Garthwaite on November 6th, 2011
New York Times: The consequences of climate change for animals can seem very direct, as with polar bears in a warming Arctic. Others involve leaps, like the case of an invasive bullfrog: by 2080, it could splash into some of South America’s most ecologically rich protected areas, disrupting unique hotbeds of biodiversity. At least, that`s the prediction of a new study in the journal PLoS One.
Worldwide, researchers have increasingly been focusing on how a changing climate has altered or is likely to alter migration...
A Rio+20 Activist Manifesto and Action Plan
Posted by Inter Press Service: Bhaskar Menon on November 6th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Unless civil society activists launch their own programme of action at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro next summer (Jun. 4-6), the event will be little more than an expensive talkfest.
That is because government delegates at the conference will not address the matter of reorienting the world economy, a task the United Nations has acknowledged is essential to deal with the growing crisis of environment sustainability.
The secretary-general's report...
Keystone Pipeline debate heats up
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson on November 6th, 2011
Washington Post: Canadian ambassador Gary Doer has a straightforward analysis of whether TransCanada will win the Obama administration’s approval to build and operate an enormous pipeline to transport oil from Alberta to the Texas coast.
“If it’s made on merit, we’re confident,” Doer said in an interview. “If it’s made on noise, it’s unpredictable.”
Foes of the project — which has become a test of how President Obama balances environmental considerations against economic and energy supply concerns — will try...
Protesters Take Pipeline Fight To White House
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 6th, 2011
National Public Radio: Environmentalists are planning to encircle the White House Sunday to protest the Obama administration's expected support of a new pipeline through the Midwest to carry one of the dirtiest forms of oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. NPR's Richard Harris explains that the pipeline pits jobs against the environment.