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Archive for February 10th, 2012
Saved From Extinction, Darwin’s Crocs Are Now King
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
National Public Radio: It's appropriate that Darwin, the tropical capital of Australia's Northern Territory, is named for the English naturalist.
The massive, powerful and deadly saltwater crocodile - the world's largest living reptile - is the evolutionary triumph of 50 million years of natural selection. And in Darwin, the crocodile is equally dreaded and beloved.
Crocodylus porosus was hunted to near extinction in the last century. But in 1974, the Australian government put the species, known affectionately as...
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Wastewater Reuse Could Increase U.S. Supplies 27 Percent, Report Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: Advanced treatment of municipal wastewater could increase available water supplies in the U.S. by 27 percent, according to a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences. Of the 32 billion gallons of municipal wastewater discharged each day nationwide, about 12 billion gallons of effluent is emptied into an ocean or estuary, the report said. Existing treatment technologies would allow municipalities to reuse that water for a variety of purposes -- including irrigation, industrial use and drinking...
U.S. Oil Fields Stage “Great Revival,” But No Easing Gas Prices
Posted by National Geographic: Mason Inman on February 10th, 2012
National Geographic: The United States has long been seen as a nation in its twilight as an oil producer, facing a relentless decline that began when President Richard Nixon was in the White House. He and every president since pledged to halt the U.S. slide into greater dependence on foreign oil, but the trend seemed irreversible—until now. Forty-one years later, U.S. oil production is on the rise. U.S. oil fields yielded an estimated 5.68 million barrels per day in 2011—their highest output since 2003, thanks largely...
Mega pig-farm could breach human rights, council warned
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
Guardian: Controversial plans to build a US-style mega pig-farm in South Derbyshire close to a prison and residential housing pose serious health risks to those living and working there and could breach their legal rights to protection of their private and family life, the local council is being warned.
In the light of fresh legal advice, the organic farmers' group, the Soil Association and Friends of the Earth have joined forces with local group Foston Community Forum and Pig Business, film-makers and...
Watchdog clears State Department of impropriety in Keystone pipeline project
Posted by New York Times: John M. Broder and Dan Frosch on February 10th, 2012
New York Times: The State Department’s inspector general has found no conflict of interest or improper political influence in the agency’s review of the disputed Keystone XL pipeline project. But in a report released on Thursday, the official said the department had not adequately weighed concerns about the route of the 1,700-mile pipeline and should strengthen its oversight of contractors performing environmental impact statements for major projects. The proposed Keystone pipeline, which is to carry heavy oil...
United States: Flood warnings at risk as cuts to critical gauges loom
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 10th, 2012
Climate Central: This is the first in an occasional Climate Central series on how reduced funding for scientific observations is affecting climate and weather research and forecasting.
On Sept. 7, 2011, a record deluge associated with Tropical Storm Lee struck Binghamton, N.Y., dumping 7.5 inches of rain in a 24-hour period -- the most the city had ever seen in such a short time. Weather forecasters, emergency managers and rescue teams knew the nearby Susquehanna River was already rising from an unusually wet...
EU energy-saving law hit by amendments avalanche
Posted by Reuters: Barbara Lewis on February 10th, 2012
Reuters: Plans to improve the European Union's record on energy saving risk stalling over hundreds of highly technical amendments, including one that could be good for Germany and its giant utilities, but bad for poorer nations.
Denmark has made moving towards a political deal on the EU's Energy Efficiency Directive a priority for its six-month tenure as president of the 27-member bloc.
It argues saving energy through measures such as better building insulation would create jobs and help to reduce reliance...
Australia: Streams need trees to withstand climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
Physorg: Researchers from Monash University, the Environment Protection Authority and the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research studied the effects of drought on Australia's fragile freshwater ecosystems using data collected in Victoria before, during and after the severe drought that lasted from 1997 until 2009.
The sustained monitoring allowed researchers to compare how sites with differing levels of vegetation responded to sustained drought.
The research, published in Global Change Biology,...
Did Early Man Contribute to Central Africa Climate Change?
Posted by Voice of America: Joe DeCapua on February 10th, 2012
Voice of America: If humans are responsible for speeding the climate change currently underway, it may not be the first time. Scientists say a long time ago in Central Africa, early farmers may have contributed to the disappearance of rainforests. The question is being raised in the journal Science.
Scientists say about 3,000 years ago some of the rainforests were “abruptly replaced” by savannas – broad grasslands dotted with shrubs and trees. It was thought that climate change was the reason. But now research...
Canada PM vows to ensure key oil pipeline is built
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2012
Reuters: Canada's prime minister on Friday made his strongest comments yet in support of a proposed pipeline from oil-rich Alberta to the Pacific coast, saying his government was committed to ensuring the controversial project went ahead.
Enbridge Inc's Northern Gateway pipeline, which is strongly opposed by green groups and some aboriginal bands, would allow Canada to send tankers of crude to China and reduce reliance on the U.S. market.
An independent energy regulator -- which could in theory reject...