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Archive for February 16th, 2012
Tighten fracking regulations, scientists urge US officials
Posted by Guardian: Ian Sample on February 16th, 2012
Guardian: An influential group of scientists has urged US officials to step up their policing of shale gas operations and to consider stronger regulations to reduce environmental and health risks at the facilities.
The scientists called on regulators to revisit, and in many cases beef up, their guidelines to avoid surface spills at shale gas works, and to ensure the safe storage and disposal of toxic fluids used in controversial hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations.
Though some US states have...
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Low-carbon technologies ‘no quick-fix’: May not lessen global warming until late this century
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2012
ScienceDaily: A drastic switch to low carbon-emitting technologies, such as wind and hydroelectric power, may not yield a reduction in global warming until the latter part of this century, new research suggests.
Furthermore, it states that technologies that offer only modest reductions in greenhouse gases, such as the use of natural gas and perhaps carbon capture and storage, cannot substantially reduce climate risk in the next 100 years.
The study, published February 16, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental...
Rising temperatures take their toll on rice pest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2012
SciDev.Net: A warming climate and occasional extreme high temperature events in tropical countries are likely to limit both the survival and distribution of the brown planthopper, a pest that has devastated rice crops in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, according to UK researchers.
The scientists, based at the University of Birmingham, measured the upper thermal thresholds that could be survived by the brown planthopper, including the temperatures at which the insects became immobilised by heat stress,...
Desmond Tutu tells David Cameron tar sands threaten health of the planet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2012
Guardian: Eight Nobel laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu have written to the prime minister to argue that oil derived from Canadian tar sands "threatens the health of the planet" and that the UK should support European moves to classify the controversial energy source as highly polluting.
A similar letter has been sent this week to the transport minister, Norman Baker, by the shadow transport secretary, Maria Eagle, asking him "to vote in favour of labelling oil from tar sands as highly polluting...
Kenya’s pastoralists reach out for carbon cash
Posted by AlertNet: David Njagi on February 16th, 2012
AlertNet: If the promise of earning carbon credits is realised, Nixon Parnisa counts himself among hundreds of pastoralists likely to profit from a new revenue stream.
The herder already has an anaerobic digester at his home in Kitengela, about 120 km (75 miles) northeast of Lake Magadi, in southern Kenya. The machine uses livestock waste to produce biogas for cooking and lighting.
But now Parnisa is looking beyond saving money on fuel. He hopes to increase his income by joining a scheme to adapt herding...
‘New frontier’ of Antarctic lake exploration
Posted by BBC: Paul Rincon on February 16th, 2012
BBC: When a Russian drilling team reached Antarctica's Lake Vostok last week, they were able to claim a world first.
No one had previously penetrated one of the continent's sub-glacial lakes, prompting Valery Lukin from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) in St Petersburg to liken his team's achievement to the Moon landings in 1969.
Whatever the comparison, it represents a remarkable feat.
Over 20 years of stop-start drilling, the Russian team ground their way through 3.7km (2.3mi)...
A greener touch in China’s cities can stem flood risks – World Bank
Posted by AlertNet: Dongwei Liu on February 16th, 2012
AlertNet: China can better protect its fast-growing cities from inundations by making flood-risk maps available to both city planners and the public, and by giving its cities a greener touch, according to a World Bank expert in urban environments.
China’s urban population currently stands at 690 million – accounting for just over half of the country’s total population – and is expected to rise to 1 billion by 2030. Some of the country’s big cities, such as Beijing, Wuhan and Guangzhou, last year experienced...
Nobel winners urge EU leaders to back tar sands law
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2012
Reuters: A group of Nobel peace prize winners urged European leaders in a letter on Thursday to support an EU Commission proposal to class fuel from oil sands as highly polluting.
"Tar sand development is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, and threatens the health of the planet," eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, said in the letter.
"As the tar sands have contributed to rising...
Ottawa defends Kyoto stance
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2012
Postmedia News: Environment Minister Peter Kent is rejecting new questions from the world's largest emerging economies about the Canadian government's sincerity and credibility on fighting climate change in light of its decision to walk away from the Kyoto protocol.
"Most of the world recognized the Kyoto protocol was not working, and a post-Kyoto climate-change agreement needs to be created," Kent said Wednesday in the House of Commons in response to questions from NDP environment critic Megan Leslie.
The...
Estuary report warns of dangers of climate change
Posted by Western Mail: Graham Henry on February 16th, 2012
Western Mail: SEA level rises of between 30-40cm in the Severn Estuary over the next 60 years could cause more than three-quarters of the estuary`s intertidal area to be lost, a new report has warned.
In stark findings, The State of the Severn Estuary report warns that the impact of climate change could cause 77% of the zone -- the area that is above water at low tide and underwater at high tide -- to disappear over the next 100 years.
The rapid loss of intertidal areas could have knock-on implications for...