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Archive for August 17th, 2012
Cost-wary Forest Service tries to douse each fire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2012
Associated Press: If lightning strikes in the New Mexico wilderness and starts a fire, the blaze would normally be little more than a blip on the radar of land managers who have earned a reputation for letting flames burn to keep forested lands from growing into a tangled mess.
This season is different. Now firefighters are trekking deep into the Gila National Forest with trains of equipment-carrying horses and one overriding goal: snuffing out all fires, no matter how small or remote.
The U.S. Forest Service's...
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Climate is Ripe for Deadly West Nile Virus Attack on Texas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2012
Climate Central: Texas dodged one major bullet this year: the crushing drought that seared the Lone Star State in 2011 shifted its sights northward in 2012, frying the nation's agricultural midland but leaving Texas at least a little wetter than it was last summer.
But that little bit of extra moisture has put Texas in the crosshairs of another climate-related disaster. A major outbreak this month of West Nile virus -- the worst since the brain infection first reached America in 1999 -- has infected some 200 people...
Q&A: Water and Food Security Are Inseparable
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2012
Inter Press Service: With the U.N. ominously warning of an impending food crisis following severe droughts in farmlands in the United States, Brazil, Russia and at least two rain-deprived states in India, the world will once again turn its attention to a finite natural resource: water.
The U.N`s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said last week that if the international community fails to heed the warning, the food crisis of 2008 could repeat itself, triggering worldwide shortages and raising prices for agricultural...
Activists in Argentina Expect Landmark Ruling against Agrochemicals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2012
Inter Press Service: - After more than a decade of campaigning against toxic agrochemicals, a group of women from a poor neighbourhood in the northern Argentine city of Córdoba have brought large-scale soybean growers to trial for the health damages caused by spraying.
The trial began in June, and the sentence is to be handed down on Aug. 21. In the dock are two soybean producers, Francisco Parra and Jorge Gabrielli, and the pilot of a spray plane, Edgardo Pancello.
The prosecutors are seeking four years of prison...
Baltic fishing limits too high to save wild salmon: campaigners
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2012
Reuters: Fishing limits for wild salmon in the Baltic Sea will be unchanged or cut slightly next year, under European proposals published on Friday, which environmentalists say ignore concerns that some sub-species could face extinction.
The European Commission says there should be a year-on-year cut of 11 percent in the allowable catch for "main basin" salmon, referring to most of the salmon in the Baltic, for 2013.
That followed the agreement by European Union ministers for a cut of 51 percent for...
Is spraying for West Nile virus safe?
Posted by NBC News: Maggie Fox on August 17th, 2012
NBC News: Texas state health officials, alarmed by the worst outbreak of West Nile virus since the infection first hit the United States in 1999, started spraying insecticide from airplanes Thursday night.
Years of research show the poisons being used in the spray are safe for humans -- and certainly safer than the virus, health officials said. But blogs and social media lit up with concerned comments from people afraid the insecticide might hurt them, their children or other creatures in the environment....
First Chinese ship crosses Arctic Ocean amid record melt
Posted by Reuters: Jon Viglundson and Alister Doyle on August 17th, 2012
Reuters: An icebreaker has become the first ship from China to cross the Arctic Ocean, underscoring Beijing's growing interest in a remote region where a record thaw caused by climate change may open new trade routes.
The voyage highlights how China, the world's no.2 economy, is extending its reach to the Arctic which is rich in oil and gas and is a potential commercial shipping route between the north Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, arrived in Iceland this week...
Solar Toilet Disinfects Waste, Makes Hydrogen Fuel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2012
National Public Radio: The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge asked engineers to dream up a replacement for the antiquated flush toilet. Michael Hoffmann and his team at Caltech responded with a solar-powered toilet that disinfects waste and reuses wastewater to flush. Better yet, it pumps out hydrogen gas for use in fuel cells.
Drought, Climate Change Ended Egypt’s Pyramid-Building Era
Posted by Laboratory Equipment: None Given on August 17th, 2012
Laboratory Equipment: Ancient pollen and charcoal preserved in deeply buried sediments in Egypt's Nile Delta document the region's ancient droughts and fires, including a huge drought 4,200 years ago associated with the demise of Egypt's Old Kingdom, the era known as the pyramid-building time.
"Humans have a long history of having to deal with climate change," says Christopher Bernhardt, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. "Along with other research, this study geologically reveals that the evolution of societies...
Triage System for Plant Species Devised Based on Geographic Range
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: With an increasing number of plant species worldwide facing growing threats, from climate change to invasive species, a team of U.S. scientists has developed a process to more rapidly evaluate those plants facing the greatest risks of extinction. Writing in the journal Biodiversity and Conservation, the scientists from the New York Botanical Garden describe a triage method to identify at-risk species based on data from plant research collections and geographic information systems (GIS) technology....