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Archive for February 5th, 2013
Planting Trees Helps Fight Climate Change, but mainly locally
Posted by Environmental News Network: Science Daily on February 5th, 2013
Environmental News Network: Afforestation, planting trees in an area where there have previously been no trees, can reduce the effect of climate change by cooling temperate regions, finds a study in BioMed Central's open access journal Carbon Balance and Management. Afforestation would lead to cooler and wetter summers by the end of this century.
Without check climate change is projected to lead to summer droughts and winter floods across Europe. Using REMO, the regional climate model of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology,...
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Working Elephants Experience Soaring Death Rates In Face Of Climate Change
Posted by redOrbit: April Flowers on February 5th, 2013
RedOrbit: Climate change models are predicting higher temperatures and months without rainfall, which could negatively impact populations of already endangered Asian elephants.
Led by scientists from the University of Sheffield, the research team, matched monthly climate records with birth and death data to track how climate variation affects the survival rate of elephants.
The results of this study were recently published in the journal Ecology. The team, which included members from the Berlin College...
Study Slams Nuclear Waste Practices at Hanford
Posted by New York Times: Dylan Walsh on February 5th, 2013
New York Times: Department of Energy Construction (and design) continue at the Hanford nuclear reservation in southeastern Washington State, where radioactive liquid waste from weapons processing is to be turned into a stable glass form suitable for disposal.
Management and disposal of radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington State, marred by problems for more than two decades, is the focus of a harsh new assessment by the Government Accountability Office.
"By just about any definition,"...
Fishing campaigners urge MPs to vote for discards reform
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on February 5th, 2013
Guardian: Fishing campaigners from across Europe gathered in Strasbourg on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to persuade MEPs to ban the wasteful practice of throwing away edible fish at sea. A crucial vote in the European parliament on Wednesday morning will determine the future of "discards", by which fishermen throw fish back – dead – if they catch more than their quota, or catch species for which they have no quota. The practice, a consequence of the current common fisheries policy, results in the waste...
Jakarta faces up to a high flood-risk future
Posted by Guardian: Bruno Philip on February 5th, 2013
Guardian: On 17 January water flooded into several Jakarta neighbourhoods, claiming more than a dozen lives and causing the evacuation of 18,000 residents. Even the city centre was affected. The papers featured pictures of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paddling in the garden of his official residence, his trousers rolled up to the knee.
"I have sent a letter to the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to move the clouds to the north [the sea]," city governor Joko Widodo told reporters...
How Fracking Impacts Local Food
Posted by EcoWatch: Mark Izeman, Natural Resources Defense Council on February 5th, 2013
EcoWatch: By now the horrific stories of cows mysteriously losing tails, birthing stillborn calves and even dropping dead have made their rounds. I’ve blogged about the dangers that fracking poses to our food supply before, as has my colleague Amy Mall.
Late last year, Elizabeth Royte also wrote an excellent piece for The Nation, Fracking Our Food Supply, that explored the potential for drilling operations to contaminate our food. Supported by dozens of anecdotes of sick livestock from Pennsylvania to North...
Safety Compromised by Missing Rules on Oil and Gas Pipelines, GAO Says
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on February 5th, 2013
InsideClimate: Oil and gas pipelines could be made safer if pipeline operators had clear guidelines for how quickly they must respond to accidents—but federal regulators don't have the data they need to establish those rules, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent arm of Congress. The first few minutes and hours after a pipeline accident are considered crucial for effective cleanup and damage prevention. But the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration...
Indian project mired in squabbles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 5th, 2013
Guardian: The idea of linking India's rivers to put an end to droughts and floods has exercised a mesmerising grip on the nation's mind for decades. That grip has become even stronger since neighbouring China embarked upon various water diversion projects, and pushed ahead with its own gargantuan engineering projects.
So it came as no surprise when in December 2012 India announced progress on plans to connect 37 rivers across the nation through 31 links with 9,000 km of canals, saying such a project was...
India: Birds affected by climate change, says international study
Posted by Times of India: Vijay Singh on February 5th, 2013
Times of India: Researchers from UK-based BirdLife International (of which Bombay Natural History Society is the India Partner) and Durham University have come up with new findings about the impact of climate change on birds in Asia, including India.
The research highlights the need to conserve not just the protected areas, but also the other habitats, which are crucial for their survival, particularly in the climate change scenario.
Climate change has been the alarming reality for some time now and humans...
Millions of trees improve life in Haiti
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 5th, 2013
Ecologist: Haiti seems to have more than its fair share of environmental disasters, with a massive earthquake and severe hurricanes affecting the country in the last three years alone. International relief efforts are welcomed and effective in the aftermath of these extreme events, but once the television cameras and aid agencies are gone, Haiti continues only slowly to rebuild. Amongst the stories of catastrophe and struggle there are many shining lights, not least is Haiti’s Smallholder Farmer Alliance...