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Archive for October 25th, 2012
Rains help shrink drought but High Plains still parched
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on October 25th, 2012
Reuters: Many areas of the drought-stricken United States continued to see improvement over the last week as steady rains started recharging parched soils, but for key agricultural areas of the U.S. Heartland, there was little relief, according to a climatology report issued Thursday. "We've seen some improvement ... but the impact of the drought and the dryness is far from over," said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Roughly 61.79...
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Rapid Thinning of Glaciers Seen After Collapse of Antarctic Ice Shelf
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: NASA has released satellite photos that vividly depict the precipitous thinning and retreat of two Antarctic glaciers following the disintegration of the Larsen B Ice Shelf. That ice shelf -- which floated on top of the Weddell Sea and once was the size of Connecticut -- collapsed in 2002 after several years of warm summer temperatures. The Larsen B had acted as a buttress slowing the flow of numerous glaciers into the sea. The NASA satellite images, taken in 2002 and in 2012, demonsrate how swiftly...
Cameroon urged to reduce disaster risk after northern floods
Posted by AlertNet: Elias Ntungwe Ngalame on October 25th, 2012
AlertNet: Following severe flooding in the north of Cameroon, the country is being urged by the United Nations to take steps to reduce disaster risks in the face of extreme weather.
Three weeks of heavy rain in August in the North region caused the partial collapse of the Lagdo dam and the overflow of the Benue River, triggering deadly flooding in some 15 villages of both Cameroon and Nigeria.
According to UN reports, 30 people died and 60,000 were displaced in Cameroon's North and Far North regions,...
France: No damage from leak at Flamanville nuclear reactor
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2012
Reuters: A contained radioactive water leak detected at EDF's Flamanville nuclear plant did not cause any damage to the environment or harm any employees, France's nuclear safety watchdog ASN and EDF said on Thursday.
The nuclear safety agency said on its website EDF had detected a leak in a water pipe that feeds the plant's reactor 1 primary circuit late on Wednesday. It was stopped and did not cause any radioactive contamination.
The incident was defined as a grade 1 incident on the international...
Energy independence for US? Try energy security
Posted by National Public Radio: Tom Gjelten on October 25th, 2012
National Public Radio: Gone from this year's presidential campaign are most mentions of climate change, environmental pollution, or green jobs. Former Gov. Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential nominee, prefers to call attention instead to the country's continuing dependence on foreign energy sources.
"I will set a national goal of North American energy independence by the year 2020," Romney declared in August.
The line is now a standard part of Romney's stump speech, and he repeated it in his first two debates with...
Canada: Can controversial ocean iron fertilization save salmon?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2012
Scientific American: In a bid to restore lost fish abundance, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corp. (HSRC) undertook to mimic the effects of a volcanic eruption by fertilizing the ocean with iron. The idea was to provide the missing nutrient for a plankton bloom that would then trickle up the food web and restore salmon—with the ancillary effects of gathering data on the ocean food web and, potentially, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
"What if this is a means by which ocean pastures can be stewarded and...
Utah board backs first US oil sands project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2012
Associated Press: Utah gave its final approval Wednesday for the nation's first commercial tar sands project, handing a victory to a Canadian company that aims to start producing 2,000 barrels of oil next year in the start of what could grow into a much larger operation. The Utah Water Quality Board upheld the decision of state regulators and turned back an appeal from a Moab-based environmental group that vows to take up its fight in the state courts. Living Rivers has fought the project every step of the way,...